ATM or How I Celebrated Halloween

I had planned to write this blog for Halloween but never seemed to get around to it and now I'm weeks late but I still want to share my experiences with you. While in the U.S., many of you dressed up in silly costumes, went trick-or-treating and maybe visited a corn maze or haunted house, I spent my Halloween with the ghosts of the ancient Mayans in a pitch-black cave while climbing and swimming through a freezing cold river.

There are so many tourist spots to see in Belize and I've been fortunate to visit numerous interesting places during the past year but there was one place I hadn't been fortunate enough to see yet but I now can say I've crossed off everything on my Belize To-Do list. And I just happened to visit this otherworldly site at the perfect time of year when we all enjoy getting scared. Now that I've peaked your interest, let me tell you a little about this spectacular tour.

Actun Tunichil Muknal, called ATM by everyone here, is a cave system located in central Belize that was a sacred place for the Ancient Mayans. The name means Cave of the Stone Sepulcher in one of the Mayan languages. It has only been explored in the last decade by modern day Belizeans and is carefully protected to avoid looting and destruction of artifacts. Only a few guides are authorized to take groups in and visitors must remove their shoes while walking in the cave and avoid touching the walls in many sections. Its a mystical experience but also a little spooky as its pitch black, there are bats flying around, and ancient artifacts that haven't been moved in over a thousand years.

To reach the cave, we hiked for about an hour through the jungle along a path that crossed a river three times. There were no bridges though so we had to walk through the river with water that sometimes reached mid-thigh. When we finally reached the cave, there is a river flowing through it so in order to enter the cave, we had to jump in and swim into the entrance through deep water to a section that was more shallow and not usually over our heads. For the next hour, we continued to swim and walk through water as we went deeper and deeper in the cave. I think in total we traveled about three miles deep into the cave. The first half was mostly in the water and we had to squeeze through tight sections of rock at times to continue along. The cave was pitch black of course other than the light from our headlamps and the beams bounced off the uneven walls. We were warned to close our mouths when looking up to avoid any bat guano though it was hard not to stare at the beautiful stalagmites and stalagtites that covered the cave. In other parts, the walls were covered in crystals that had formed over thousands of years of dripping water.

After about an hour in the water, we climbed to a higher part of the cave where the river couldn't reach. Now that we were climbing and walking, we were asked to remove our shoes but keep on our socks in order to show respect to this Ancient Mayan sacred place. We climbed farther in the cave for another hour and enjoyed seeing pottery the Mayans had carried into the cave with food and drink to give to their ancestors or gods. They had to follow the same path that we had just come and it was amazing these small people were able to carry large pottery through the river and small crevices. If they happened to break or scratch a piece of pottery, it was no longer good enough for the gods and was discarded along the cave. Those pieces that made it farther in were displayed in specific positions, some facing up, some down, and others to the side to represent the underworld, the heavens, and the present. Some also was placed on pedestals in specific places so the light of torches bouncing off them created mystical shadows. Our guide explained that the ancient Mayans had different drugs and alcohol, some that may have caused hallucinations so they thought they saw their gods from the shadows made by stalagtites and their pottery.

We saw several skulls and other bones throughout the cave and we were told these were probably sacrifices to the gods. They may have been brought into the cave and sacrificed inside during intricate rituals. The final place we visited as we traveled deep into the cave was to a perfectly complete skeleton of a young woman. It was very spooky knowing that she was laying in the same position that she had been killed in a millennium ago.

Very few archaeologists have been in the cave and no excavation has been done so it is completely left like it was when re-discovered two decades ago. The pottery is laying in the same position that the ancient Mayans had set it and mounds of dirt were lying as they had been formed by their own hands. I've visited many ancient sites around the world but they've all been excavated and changed by archaeologists. It was fascinating to see this place that was left intact for over a thousand years. Who knows how long it will last though as more and more tourists come to Belize and want to visit. Luckily, its been protected to this point but I'm sure it will be difficult to prevent any looting or other destruction in the future.

At Halloween, we joke about being spooked by skeletons, ghosts, and bats. In Belize on Halloween, I spent a day climbing and swimming deep into a pitch black cave that was full of skeletons, bats, and probably the spirits of the ancient Mayans if you believe in that. It was exciting, it was mystical, and a little bit spooky but mostly just an amazing adventure that I am so happy I was able to see! I only have a few pictures since it was so dark and couldn't use my camera in the water but check them out on Picasa.