actun tunichil muknal

i went spelunking today.  john and i joined a tour group going to actun tunichil muknal (or atm cave).  we drove about an hour and a half, half on unpaved pot-holed roads, with a tour guide and 5 other people.  we were given a list of things to bring, some you leave in the van, some go in your backpack, but no one told me i couldn't wear my backpack for the entire trip so of course i've got my wallet, iphone, all sorts of random crap that should be locked up in my room.  oops.  we were also told to bring bug spray but weren't allowed to use it since the water we were going to trek through was the town's drinking water.

and no cameras.  what??  i don't go anywhere without a camera.  there are sacrificial remains in the top of the cave that have been left intact.  apparently not long ago some stupid tourist was leaning over one skeleton taking a picture, dropped his camera, and punched a hole in the skull.  so no cameras anymore.  but they let john take his giant dive lite, about 10 times heavier than my camera, for some reason that was ok.

we got to the site and there was a mile hike with 3 river crossings.  i had to wear my running shoes and they've never been submersed in water, poor things really got worked today.  the hike was pretty, through trees so not very hot.  thankfully no bugs.

at the end of the hike is where i had to leave my backpack and i was uncomfortable leaving it in the open with everyone else's so i hiked it into the woods and hid it.  cross fingers i still have stuff when i get back.

the mouth of the cave was overhead water that we had to swim across.  cold but not icy, felt kinda nice after the hike.  we all wore swimsuits and lite clothes on top, had helmets and head lamps.  most of the cave was wet so we walked or climbed through anything from overhead water to ankle deep, mostly about shin level.

the natural formations were amazing.  there were wide open chambers and tight passages to squeeze through.  i don't know the technical terms for caves and i wish i could have taken pictures, so here's a little writeup on it.

the cave is a few miles long but we only hiked a small portion, about an hour and a half of climbing and wading through water.  at one point we climbed up several feet and for some reason this is where we had to leave our shoes, the rest of the hike up was in socks.  not sure why.  there was broken pottery on all sides, containers for water and food offerings and blood sacrifice.  these were roped off with orange tape so no one would tromp on them.

after a little more walking, all dry now, we found a creaky ladder to get to a chamber with the sacrificial remains.  we were able to see 5 skeletons (one with a camera shaped hole in the skull) but there were more that the public cannot access.  the major skeleton was the crystal maiden, laid out as perfectly as she had been in about 900ad.  next to her was a young boy who had his arms and legs broken and tied behind his back.

there wasn't alot of wildlife in the cave, some bats, a crab that seemed really out of place, and a single white ant.  or bug.  not sure what it was.

the hike back was much quicker, we changed to dry clothes, drank rum punch and were on our way home.  worth the money if you're ever in belize.

i did sneak my camera back to the cave entrance for a picture but i'm unable to upload at the moment.  check back later...


aaah here we go

atm entrance