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.

[gallery]
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.