Wed, 3 Mar
up early and caught a ride into San Ignacio with Lucino to meet at MayanWalk Tours for our trip to the limestone cave, Actun Tunichil Muknal, referred to as ATM ... but not because there is any money there. it cost us US$65 each, which was a 'deal' from a nice-looking guy named Andrew. it was well worth the money. this is a 'wet' cave adventure, under, or inside, a mountain. Actun Tunichil Muknal, also known as the Cave of the Stone Sepulcher, was first entered by the Mayas in AD 300-600. but it was not until the late AD 700-900 that they went deeper into the cave to perform their ceremonies.
The cave houses various types of artifacts from ceramics and stoneware to the remains of skeletons. The Mayas consider Actun Tunichil Muknal a highly sacred location, enclosing the famous "Crystal Maiden," who was thought to be a sacrifice victim. After decades of weathering and natural processes, the surface of the skeleton appears to be covered with a geological sanded finish, which gives the maiden a somewhat magical fairy-dust appearance.
Artifacts are often looted from caves following their discovery, but passage through this cave is known to only a few select guides, who have permission from the Belize Department of Archeology to take visitors to this special cave. To this day, the cave has not been looted and nearly all of the cultural artifacts have remained in place as they were originally found in 1989. this cave has been known to the locals for many many years; but was scientifically explored, recorded, mapped, tested for noxious gases, etc. prior to it's opening to the public. without the modern technology of today, the process took 4 years to complete. The cave was officially opened to the public in 1998. the ceramic pieces that you see are all broken, but it is believed that these vessels were made explicitly for this purpose, and so they were destroyed on site at the completion of the ceremony. it is a cave tour like none i've ever heard of before. it is considered one of the top 10 caves in the world.
they drove us north about a 1/2 hour, then turned down a dirt road and continued for another hour to get to the rainforest. we were asked to bring a dry change of clothes, towel, water, and camera. we were to wear swim suits, shorts, shoes and socks. they provided us with helmets and head lights. we left our dry clothes in the car and walked about an hour through the rainforest
and we waded across a river 3 times
and finally reached the bank of the river to the cave.
there were thatched shelters there where we left our lunch; we gave him our camera and he put them in a dry bag an were given our instructions; i.e., he was the guide, we were to stay close and single-file behind him, and only step where he stepped and touch only where he touched. so the person directly behind him had the best seat, the rest had to rely on the one in front of them to pass along the instructions ... we then headed for the cave entrance.
even though this is a very beautiful place, it was not sunny and not a very warm day. ...the idea of getting in the water and swimming into a dark cave was not really very appealing.
but in we went ....
we didn't have to go under the water, in fact we were warned that our head lights were NOT waterproof and not to get them wet, ..... but it was over our heads, 12' i think he said. we swam a short distance to a ledge and then started walking in the water through the cave. it was black, there were no lights, only the ones we had on our heads, pointed downwards so we could see where we were putting our feet. we walked for 1/3 of a mile through the water, sometimes swimming again, climbing over boulders, squeezing between rock slabs, crawling up rocks, on our bellies, backs, or sides, and over ledges .. all in the light of only what you had on your head. 'they' said that an 84 yr old man and a 4yr child had done this cave ... if so, they were both unusual individuals, .... it was a strenuous tour. i understand the reason for the the darkness, and that it is was part of the intrigue; but if we could only have seen more of the cave walls it would have been even better. there were the most unusual formations i've ever seen.
it was breath-taking. unfortunately, we didn't have our cameras during this part of the tour .... that underwater camera that i don't have, would have been perfect for this; ... altho i'm sure the flash wouldn't have reached the heights of the top of the caverns. he said that the Nov 2004 issue of National Geographic has an article devoted to this cave. if any of you are 'collectors' of NG, let me know, i'd love to see the issue. after an hour we reached the rock wall we had to climb up to get into the large open 'dry' cave where the ceremonies were held. now we were given our cameras, told to remove our shoes, but leave our socks on ... for the protection of the caves--the oils from our skin damages the limestone. ...and we began to hike and climb again .... staying close and walking only where he walked! we saw lots of broken pots ... photos for my 'potty buddies' down at the KIA .. these pots were perfect ... with very thin walls ... how did they do that ?
this one had an imprint on it .... it looks like a monkey ... our guide was saying something about there only being 4 fingers and no tail. i should have paid better attention but this was at the point where i was so cold and my brain must have been freezing !
he had a strong light that he used to point things out, but by the time i was ready to take the photo, he'd moved the light on to something else :(
so, it was not very helpful in taking pictures, and most things were too far away for a flash to reach ... so the images we got are limited ...
this was so sparkle-ly
this is the first skull we saw, among lots of pottery pieces ...
our guide was older .... and passionate about this civilization. at one point he stopped walking, let a few other groups go around us, and started talking .... and talking .... we were all wet, standing still, and i was going into hypothermia ... well, not really, but i was shaking. i was really kicking myself for not wearing my wetsuit jacket ... it would have been perfect for this activity. i finally started walking around and he apologized and started walking again; but he must have talked for a half an hour! the finale was up a 'real' ladder, into a cavern where there were the total remains of The Crystal Lady
not sure why, but she seems to be dancing and smiling ... is that disrespectful ?
we were in the cave for about 3 hours
we then back-tracked our way out the same way we came in ... it was much easier on the way out ... we were all more comfortable since we knew what to expect. but it was still quite a journey. ...climbing DOWN isn't as easy as climbing UP. once outside .. i was really cold. i would suggest to anyone else that they bring their warm dry clothes with them to change into when you got out. having said that; IF it would have been a hot sunny day, it wouldn't have been necessary. the walk back through the jungle and the trip across/through the river would have been a welcome cooling off activity in the heat. as it was, we just tredged on through trying to get to the car as fast as we could.
i did take a few shots of the surrounding flora :)
when we got back to San Ignacio, we had arranged to meet Marta for drinks and something to eat. she took us to a nice bar-restaurant a bit out of town called Happy's
then back into town to another bar where we met a nice young 19 yr old who had just started his own business of growing organic vegetables; ... what a challenge, and we all applauded him for his efforts and encouraged him to continue. then across the street for PIZZA ... a good pizza, with GREAT old time American music !!!!!!!!!!!!
we arrived back at home to a party-in-progress. they were really having fun playing drinking games, and i was SO GLAD i wasn't going to be them in the morning! i had to laugh, ... i heard them playing a much easier version of "this is a click--this is a clack" .... i know most of you won't know what that is ... but i know my brother and sister .... and possibly Janny and Sandy will ???? that's a game from the early 70s!!!!! i was also thankful that i had a pair of earplugs so i could sleep!
and we waded across a river 3 times
and finally reached the bank of the river to the cave.
there were thatched shelters there where we left our lunch; we gave him our camera and he put them in a dry bag an were given our instructions; i.e., he was the guide, we were to stay close and single-file behind him, and only step where he stepped and touch only where he touched. so the person directly behind him had the best seat, the rest had to rely on the one in front of them to pass along the instructions ... we then headed for the cave entrance.
even though this is a very beautiful place, it was not sunny and not a very warm day. ...the idea of getting in the water and swimming into a dark cave was not really very appealing.
but in we went ....
we didn't have to go under the water, in fact we were warned that our head lights were NOT waterproof and not to get them wet, ..... but it was over our heads, 12' i think he said. we swam a short distance to a ledge and then started walking in the water through the cave. it was black, there were no lights, only the ones we had on our heads, pointed downwards so we could see where we were putting our feet. we walked for 1/3 of a mile through the water, sometimes swimming again, climbing over boulders, squeezing between rock slabs, crawling up rocks, on our bellies, backs, or sides, and over ledges .. all in the light of only what you had on your head. 'they' said that an 84 yr old man and a 4yr child had done this cave ... if so, they were both unusual individuals, .... it was a strenuous tour. i understand the reason for the the darkness, and that it is was part of the intrigue; but if we could only have seen more of the cave walls it would have been even better. there were the most unusual formations i've ever seen.
it was breath-taking. unfortunately, we didn't have our cameras during this part of the tour .... that underwater camera that i don't have, would have been perfect for this; ... altho i'm sure the flash wouldn't have reached the heights of the top of the caverns. he said that the Nov 2004 issue of National Geographic has an article devoted to this cave. if any of you are 'collectors' of NG, let me know, i'd love to see the issue. after an hour we reached the rock wall we had to climb up to get into the large open 'dry' cave where the ceremonies were held. now we were given our cameras, told to remove our shoes, but leave our socks on ... for the protection of the caves--the oils from our skin damages the limestone. ...and we began to hike and climb again .... staying close and walking only where he walked! we saw lots of broken pots ... photos for my 'potty buddies' down at the KIA .. these pots were perfect ... with very thin walls ... how did they do that ?
this one had an imprint on it .... it looks like a monkey ... our guide was saying something about there only being 4 fingers and no tail. i should have paid better attention but this was at the point where i was so cold and my brain must have been freezing !
he had a strong light that he used to point things out, but by the time i was ready to take the photo, he'd moved the light on to something else :(
so, it was not very helpful in taking pictures, and most things were too far away for a flash to reach ... so the images we got are limited ...
this was so sparkle-ly
this is the first skull we saw, among lots of pottery pieces ...
our guide was older .... and passionate about this civilization. at one point he stopped walking, let a few other groups go around us, and started talking .... and talking .... we were all wet, standing still, and i was going into hypothermia ... well, not really, but i was shaking. i was really kicking myself for not wearing my wetsuit jacket ... it would have been perfect for this activity. i finally started walking around and he apologized and started walking again; but he must have talked for a half an hour! the finale was up a 'real' ladder, into a cavern where there were the total remains of The Crystal Lady
not sure why, but she seems to be dancing and smiling ... is that disrespectful ?
we were in the cave for about 3 hours
we then back-tracked our way out the same way we came in ... it was much easier on the way out ... we were all more comfortable since we knew what to expect. but it was still quite a journey. ...climbing DOWN isn't as easy as climbing UP. once outside .. i was really cold. i would suggest to anyone else that they bring their warm dry clothes with them to change into when you got out. having said that; IF it would have been a hot sunny day, it wouldn't have been necessary. the walk back through the jungle and the trip across/through the river would have been a welcome cooling off activity in the heat. as it was, we just tredged on through trying to get to the car as fast as we could.
i did take a few shots of the surrounding flora :)
when we got back to San Ignacio, we had arranged to meet Marta for drinks and something to eat. she took us to a nice bar-restaurant a bit out of town called Happy's
then back into town to another bar where we met a nice young 19 yr old who had just started his own business of growing organic vegetables; ... what a challenge, and we all applauded him for his efforts and encouraged him to continue. then across the street for PIZZA ... a good pizza, with GREAT old time American music !!!!!!!!!!!!
we arrived back at home to a party-in-progress. they were really having fun playing drinking games, and i was SO GLAD i wasn't going to be them in the morning! i had to laugh, ... i heard them playing a much easier version of "this is a click--this is a clack" .... i know most of you won't know what that is ... but i know my brother and sister .... and possibly Janny and Sandy will ???? that's a game from the early 70s!!!!! i was also thankful that i had a pair of earplugs so i could sleep!
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