28/12/2023
📍ACTUN TUNICHIL MUKNAL (ATM) CAVE - BELIZE
The ATM cave in Belize is rated the #1 sacred cave in the world by National Geographic. This massive underground cavern extends for 5.5 kilometers, although you only do a portion of this on your tour.
The tour starts out with a 45 minute trek through the jungle on dirt paths. This walk includes 3 river crossings, where you get fully soaked with water. The entrance to the cave is a scenic pool where you swim inside and marvel at the limestone formations as the cave opens up around you. This will be your last glimpse of sky and the outside world for about 3-3.5 hours, as you enter the Mayan underworld of Xibalba.
Once inside the cave, more adventure awaits as you have to wade and swim through water (some of which is flowing down the rocks in small waterfalls), climb natural rock formations, and squeeze through small crevices. All the while, you are treated to the most magnificent rock formations that have come into existence over millions of years. As you go deeper into the cave, the colors of the rock become more vibrant, as they aren’t exposed to natural light. You can glimpse formations that are marbled red and white or black and white, green, white, or sparkling due to the different minerals present.
After the trek through the cavern, you come to “the elevator,” a large rock that you have to climb up on and step onto a ledge into the ”Cathedral.” This part of the cave opens up with soaring ceilings and large expanses - you must take off your shoes for this part of the tour to protect the thousand-year-old artifacts located in this sacred place.
Pottery and stoneware can be seen in abundance throughout the cathedral area, some of which has calcified to the floor over hundreds of years. There are no physical barriers preventing you from stepping near these artifacts so you are encouraged to step with care and mind the flag tape on the ground marking off important pieces. I was a foot away from a large clay pot (but resisted the urge to touch, I promise!).
With all of the preserved relics, this site is of archaeological importance and is protected. Only 125 guests tickets are sold each day and there are only 25 guides who are specifically trained to take tourists in.
As you go deeper into the Cathedral, you begin to see skeletal remains which have been sacrificed to the gods. There are also pieces of pottery sitting upside down with a hole in the bottom (incense would be lit and covered with the pot so smoke could escape out of the hole and snake upwards like a serpent - also for ceremonial purposes).
After more tight squeezes and literally climbing on gypsum formations, you ascend to the end of the cave for the real showstopper: the Crystal Maiden - an intact skeleton that has been calcified so it looks like the bones are sparkling gemstones. The name is a bit of a misnomer, as the remains are now actually believed to be male.
After your adventure through the cave, you must now do the whole thing again in reverse - go back out of the cathedral, don your shoes and climb down the elevator, traverse through the lower part of the cave to the entrance, and walk 45 minutes back to the main entrance. By this time, you truly feel as if you have been to the underworld and back!
**None of these photos are mine - all found on Google. Cameras were banned in the cave after tourists damaged skeletal remains with cameras in the past.
