The first cave we did is called Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM Cave). The ATM Cave starts with a 45 minute long hike through the jungle and wading across 3 rivers along the way, the cave itself involves swimming, wading and scrambling along the underground river to a large cathedral containing ancient Mayan pottery and fireplaces, then climbing a ladder into a small room that contains the full skeletal remains of an ancient human sacrifice known as the Crystal Maiden. The calcified skeletal remains of the Crystal Maiden have a sparkling and haunting appearance. If you have never done any caving before, I highly recommend the ATM Cave as a first cave experience, it has everything an adventurous traveler could ask for: physical challenge, mineral formations, mystery and archeological artifacts that seem like they are straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. Unfortunately, last year a tourist damaged a Mayan skull when he dropped the lens of his camera on it (Luckily not the skull of the Crystal Maiden, but still horrible for the archeological society!) and now as a result of that incident photography is not allowed inside the cave (click here if you would like to see images and read more about the ATM Cave).
The day after completing the ATM Cave we hired the same company to guide us in the Crystal Cave which is located in the Blue Hole National Park (not the same Blue Hole as the one in the ocean where divers go). We heard about the Crystal Cave from some of the guys who worked at the lodge we were staying at. Some of them are avid cavers and recommended Crystal Cave as one of their favorites in Belize. The Crystal Cave is a dry cave, which means it does not have a river running through it, and requires more physical challenging caving techniques, as a result it is not as widely known to the tourist circuit as they tend not to advertise it so aggressively. We were warned in advance, very ominously, that getting to the cave requires at least 1 hour of strenuous hiking followed by several hours of gruelling caving. No food is allowed inside the cave and nothing can be left behind (to spare you the major details plastic bottles would be used for liquids and ziploc bags for solids, see my post on amusing toilets and cave burritos here). Great! we said Sign us up!
The 1 hour strenuous hike from the parking lot to the mouth of the cave turned out to be about 25 minutes of hiking through a muddy, mosquito infested forest with one hill that was sustained for about 10-15 minutes. I said that it would not be a true adventure until at least one of us slipped and fell into the mud, something that didn't happen until the return trip when both Scott and I fell into the mud on the downhill section within about 30 seconds of each other. Once we reached the mouth of the cave a rope was fixed to assist with the 15 foot downhill scramble into the cave. We didn't need to rappel, the rope really was not totally necessary but there for comfort or reassurance just in case.
Entering the cave
Once in the opening of the cave we ate our sandwiches and hid the backpacks, taking only water, some basic supplies and our camera. We spent the next 3-4 hours exploring the cave. Scott and I are normally alone to fend for ourselves when we go adventuring so having two guides (1:1 ratio) was a huge luxury! The guides Glis and Miguel were so nice and helpful! The whole way they would say "put your hand on this rock", demonstrate how to navigate a section, "don't step there", "be careful this rock is loose", and joke when we saw a stalagmite "don't sit down" or pretend they were lost and say "do you see the yellow arrows?". When traveling in a foreign country we prefer to hire local guides whenever possible. The locals are normally very proud to share their country with you, it contributes to the local job market and they can give you a lot of information from a perspective that you might not get in a book or from someone who is transient, is only there temporarily and has not grown up in the area with the local customs. It was apparent right from the beginning that our guides loved their country, heritage and traditions, and they loved caving.
With our cave guides Glis and Miguel
The Crystal Cave does not contain any complete skeletal remains (such as the Crystal Maiden in the ATM Cave), but does contain many pieces of Mayan pottery, evidences of fireplaces and partial human remains. The narrow passages that open up into grand cathedrals containing massive stalactite and stalagmite formations that all seem to shimmer in the light of your headlamp are truly awe inspiring. Even the walls of the cave seem to sparkle like gold.
Going through a tight passage
Scott squeezing through a narrow section
Much of the cave sparkles like gold
People have asked me what it is like inside the cave (besides muddy and damp). It's dark. As dark as you can imagine, maybe darker. We sat down and turned our headlamps off for a few minutes and could not even slightly see our own hands in front of our faces. It's an eerie feeling. There are some tight spaces, but the vast cathedrals are even more surprising. They are absolutely huge! It is hard to imagine there is an entirely different world underground and we are often barely even aware of it when above ground. The shadows from the lamps and mineral formations make the whole experience seem mystical and supernatural. Another question I have been asked: Does the cave have creatures or insects? Yes, but we didn't see very many. We saw a couple of bats and some really large spiders (larger than my hand), those were all closer to the opening of the cave. As you go deeper into the cave you start to see these transparent little creatures that were supposed to be some type of lice. The environment is totally void of light so these insects are almost completely transparent.
This sparkling chandelier stalactite is probably the size of a Volkswagen Beetle
A human skull with the first few vertebrae, making archeologists believe that it might have been a decapitated head of a human sacrifice
Ancient Mayan pottery and tools (such as obsidian)
All of the artifacts are at least 1000 years old
We finally got to a section in the cave where the guide said that is normally where the tourists turn around and go back and asked if we would like to go back or continue to the area they call Wonderland? Would we like to continue? Was there ever a question about that? We replied. Glis explained that there weren't any Mayan artifacts in that part of the cave but even more marvellous mineral formations. There would be some scrambling, followed by a section of clay (where we could slide down on our butts) and then for the next part we would have to remove our shoes and go barefoot. He explained that it would take about 40 minutes to get to Wonderland from where we were. About 20 minutes later we were sitting in the area they call Wonderland. Our pictures didn't really do it justice because some of the formations were so big it was hard to take good picture with our little point and shoot camera and there was a lot of humidity. I can understand why they call it Wonderland, you really do feel a sense of wonder like you are in another world. Way in the back there are the remains of a snake which is a bit of a mystery because they do not know why a snake would go so far back into a cave with no food source.
Some of the mineral formations resemble icicles
The skeletal remains of a snake - who knows why it came here to die or how long ago!
It is easy to see why the ancient Mayans thought that caves were the passage to the underworld
After our experience in the cave we emerged from the underworld back into the sunlight, mosquitos, and heat of the day. Our hike back to the parking lot is when Scott and I both wiped out in the mud, but it didn't really matter at that point because we were already covered in mud anyways. Glis made us sit on a plastic bag in backseat of the car! They drove us to the Blue Hole cenote for a "swim" but we suspected that their real motivation was to wash us off. Either way a refreshing swim in the cenote was the perfect way to conclude our adventure.
