Ceibal

Ceibal stands above the Pasion river in southern Peten, and excavation has pushed its beginnings back a long way: a ceremonial complex here has been dated to around nine hundred and fifty years before the common era, among the earliest known in the Maya lowlands, which has changed arguments about how Maya civilisation began and what it owed to the Olmec. The site is best known to visitors for its stelae, a group of well-preserved carved monuments from the ninth century whose figures wear dress and features that do not look purely Maya, suggesting outside contact in the final years. The forest around holds howler monkeys and the walk up from the river is steep.

What you actually see

• Ninth-century carved stelae - monuments with unusual, non-local iconography.
• An exceptionally early ceremonial complex - dated to around 950 BCE.
• Howler monkeys in the forest - the troops around the plazas.
• The Pasion river approach - the boat trip up from Sayaxche.

When to go

January to April, when the country is driest. Half a day from Sayaxche. The boat is the pleasant way in; the track is rough and often impassable in the wet.

Honest expectations

The site is small and much of it is unrestored mounds under forest. The climb up from the river is steep in heat. Facilities are minimal. Stelae are protected under thatch shelters that make photography awkward.

Nearby

Sayaxche is north-west; Aguateca lies south.