Located on a hill overlooking San Ignacio, Cahal Pech is a medium sized but major Mayan center.  Cahal Pech is unique for the fact it is one of the only places that you can be one minute in a modern town and the next surrounded by jungle and Mayan Ruins.  Its name, not very complimentary, was given to the site in the 50s when the site was a pasture; in Belize they are notorious for their ticks.  But don't worry, there aren't that many ticks now!

Cahal Pech was settled around 1000 B.C.  The pre-classic (300 B.C.- 250A.D.) and the Middle Classic (500-700) are believed to be the times of the greatest development due to construction of the temples and the reconstruction of the temples.  The site was abandoned around 800 A.D.

Situated on top of an acropolis on the Macal River, the central center of Cahal Pech consists of 34 structures in a small area of only two acres.  The tallest of these is a temple that rises 77 feet into the air.  There are seven courtyards and most of the buildings are located around these.  There are also two ball courts, five stelae, one alter, and one structure that people like to think of as a sweat house.  There is also a tomb where several jade objects, obsidian blades, shell and bone ornaments and pottery vessels have been found.  The most interesting of these is a mosaic mask made up of jade and shell.  It formed the centerpiece of the belt the entombed wore.

No one really knows when Cahal Pech was originally discovered but the first reports of it appear in the 1950s.  It was only briefly investigated and was heavily looted up until 1988 when the first major investigation took place by Jaime Awe.

Cahal Pech is only a few minutes walk away from San Ignacio or a 10 minute walk south of Benque Viejo junction of the Western Highway