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On the Western Highway, around 12km west of San Ignacio on the bank Mopan River, the quiet village of San Jose Succotz is home to the ruins of Xunantunich (pronounced Shun-an-tun-ich), "the Stone Maiden", a Classic-period centre. An old chain ferry crosses the river to the site on demand (daily 8am-5pm; free). If you're carrying luggage, you can safely leave it at the Plaza Restaurant (also a good source of information), opposite the ferry. From the riverbank a steep track leads through the forest for a couple of kilometres to the ruins (US$5). Your first stop should be the marvellous visitor centre , one of the best in Belize, which includes a superb scale model of the city. The site, located on top of an artificially flattened hill, includes five plazas, although the surviving structures are grouped around just three of them. Recent investigations have found evidence of Xunantunich's role in the power politics of the Classic period, during which it probably joined Caracol and the regional superpower Calakmul in an alliance against Tikal. By the Terminal Classic period, Xunantunich was already in decline, though still apparently inhabited until around 1000 AD, after the Classic Maya "collapse" in most other areas. The track from the entrance brings you out into plaza A-2, with large structures on three sides. Plaza A-1, to the left is dominated by El Castillo , at over 40m the city's tallest structure. This is ringed by a decorative stucco frieze, now extensively restored, showing abstract designs, human faces and jaguar heads. The climb up El Castillo can be daunting, but the views from the top are superb, with the forest stretching out all around and the rest of the ancient city mapped out beneath you.
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