Belize 3 – Fri – ATM cave

After our day to settle into San Ignacio, we were scheduled to visit the Achtun Tunichil Muchnal cave with Pacz tours.  Unfortunately, the rainy season had extended way past normal in Belize, and the cave was closed.  We met several families who missed out on it and I was beginning to get quite nervous for our family.  We were expecting a call from Bob at pacz tours by 7 am to tell us whether it was a go or not.  But by 7:30, still no call.  So I called them… it was a go!!  With the weather being completely clear on Thursday and with evidently lighter rains on Wednesday, the cave opened up for the first time in 3 weeks on Friday morn.  Our driver and guide, Poncho, aka Francisco, picked us up at 8:15 at our hotel.  Francisco ran us through a quick checklist, including closed toes shoes, which I didn’t have, but Bob had previously given me clearance and said I’d be OK if I was careful.  There were 2 others in our group a mid-20’s brother and sister travelling together.  We drove down to a little restaurant in San Ignacio just under the old bridge (built in 1941) where Francisco picked up some water and his lunch burrito.  He told us later that the last MAJOR (class 5) hurricane to come through was in 1961, which took the water level to within one foot of the bridge.  All of San Ignacio’s town center was completely underwater even though there are dams upriver that help to moderate the water level.

Speaking of water level, I was inquiring of Bob later the odds of driving to either of the closer Mayan ruins later in the week, Caracol or Xunantunich, my concern being the abnormal amount of rain they’d gotten.  He said Caracol is a doable drive with 4 wheel, which our rental has.  But with the rains, you’ll have to judge for yourself and turn around if needed.  Xunantunich is actually just 10 minutes out of San Ignacio, only problem is there’s a ferry across the river.  Now the funny thing is they recently installed a new modern ferry, but the design of the modern ferry is much less tolerant of the water levels, and the ferry remains closed until water levels fall further.  He said with the old ferry, it would’ve already been open.  Turns out these attractions being closed, especially ATM which is a major destination, can put a big dent in the pockets of the guides.  Pacz had to turn away folks for 3 weeks, much of that during the busy season.  Francisco reports that he regularly works on Christmas day, usually 2 trips a day at that point, cuz it is so popular.  Having heard that I was grateful to get out early Friday before it got super busy.  There were only 4 or 5 vans in the parking lot when we pulled in. 

The drive itself was about 20 minutes on the highway and 40 minutes on the side road… Francisco pointed out the Mayan’s sacred ceiba tree, and explained why the Gibbon became the Royal Gibbon (served to Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Belize in 1986), and spoke of the major and minor hurricanes that have come through, including a very recent (10 years ago?) brush with a class 6 hurricane projected to make landfall in Belize, but drifted north.  He pointed out Teak farms and Mahogany farms, where the trees, despite the hilly terrain, were planted in such symmetry that they’d perfectly line up in several different directions as we drove by.  Being in the hurricane zone, he said the teak and mahogany farms are a gamble.  Cuz it takes 20 to 30 years for teak to be harvested, and 60 years for mahogany!  He also pointed out the minimal amount of topsoil available, so they don’t have a great footing.  Seems like a bad bet to me.  But the payoff can be ridiculous… Currently a mature mahogany tree could sell for 60k or more! 

At one point we drove through a ditch of water that probably covered most of our tires.  And later we drove across a wooden bridge that he said was probably underwater the night before.

Francisco passed out our lunches, which Kate and I packed into the 2 shoulder bags we’d brought. He also passed out helmets to each of us, and brought us together and reminded us of the responsibility we had to respect this sacred place and listen to his directions. He would keep us safe, but only if we listened to him.

Wished I’d have gotten more photos of this day as it was the most fun I’ve had so far.  (the kids loved it too).  But cameras are no longer allowed into ATM cave… will explain later.  So at this point I’ll rely on photos I found on the web.

The hike back to the cave was about 45 minutes.  A relatively well maintained trail, though with all the rain quite muddy.  Francisco directed us to step directly in the mud and not off to the edge where the snakes could be hiding and it was more likely you would slip and fall because of the angle of the path.  The kids needed little encouragement to play in the mud, and with 3 river crossings, there really was little harm, though I myself attempted to keep clean by cautiously placing my foot whenever we hit mud.  He lead us at a brisk pace back, explaining that the weather could change at any moment and we may be asked to leave early should that happen, so time was of the essence, especially given the rains they’d recently had.

Zeke noticed at the first river crossing that a woman in the group ahead of us had a GoPro strapped to the top of her head.  I was hoping Francisco would allow us to bring ours to the mouth of the cave, but he did not.  When we pointed out the girl’s GoPro, he said that shouldn’t be happening.  We found out later that he was the most experienced of the guides and probably followed the rules most strictly.  No biggie.

With the water levels so high, we didn’t experience anything this easy.
All of our crossings were waste deep or more.  The water at the first crossing was so deep that Zeke had to carry the food above his head to keep it dry, while I made sure our most precious cargo, Maeve and even Theo didn’t go downstream.  Though Francisco had me covered should I fail.  The current was strong enough that you really did need to take your time, and find your next step, all the time leaning your body into the current of the river, and in my case, dragging a little Maeve with me and trying to keep behind Theo should his footing fail.

The 2nd crossing was perhaps the most difficult given the heavy rains.  It was shallower, but strong water current and many rocks underfoot made it a struggle.  The target on the far shore was about 20 feet upstream from our entrance.  The group ahead of us just worked diagonally across the river.  Francisco showed us the easier way.  He lead us directly upstream so that we could directly face the current while we battled it.  We walked past the departure point on the opposite shore, and then as we crossed, didn’t need to battle the current as much, allowing ourselves to lose some ground.  I’ve always prided myself on my balance and sure-footedness.  But through these experiences (including the falls in the dominican republic) I’ve found that my sure footedness is severely compromised when I’m wearing big sandles on my feet and the water current is high.  This crossing Maeve had decided she’d rather piggy back.  Sure enough, with Maeve piggy backing and repeatedly chanting “I’m not going to get wet, I’m not going to …”, I lost my balance and we went down.  Nothing major, but we got soaked.  Maeve and I both laughed.  She jinxed us. 

The third river crossing was much more tame, about chest high and without the major rocks.  After crossing, Francisco announced only 30 more minutes,  as we stood confused trying to process exactly how long we’d already been out there… seemed like we’d already been going at least 30, maybe 40 minutes already.  Enjoying our confused faces, he corrected his “mistake”… did I say 30 minutes… Oh, I meant 30 seconds.  And just around the bend stood several man-made shelters including a few picnic tables under the roofs, as well as nails to hang our bags up on off the ground.  And a campfire used for overnights.  I had asked Bob about the overnight, which included a repel down a 100’ cliff face, but with the kids and the season he guided me away from it.  Glad he did, our kids were worn out after the cave adventure.

At this point Francisco passed out the head lights which fit neatly into our helmets, we then headed over to the mouth of the cave, and lined up behind another group at the stairs leading down to the cave.  He’d been judging our abilities as we’d crossed the rivers and lined us up in a certain order so that we’d be most able to help each other.  He placed Maeve directly between he and I, with Jane directly after me followed by Kate, Theo was sandwiched between the brother sister pair, with Zeke bringing up the rear.  He said he would inform the next person in line of any danger or advantage in progressing through the cave, e.g. a good hand or foot hold, and they were responsible for passing it onto the next person as they reached that point.  He also pointed out that we’d be travelling only 1 of the 5 km of the cave. 

We were actually entering the cave at the water’s exit and would be working upstream as we entered.  I thought for certain, Maeve, our weakest swimmer, would be able to make it, but I forgot how little she uses her arms and with sandles on her feet, her powerful legs were much less effective.  Francisco allowed her the opportunity to make the swim herself, but was well prepared with a rope that he threw out to pull her in when she wasn’t progressing.  Then it was my turn to experience the current, being the 2nd weakest swimmer in our family, and the heavy rains, I can tell you that I had to catch my breath when I reached the rock landing within the mouth of the cave.

I was Maeve’s help through the early portion of our trip, soon learning from Francisco that the major danger in the cave were the hidden large rocks in the water which were too easy to bang your knees on.  This was the most common message relayed down the line, that and don’t touch the formation right or left, or stay right or left for the shallowest walk.  Several times we were in a full swim.  There were only a few spots where the passage was this narrow.

We hit a small batch of bats just inside the cave, but no other bats.  It was fun just getting to our destination, stopping in major caverns as they came up and enjoying the stalactite and stalagmite formations, which once connected are called columns.  This was called a curtain stalactite.

By mid-trip, Maeve had glommed onto Francisco and had fully taken him up on his offering to ride on his backpack.  I say Maeve glommed onto Francisco, but I suspect Francisco was also enjoying Maeve as he has a boy of his own the exact same age.  They would sometimes get further ahead as I assisted Jane through some of the more dangerous rock areas.  And I could hear Maeve’s near constant chitter-chatter up ahead.  This has always been Maeve, but Zeke and I noticed it acutely this past summer when he and I went out golfing together.  A special occasion as he is just beginning to golf and I haven’t been out for more than a year.  Maeve was our ‘caddy’, just walking along.  Zeke pointed out she maybe wouldn’t be a great caddy for real given her constant chitter-chatter.  Mid backswing… “hey tiger, why do you have a stuffed animal on your golf club?… hey tiger…”  Now, whenever Maeve is jib-jabbering all we need say to each other is “hey tiger” and we both fall back to that fun day on the golf course.

As we were nearing our 1km limit, our journey changed.   We needed to begin our ascent out of the underground river.  At this point we climbed up a large rock that allowed us access to a ledge.  The ledge had a steep but navigable slope that lead us further up to an area where we removed our shoes.  Even further up the cave opened into a large area and we saw our first Mayan artifacts.  Francisco began asking us a series of questions, what do you notice about these pots.  They’re all broken.  All that he explained he prefaced with we believe, we don’t know.  For example, through studying many Mayan ruins, we believe that these pots were brought in (the same journey we made… but instead of flashlights, they carried pine torches) full of the season’s harvest or spices, and were broken during their ceremonial offering to their Gods.  He lead us to the belief that the Mayans grew ever more desperate for water… possibly the reason their civilization severely declined from the once million that inhabited the area to the handful of villagers still surviving from the Mayan bloodline.  To wrap our heads around those numbers, currently San Ignacio / Santa Elena total 17k.  Mayans had 100k in that same area.  BTW, currently Belize is one of the least populated countries in the world.  Anyway, back to the cave.  They think water was involved, because many of the pots were broken in low lying pools of water.  Even though this area of the cave was out of the stream, it had a near constant slow flow of water, which we definitely saw with our current high water levels.  Francisco went onto explain that only those of the highest caste were allowed to enter the cave, this included the religious figures of their society, including male and female.  They believe that sacrifices included blood letting.  Females, through their tongues and ears, and cheeks.  Males sometimes through their genitalia.  The ceremonies often/always were aided with some sort of hallucinogenic drug, either mushrooms or frog poison or alcohol.  Francisco asked us to describe the cave.  One of our kids immediately responded Scary… that was the word he was hoping for… He added imagine how much scarier this would’ve been had you been if you weren’t  in complete control of your senses.  He pointed out 3 cornerstones surrounding a broken pot and explained these were likely holding a tripod to support a container above the fire.  A little further up we came upon our first human remain, at this point Francisco explained that the Mayans used body altering practices, but only for the highest castes.  They would tied a flat board to a young child to flatten his forehead, as well as inlay into their teeth and file their incisors.  In addition, and this is the hardest to understand, they would attempt to make their children cross-eyed by wearing a dangling jewel from their forehead in front of their eyes.  He explained it sounds odd to us, but no more odd than what people often do to themselves today to make themselves more beautiful, including cosmetic surgery.

Francisco said there were so far 14 human remains discovered in the cave.  The number of pots must’ve been surpassing a thousand.  And that’s just what could currently be seen… Remember this is under 1400 years of calcification if not more.  As I mentioned before many of the pots were broken in low-lying water touched areas.  These would’ve been an offering to Chac, their water god.  Others were left up on higher ledges where the water flow would’v never touched them.  These were an offering to their underworld, aka Xibalba, queen, Ixchel.  One of the common formations for these dry offerings was 3 broken pots.  One upright, one upside down and one sideways.  Possibly in an attempt to cover all their bases… Upperworld (heaven), Middleworld (earth), and underworld (hell).

A little further up the same cavern was this pot:

Only 7 other pots have been found with this marking in all of the Mayan ruins in any country.  We were asked to guess what it was.  Maybe a face with crazy hair, a person doing a handstand, Tattaduende (the 4 toed/fingered servant of the Mayans)?  He said archeologists believe it is a monkey and therefore this is called the monkey pot.  But any one of us could be right… we just don’t know.  I like to think of it as Tattaduende. 

Later, he brought us to a similar tripod formation and asked us to shut off our lights.  We stood in the pitch black as he turned on his more powerful flashlight from behind his back.  He’d aligned himself directly between the fire and the formation so that we could see how the fire would have lit it.  From that angle one could clearly see the outline of Ixchel, the queen of the underworld.  The he said imagine  how this must’ve appeared under the dancing light of the fire and the drugs.

We ascended still further and found more human remains.  They were heavily coated with calcium deposits.  Francisco explained that these had likely been moved by the water flow and were called a secondary burial site.  Further ascent lead us to a flat area of water pools called the cathedral chamber.  In our socks we were careful to never step into the pools of water, rather stay on the top edges of the formations, as this was much less likely to damage the formations.  At the end of the chamber, was a 15’ long aluminum ladder (would’ve liked to have seen how they carried that in!) that assisted our final ascent.  We all climbed up and waited at the side out of earshot and eyeshot of the group finishing in front of us;  Then Francisco lead us back past a final rock formation to a corner where 2 human remains were found in their primary (undisturbed) burial site.  One was believed to have been a bound prisoner, the skull was partially smashed by some tourist dropping their camera on it, which directly lead to the banning of cameras in the cave.  It makes sense really, not only for the direct damage a camera can cause if dropped, but also for the foot damage that can be caused as you step back to frame your shot inattentive to what might be lying behind you, and crack, you’ve stepped onto or kicked an artifact.

The final primary burial remain was the reason the cave got its name.  In this photo it is dry, but when we saw it, it was mostly covered in water, if not completely covered.  Again, we visited the cave after an extended rainy season.  The first time the cave was officially open to tours in 3 weeks.  So we were definitely seeing the cave at its wettest.
      

At one point I said to Zeke, I’d like to relax here, turn off the lights and maybe take a nap.  He thought that quite odd, given the dead people everywhere.  hmmm… maybe I am odd.  I remember hand digging a grave for my dog on a very hot summer day, and just stopped to get out of the heat, noticing the bottom of the hole I’d dug, about 4 or 5 feet deep, was cool and comforting.  I lied down at the bottom feeling the coolness of the earth, with the edge of the earth giving focus to the clouds that passed above.  So relaxing… guessing he’d think this was odd too.  hmmm…

Our trip out was much faster.  We needed to take our time on the climb descent, but once we hit the water, the current really aided our exit.  Several times we were free-floating down the current.  Near the exit was our first glimpse of daylight in nearly 2 or 3 hours.  A small opening in the roof of the cave, that looked climbable.  The light was so dim, it could’ve been missed.

Closer to the exit of the cave, Francisco deviated from our entrance path to give us a safer exit without having to descend down some of the rocks we’d climbed.  The only catch, we needed to carefully put our throats at the point of this rock and then turn our heads sideways to fit the helmet through.  Normally Francisco could do this maneuver with his safety buoyancy vest on, but water levels so high he needed to first remove his vest.  I noticed as he submerged his mouth into the current.  Kate, who wasn’t much later in the line, reported she hadn’t needed to put her face in the water, but had to really push her chest through, which indicated to me that perhaps our message system had failed.  I had no problems, but I was able to watch Francisco firsthand.

Note how much higher our water levels were than here.  The water was up to our mouths.

Not much later we were able to once again see the daylight of the cave entrance.  Such a relaxing place, would’ve loved to have stayed and just sat for 30 minutes enjoying the solitude of the cave mouth and the beauty of the forest just beyond.  (after I sent ‘hey tiger’ out of the cave with Francisco, of course ;-)

At the campfire, as we ate our lunch, Francisco had told us a few stories about Tataduende.  He said he was known as a servant to the Mayans, so it makes sense that there’d been a few sightings, aka bigfoot, around this cave.

He also told us he’d been guiding the ATM cave for 11 years, and was only 1 of 2 licensed for overnight stays.  He rattled off a list of television shows he’d hosted, including Bear Grylls, Some ghostfinders show and a handful of others.  Found this cool shot off the web.  That’s Francisco, aka Pancho on the left.  The other 2 guides were certainly Francisco’s “brothers”.  Every guide we met up with he’d introduce as his brother.  I was surprised at the first 2, but by the 4th, 5th, 6th, I’d realied these weren’t blood brothers.  More like brothers in the trade.  We joked that later we’d bump into the rest of his family guiding through the cave, including his mother and maybe grandmother leading a group.

This is a panorama of the parking lot area before/after the 40 minute trail.  Like I said, the drive itself was an adventure and the area was just gorgeous.

Zeke got this shot of us on our drive home.

Maeve took this ‘secret’ shot of some friends pulling their horses up to the local watering hole.