Don't Stop Belizing: Wednesday April 11, 2012- Inland Trip

Today we went and explored the ActunTunichi Muknal also known as the ATM cave. This experience is one of the most popular among those in Belize and now I know why! Exploring the mayan ruins at Caracol the previous day was experiencing what the Mayans believed to be the heavens and the caves were what the Mayans believed to be the underworld. This cave only has one entrance to go in and out from with lots of adventures inside. Before we went in the cave, we put on headgear and headlamps to be protected while inside. To get into the cave, you first have to swim into this really neat opening. The first section of the cave required us to crawl through tight spots filled with water which sometimes were as deep as your neck. Our guide, Martin, was really passionate about his work and enthusiastic about the tour. He led us in some spiritual aspects of the Mayan culture that would take place in the cave. We took part in touching the mother rock together and looking up into the natural world one last time before fully entering the underworld. After this, Martin had us all turn our headlamps off and follow each others lead in the dark through the cave. This was such a scary/exhilarating feeling, because we literally could not see anything! We stopped at a beautiful stalagmite which had formed in the cave and Martin played music on it for us. It was such an awesome sound in this huge cave. After reaching about ¾ of a mile deep into the cave, we had to crawl up rocks to get to the artifact areas. In these areas, we saw bowls the Mayans used to cook meals with and even saw some skeletal remains. We took a ladder up to an even higher level of the underworld to see the skeletal remains of a young girl, probably 16 or so, who was probably sacrificed in an effort to receive rain during a drought. While we were in the cave, it started to rain outside which was really neat to hear inside of the cave. After about 3 hours in the cave, we went back to a picnic area and ate lunch. Then we took a short hike back to the bus which consisted of crossing a river a few times. Here are some of the pictures from the day’s events: