It was amazingly quiet though we did arrive in the afternoon.

The massive road project is making good progress, but still has a ways to go. (That being said, I wouldn't hesitate going in any regular car.)

(I'm glad we were able to visit before the road was finished - we had the place almost entirely to ourselves.)

When I went (15 yrs ago?), there was also the problem of armed locals. I can't remember if they were some guerrilla group or just opportunistic bandits, but we had to caravan to get there with a military escort. So that can't help with the tourism, if it's still going on.

That used to be the case, but the security situation is much better now and escorts are no longer needed.

However, it is only 5.3km from the Guatemalan border and there is quite a lot of illegal encroachment so there is a contingent of armed military guards at Caracol.