Jack. Jack is the howler monkey that brought huge smiles to our faces at Caracol, one of the Mayan Ruins. As a side note, we skipped out on Xunantunich and decided to do Caracol due to some influences by locals, or should I say, Chris and Jen from Table Rock Jungle Lodge. Chris and Jen recommended this ruin over the others and that is a separate post in itself. We will get to it, I promise! But I will tell you, it was AMAZING!!!

I told Courtney before we went, I want to see a monkey in the wild. I knew there was a good chance of that going to Belize. I have dreamed about monkeys since I was a little girl. So much in fact, that I painted one on my childhood bedroom wall. And tigers too! They are still on my list to see in real life (not just in a zoo, I want wild!!!)

Anyhow, we happened upon Thursday to Caracol to run into some baboons with no plans to see wild monkeys. We headed to Caracol, and as we approached the Mayan ruins after parking our car, we heard rambunctious noises coming from the jungle. Noises that sounded like a predator in battle with it’s prey. I didn’t know what to think of it untill the soldiers who assited us (again, another post in itself) told us that the sounds were coming from baboons (or howler monkeys) nearby. “Monkeys!?” I was so excited. “Will I get a chance to see these monkeys?!” “Yes, we can take you there after the next ruin.” After exploring a few ruins and patiently waiting for Courtney to climb one of the ruins in the second common ground, we finally started to approach the sounds we heard coming from the jungle. My heart was racing. I looked up into the trees from where the sounds were echoing and saw branches moving ever so slightly. On those branches, I saw itty bitty monkeys. THOSE LITTLE ANIMALS WERE MAKING ALL THAT RACKET? Are you serious? I couldn’t believe my ears!! They were little black monkeys hanging around the trees and trying to climb closer to us in curiosity of their new found friends. The sounds died down as they swung the branches above and worked closer to us to explore us. We admired and ooed and awed and tried to coax them closer to us, but they would only go so far. Courtney took several photos, trying to zoom in as much as possible.

The gallery below features our photos:

Piggy Backing on Courtney’s Post: Zip Lining in Belize: Part 1 of 2: We headed to the zip-line area after the black out and we  were guided by a nice worker there to the area. Along the way, there was a large pavilion which at first I believed to be the zip-lining site, but this seems to be more of the “break” area for the zip-line workers there. We met Harrison and Kent. They were both really nice gentleman and extremely patient with us as Courtney attempted a couple of different ways to mount the camera on the helmet from the front. While Courtney worked on mounting the camera, Kent helped me gear up. Soon after, Harrison worked on Courtney and later allowed Courtney to use his personal helmet to try and mount the camera. After a few attempts and realizing he did not bring the zip ties, he mounted the camera with a few piece of duct tape and we continued on with our journey.

Harrison and Kent led us up a trail with a buncha stairs to our first launch site. They told us a few tricks to zip-line and then we were off! We soared from ramp to ramp above the Belize jungle. We soared, we laughed, we giggled, we squealed. It was an absolute blast and an incredible experience. I had been waiting years to do this. Since I was a little girl. It was everything I ever dreamed of. Although, I wish it lasted longer! It took us about 20-30 minutes to complete the course. But it was worth it!

Here are the photos. Look for video in the near future!

About the only downside to the trip to ATM was the tour group. Mayawalk is not a tour company I’d recommend to any potential tourists. I hate to say this, because their prices are cheaper than the competition, but the experience could have been far better with a better company. “Why,” might you ask? There were a number of shortcomings:
Liz was ill so she couldn’t go. They charged me a 50% cancelation fee, explaining that they’d already purchased a lunch for her, etc. The lunch, while tasty, cost $4US. I know this because I bought lunch from the same place they did the day before. No other sacrifices were made on their part. They definitely didn’t turn any potential guests away. I realize a cancelation fee is almost always applied, but this was unbelievable; especially because of their next ding.

The trip started after 9:00. The instructions were to be there by 7:30 for an 8:00 a.m. departure. Over an hour late, we finally got out. I sat and waited, and waited and waited.
Did I mention this was the Friday before the nation’s independence day? By the time we did leave, there were children’s school parades all over the city of San Ignacio. Every road in town was blocked or occupied by a parade or traffic. We didn’t actually make it out of San Ignacio until after 10:00. Did I mention Liz and I had to drive back to Belize City that night?

Running two hours late, our guide kindly informed us that the tour was typically, 2:30-3:00 in length. However, since we’d gotten off to such a late start, we’d be pressing for the 2:30 mark. I guess this helps me get back to poor Lizzy sooner, but what the heck? You delay me by two hours, and now you’re telling me you’re going to cut my tour short too?!

My headlamp had dead batteries. The guide hooked me up with a janky headlamp that provided a warm, orange glow. I couldn’t see anything with it. He didn’t replace it until halfway into the tour. He replaced the batteris with two equally weak batteries. Twenty minutes later, my warm orange glow looked more like a faint, dying star off in the distance. Finally, he managed to hook me up with strong batteries.

The guide’s spotlight had weak batteries. He tried to show us the first feature, and his spotlight barely illuminated it. He then declared that he would only provide minimal lighting in order to preserve the battery. “Better have your cameras at the ready, I’m only going to shine this for a few seconds.”

We were rushed through lunch, barely given time to taste it, let alone enjoy it.

We practically sprinted in and out of the jungle. Not that big of a deal, but I like to take pictures, and who knows what I could’ve spotted along the way given more time.

The other guests were being driven back to Belize City, so they traded the guide and I off onto this hoopty minivan. It took them five minutes and an inspection of the engine to get it started. I couldn’t get the seatbelt to function on it.

To the guides credit, he did tell a great story, and I did thoroughly enjoy the experience, despite the constant grumblings of one of the other guests. He still shared some interesting stories and described how the Maya may have interpreted different features of the cave, such as the sacrifice victims and the rock formations. I really wish I’d been able to make the POV function for that trip. Sans video, it was still an excellent narration and I can’t for the life of me, remember all of the details.

Deep into the cave we started to come across various pottery and other artifacts of the Maya. There were a variety of pots and other articles, some broken to bits, some with just minor breaks. The guide gave us a very detailed explanation of the orientations of the different pots. It was actually quite remarkable.

Pots are broken to release their spirit. The Mayan believed that each piece of pottery housed a spirit. The pottery is a vessel for carrying food and water for the ceremony or rite. Once the practice was concluded, the Mayan would break the pot’s open. Some pots only had a chip removed from the rim, whereas others were smashed to bits. I don’t know if the smashed pots were symbolic of some other activity, a result of enthusiastic Mayan ritual, time and nature, or accident as some clumsy visitor might have stepped on them.

Some groups of pots were arranged in a very particular way. The pots would be set up with one upright, one on it’s side and one upside down. They symbolize the pre ceremony, partaking in the bounty, and conclusion of the ceremony, respectively. These two pictures together show the three pots. Other pictures didn’t quite capture the full array, unfortunately. Look closely at the individual pot. There is a small, round hole. Unfortunately, the light is too intense to see the accompanying crack. This procedure had a lot of meaning, as well. Rather than break the pot, the Maya would punch a hole in it and send the fissure through the pot. I cannot recall the symbology; and an internet search didn’t help either.

The next picture shows a human relief carving. Our guide was quick to point out the four fingers and four toes. “This has great symbology,” he said. “It symbolizes how difficult it is to try to draw/carve five fingers.” We realized he was making a joke, but it really was the case. Making five fingers fit is hard!

We saw a number of skeletal remains as well. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to make a separate gallery. So that will have to wait until a future post.

Friday was our last full day in Belize, and supposed to feature the most exciting activity of the trip. Actun Tunichil Mucnal offers the lucky Belizean Traveler an opportunity to experience raw Mayan culture. Sure, there are Mayan descendents who still carry on some of the traditions of their ancestors. And there are many ruins that can be visited. But nothing that I am aware of remains as untouched by modern man as the ATM. The cave bears only the stains of human hands on the hundreds of stalagmites and stalagmites, a few pieces of orange tape, a rickety aluminum ladder and a single sign and wire protecting the crystal maiden.

The cave hasn’t been carved out. There are no light fixtures running through the cave. It’s just a tomb; and a testament to a very different spirituality. It’s a tough walk in for some and requires some climbing, stooping and tolerance for very cold water, a pair of socks and a sense of adventure.

I’m really glad I got to visit the cave. It’s a shame Lizzy missed out. I think she would have loved it.

The ATM is about 45 minutes from San Ignacio by car, followed by a 30 minute hike through the jungle and 3 river fords. I’d expected a wet and slopping adventure, but we were blessed with dry weather the entire time we were in Belize. It was, therefore, an easy walk in, but not very picturesque. I ran the POV during the walk in, but soon discovered that the lens had been breached and was fogging up from moisture. Turns out I was out of batteries and didn’t have a formatted SD card either, but those details aren’t important.

Next to the cave entrance sit a couple of partial shelters for people to store their lunches and gear they don’t worry about losing (nothing was stolen, but who would be there to witness?). We stashed our gear and walked down to the entrance serenaded by the cold induced shrill screams of the girl in the group in front of us. Apparently, her swimming had been limited to the bathtub hot water of the Caribbean. I got a couple of shots of the entrance before swimming in.

The cave entrance features a rock formation that looks like the profile of a man’s face. It’s very similar New Hampshie’s “Man in the Mountain.” The guide explained to us that this, the Mayan’s believed, was the god of water, looking out of the entrance of the cave. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of this feature. The underwater camera’s images all came out completely pixilated whenever I used the flash in the cave and I wasn’t ready to bust out the SLR in waste deep water.

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We climbed, ducked, crawled and sloshed our way through ½ mile of the darkest, blackest black I have ever experienced. I thought it was dark underwater at night. But this was dark. The dark seemed to swallow up the lights of the other visitors; as if their light was absorbed by the cave walls rather than reflected. Ten feet seemed like the extent of a flashlight’s range. This was so black, my thoughts were dark. Of course, that may have been inspired by the continuous complaining and sarcasm of one of my fellow guests – I don’t recall a single positive thing or utterance of enthusiasm come out of his mouth the entire time.

We got to one spot where the guide started to talk about how the Maya got in and out of the cave and what they would bring for their ceremonies. He had everyone turn out their light in front of a large row of stalactites. He spoke of the history of the Maya and then suddenly these wood chimes started to sound. It was really amazing and set the mood. The guide then turned on his own headlamp to show that he was actually creating the sounds by wrapping his knuckles on the hollow mineral formations! I am not a musician, so I don’t know tones or keys. But we were able to create several different notes from the row of stalactites. Ok, this is what I’d come here for!

At one point we came to a “room” that was massive. With twenty-something foot ceilings and a square footage in the thousands, it would have made for an amazing, earthy ball room! The walls were covered with mineral deposits from draining water. Many were smoothed from human hands, but most bore no marks of human interference. Several mighty columns connected the floor to the ceiling where stalactites and stalagmites met.

The cave is massive. We only touched about ½ mile of it. But in that short distance, we waded through water and over smooth, river stones, crouched down and squatted through tiny openings, slid narrow cracks and climbed over massive boulders. There were a few places where I wondered if I’d make it through. I’m a pretty big guy, especially compared to an ancient Mayan spelunker. Those guys probably had little difficulty making their way through.

I just wonder how they could handle going into those caves with burning torches! I suppose a torch has a pretty good burn time, but it’s burning. It isn’t exactly an easy tool to wield while twisting and turning and crawling through four miles of the blackest black there is. Let’s not forget about the water! Drop the torch in the chest (or for them, maybe forehead) deep water and it gets awfully dark, very quickly.

I promise, the pictures get better.