Actun Tunichil Muknal

Imagine you’re living 1000 years ago as a Mayan prince who is preparing to enter into   the underworld. You’ve been preparing for 260 days and fasting for the past 3 weeks. You make the long journey through the jungles of Central America to the entrance of the underworld. Actun Tunichil Muknal, the cave you must enter is before you. It’s entrance waters, turquoise, like the jade beads around your neck. This is where you must go and meet the 9 gods of the underworld, to perform a sacred Mayan ritual of bloodletting or even human sacrifice.
            On the first morning of June our small group got to experience a small piece of what ancient Mayan princes, shamans and nobles would experience when they would enter into the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave. Or as everyone calls it here, ATM cave.
            The ATM cave is one of Belize’s most well known adventuring destinations. It certainly wasn’t for the faint of heart, nor those with a weak mind. It certainly is a test of your mental strength as it’s claustrophobic caverns envelope you in a cool blanket of blackness. However if you manage to face your internal fears it rewards you with a myriad of amazing geological formations and an archaeological treasure trove.

            When we got to Belize ATM was one of the things most recommended to us to do while we were here. So Saturday morning we left at 7:00 AM and met with our guide Luis who would drive us out to where we’d start the hike to the cave. I had heard before that there were a lot of small passageways and cracks that people would have to squeeze through so I had been somewhat nervous to embark on this tour but Luis was a bigger guy with a nice big beer belly so I was somewhat relieved.
            When we got to the parking area we headed out on the 45 min hike through the jungle to get to the cave. The hike was relatively easy and Luis showed us some wildlife along the way like leaf cutter ants and basilisk lizards. He warned us several times about snakes and how they would kill us if we were bit. However he failed to mention what color they were or what to watch out for until the end of the hike. We crossed through a river at 3 different points until we finally reached the picnic area where groups coming out of the cave would scarf down any food they could find.

            Luis attached headlamps to our helmets (safety first) and then we all headed to the mouth of the cave. The cave itself was seriously something out of a story or even Indiana Jones. Jungle vines crept down the sides and the water was a light turquoise blue and so clear. We jumped in one after the other and the water was cold. It was a nice feeling after being in a hot jungle for the past hour.

            Oddly enough the look and feel of being just inside the cave was so surreal I couldn’t quite comprehend that we were actually going inside a real cave. It almost felt like something you’d see at Disneyland. We turned on our headlamps and delved into the inner workings of this ancient cave.
            For the majority of the journey we were in water that was anywhere from knee deep to sometimes your neck. Climbing up rocks took a bit of upper body strength and positioning of your hands and feet was key in making sure you didn’t slip and cut yourself on the jagged rocks that surrounded you.

            At one point I was second in the procession with Kyle ahead of me and Luis calling out to us from the back. He told us to go through a certain spot that was not size friendly at all. The hole he wanted us to squeeze through demanded that we first squat, turn our bodies and wriggle through the hole to the other side. After seeing Kyle do it I saw the size of the hole relative to him and knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. I had a moment where a huge fear of mine came to a realization and I started to have a panic attack. The fear of being trapped in a confined space underground with no way of being rescued is a huge fear of mine and seeing that little passageway and the rest of my group squeeze through it set me off. I had to let the others go before me and was trying to calm myself down. Claustrophobia set in quickly and I had to work harder to calm myself down and tell myself that I could do it. After all, the majority of challenging things like this were mental.

            Luis was a good guide and he saw that I was struggling mentally with this part so he showed me a much easier way to get to the same area as the rest of the group. Soon I was away from that awful feeling of being trapped and in a wide hallway that led deeper into the bowels of the cave. We stopped for a moment and Luis told us of how the Mayans regarded caves as sacred and as entranceways to the Underworld. I could see how the Mayans would think that. Everything about the inside of the cave was unlike the outside open air. It literally felt as if we were in a different world. And with the help of hallucinogens the Mayans would soon cross over into the spirit underworld to commune with their gods for answers they were seeking.

            After the short break we continued on again and Luis showed us some cool rock formations that the Maya had configured using the stalactites and rock structures to look like a giant head’s shadow when hit with light from the angle of someone approaching. These configurations were used to frighten away the unworthy or those that had no purpose in being there. In all honesty if I hadn’t known where the shadow was coming from I would have been creeped out as well.     

            We worked through more twists and turns in the cave wading through ice cold water. Finally we reached a rock where we climbed up to reach the dry cavern. This is where we would take off our shoes and either go barefoot or put on socks. The reason they have us do this is to reduce the impact people made on the portion of the cave where the artifacts were found. We climbed up a bit and saw our first pieces of ancient pottery. Luis explained a bit to us what they were and then we moved on to the next portion.

            This is where I was faced with the second small opening. Although this one wasn’t as intimidating as the first I managed to psych myself up to go through all the while being encouraged by my group, which helped a lot. Coming out of the opening was a huge cavern filled with stalactites, stalagmites, and columns and of course more ancient relics. This was seriously something you’d only see in movies but here it was right in front of us. Thousand-year-old artifacts inside an ancient cave millions of years old right in the middle of the jungle. Again it was surreal.
            Luis told us more stories and explained the ancient pieces of pottery from sacred rituals done by the Maya a thousand years ago. It was amazing to hear the stories and explanations to these archaeological findings. He explained the patterns in each small site they’d find in the cave and the meanings behind them. For example the 3 stones placed around a pot represented the 3 previous creations which all centered on the 4^th creation (our creation) and how they would pour the energy of the previous ones into the center. I don’t remember all of what he told us but it’s definitely interesting stuff.

            We were also shown a few skulls from humans that had been sacrificed in the caves. I’ve seen skulls before but this was the first time that I’ve seen them not behind glass and actually right at my feet. In their original position from when they died. One skull you could see had the flattened forehead that I had read about many years ago. That was cool to see the actual flatness in the bone structure. Luis said this wasn’t a form of beauty as I had previously thought, but purely a religious practice.

The third challenge for me came in the form of a ladder that went up to another shaft in the cave. I hate heights and took my time getting up and around the large rock that blocked the upper portion of the ladder. However at the top we were greeted by a full skeleton still in its religious pose from when the young 18 year old had died. Next to his skeleton we saw the skull that had been broken from a clumsy tourist last year. That incident prompted the archaeological society to ban cameras from the cave.

We made our way out of the dry cavern back to our shoes so we could once again plunge into the cold waters to make our way out of the cave. On our way back Luis had us line up and grab each other’s shoulders. Then we turned out our headlamps and we were quickly captured by the darkness’ clammy grasp. It was black. I know people say how black it can get in caves but I’ve never experienced it for myself until now. At one point I couldn’t tell if I had my eyes open or closed. It wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. We walked single file for about 50 meters or so until a faint light from an opening in the cave’s ceiling came into view. It was a cool experience and we really had to trust the person in front of us.

After a few more minutes we were back at the opening and swam out to where we had started. The ATM cave was an amazing once in a lifetime experience. I would love to go back through with a geologist to view the amazing geology that was inside as well. There is so much to learn in there. I’m so glad I pushed myself mentally and had the encouragement from my group the whole way. Also I was shocked at the physical parts I was able to do as well. All in all it was an awesome experience that I would highly recommend to anyone willing to risk their lives for an amazing adventure.