Actun Tunichil Muknal 4/10/19

Good morning!

Another early morning off the catch the 7 AM water taxi to Belize City. It's getting kind of like our new normal, almost our new life.  Funny how regular it feels now to get up, walk through the key and take a hour boat ride to get where we need to get!

The day added a extra bit of excitement when our van flooded crossing the river to get to the cave and we had to wade out to another vehicle to get there while our guide had to be towed out as we went on to explore the cave. 

This ATM Cave Tour is probably the highlight of our adventure.  The good and bad part is that there are no cameras or phones allowed inside, AT ALL!  So, no pictures...but then, we were able to just be present and focus on making it through the cave and absorb it 100%. 

It's not quite possible to describe...but I can tell you, it's a MUST DO if you can make it happen.  It's such an honor to be able to visit such a precious sacred cave complete with ceremonial bloodletting honors and even human sacrificial skeletons and pottery...within an arms reach.  This, topped off with the challenging rock climbing and squeezing through tigth slits in the cave walls, all in water...climbing up to the upper chambers and walking with socks through the ceremonial chambers...beyond emotional description...here are a few descriptions I found online...  

ACTUN TUNICHIL MUKNAL:

-This cave adventure is one of the most popular Mayan burial sites in Western Belize. The ATM cave contains four skeletons (Note: that you get to see, there are actually 14), ceramics, and stoneware left by the Maya. The most famous skeleton is that of a young girl, the bones of which have been completely covered by the natural processes of the cave, leaving them with a sparkling appearance. The cave itself is several kilometers long with several chambers. Once inside the cave you will spend several hours swimming, climbing, and exploring.

-Taking a journey into the Mayan underworld at Actun Tunichil Muknal, or the “Cave of the Stone Sepulchre”, will be one of the most enlightening, epic, and unique experiences of your life. Leave the world of the living behind as you venture into the heart of the ATM Cave with your licensed guide. Recently deemed the #1 Sacred Cave destination in the world by National Geographic, the ATM cave is not only beautiful geologically, with its crystalline stalactites and stalagmites, but also historically, as is a natural museum of ancient Mayan artifacts, as well as a sacred burial place. This is the final resting place of the “Crystal Maiden”, an ancient Mayan ceremonial victim, as well as the remains of 13 other sacrificed men, women, and children. MayaWalk guides have led government officials, National Geographic teams, the Discovery Channel, The British High Commission, and US Embassy officials into the ATM Cave. 

-After the initial swim the water never gets much more than knee deep but the trail through the cave is wet and rocky the entire way as you slowly move deeper into what the Mayans called Xibalba, or the underworld. This is where they believed the dead went before working their way back up through various levels to reach a better place.

Xibalba was both feared and revered. Archaeologists believe that only a select few of the living Mayans ever entered caves and they did so only when necessary to perform rituals and ceremonies designed to solve problems.

The bigger the problem, the deeper they went into the underworld.

The entire route through the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave in Belize is covered in crystal clear water--from ankle-deep to many feet deep.

Mayan ceremonial sites inside the ATM cave (and other ceremonial caves) exist on natural shelves in the interior cave system. Here the Mayans built fires, burned incense and lit torches which cast shadows in the shapes of various gods (some carved out of natural stone pillars in the cave). They also brought in special ceremonial pots.

At the end of the ceremony, each pot was ruined in some way–cracked or punctured with what’s called a “kill hole” to release its inner spirit and render the vessel useless. The deeper we traveled into the ATM the more we could relate to the feelings of power and mystery that must have lead the Mayans to believe that they could talk to their gods here. It really was like entering another world.

After about an hour of walking through the cave you reach a big boulder on the cave floor. Everyone in our group scrambled to the top of it and then hopped onto a lip in the cave wall–a journey many Mayans had made before us. The expansive area on this huge ledge is called The Cathedral and it’s an ancient offering site that’s literally littered with dramatic artifacts.

Ancient Mayan fire pits and ceremonial pottery in The Cathedral area of the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave in Belize.

The cave is thought to be about three miles long but you only have to travel about a mile in to reach The Cathedral area. The artifacts (and the cave environment) here are so fragile here that you have to take your shoes off and proceed with just socks on. This is, in part, because the soles of your shoes damage the cave. More important is the fact that we all pay more attention to where we’re walking when we’re barefoot and the trail through this section of the cave literally winds around the fire sites and ritually-arranged pots.

Some guides have managed to lay pitiful strips of glow in the dark tape around particularly vulnerable artifacts, but it still requires full attention to your footsteps to keep from stepping on the fragile remains of the Mayans’ ceremonies.

I hope those descriptions help a bit...

Our guide, Gliss, met us and took us on an excellent tour!

When we emerged from this indescribeable experience, we enjoyed a chicken, rice, beans and coleslaw lunch, with rum punch-which seems to be the standard 'lunch with tour'.  We were grateful, though as we had worked up an appetite after hours hiking up to, then navigating the cave itself!

After our cave tour, we found out that they had gotten the fish out of the tailpipe, ha, but our van was still waterlogged and we would need to ride back in the family SUV with sister Shalika and her husband Jack.  Although we missed our faithful and fun driver, Brenton, both Shalika and Jack worked their way into our hearts giving us Creole lessons and teaching us about their custom cake business.  We were impressed with their 3D printed cakes and encouraged them to name their company BBB or 3B for Best Belizean Bakery!  The ride seemed to pass quickly and all too soon we were saying our goodbyes at the water taxi landing.

We were surprised to see they were loading us on a much smaller (and 20 minutes quicker) boat ride home to the key.  The tradeoff was that it was BBUUUMMPPPYYY!  

A quick stop for a fish dinner, then home it was...

Exhausted and full of visions and experiences that will forever dance in our memories!