May 31, 2006
Visit the Mayan underworld.
A variation of caving tours (with or without tubing) are offered in San Ignacio to different cave systems and different rivers. We booked ours through Eva's restaurant (check out the poster on the wall).
A VERY popular option, fully booked almost every day, is the ATM (Aktun Tunichil Muknal) cave tour, which involves some fairly heavy-duty scrambling through narrow passages, leading to a Maya burial cave, complete with skeletons. Only two companies are licenced to do this tour and there is some discussion about the effects of heavy tourism traffic on the fragile remains.
The tour we chose, to the Cave Branch System, was a little more 'tame' (no skeletons anyway...) but exciting enough in itself. It starts out with a half-hour hike (carrying your inner tube) through the jungle to your put-in point. On the hike several plants and their uses were explained to us. Then you get to the impressive entrance to the cave for your float. The water is incredibly clear. At first, you can see reasonably well because of the light coming in from the entrance, then it gets pitch black (try turning off your headlights!). About halfway, you make a side trip to visit the Maya 'place of fright', the underworld, or Xibalba, where certain rituals were performed. Broken pottery can still be seen strewn around. This was not a place of burial because no grave-offerings have been found. It is believed that these caves were used to undergo certain 'tests', only Mayas who withstood these tests would be deemed 'worthy' of holding high office.
After about 2 hours inside of the cave, you emerge to float about half an hour through the jungle finishing off where you started.
Tip: water/beach shoes are very useful on this trip instead of sneakers.
A VERY popular option, fully booked almost every day, is the ATM (Aktun Tunichil Muknal) cave tour, which involves some fairly heavy-duty scrambling through narrow passages, leading to a Maya burial cave, complete with skeletons. Only two companies are licenced to do this tour and there is some discussion about the effects of heavy tourism traffic on the fragile remains.
The tour we chose, to the Cave Branch System, was a little more 'tame' (no skeletons anyway...) but exciting enough in itself. It starts out with a half-hour hike (carrying your inner tube) through the jungle to your put-in point. On the hike several plants and their uses were explained to us. Then you get to the impressive entrance to the cave for your float. The water is incredibly clear. At first, you can see reasonably well because of the light coming in from the entrance, then it gets pitch black (try turning off your headlights!). About halfway, you make a side trip to visit the Maya 'place of fright', the underworld, or Xibalba, where certain rituals were performed. Broken pottery can still be seen strewn around. This was not a place of burial because no grave-offerings have been found. It is believed that these caves were used to undergo certain 'tests', only Mayas who withstood these tests would be deemed 'worthy' of holding high office.
After about 2 hours inside of the cave, you emerge to float about half an hour through the jungle finishing off where you started.
Tip: water/beach shoes are very useful on this trip instead of sneakers.
Mayan pottery inside the cave
River leading into the 'underwor...
The entry into Xibalba
And this is the river coming out...
