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Well I probably have a Mayan curse now… but it was worth it!

We woke up early and began our trek to the Actun Tunichil Muknal caves. The ATM caves were used by the Mayan’s for blood lettings and human sacrifices. When we arrived at the entrance to the historical site, we had to hike to the cave. We got to make three river crossings! It was really fun to swim across the rivers fully dressed in a hard hat. Unfortunately, they did not let us bring cameras on this expedition in order to protect the artifacts in the cave.

When we got to the cave, we swam into the entrance throughout the cave. The water was so cold! We had to squeeze through tiny spaces, scamper down waterfalls, and climb giant rock walls in order to get to the old relics. I honestly don’t believe that we could do this in the United States. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done!

After a wet trek into the cave, we reached a large cavern and had to scale a giant rock wall. Then, we entered the giant open space that contained the majority of the relics. We saw allot of old pots that were used by the Mayans for sacrifices to the gods! There were also a few skeletal remains in the cave. One of them, had an alien shaped head that was caused by Hydrocephalus! We also got to see the crystal princess aka the crystal prince after forensic scientists discovered that the skeleton was male. The crystal prince is a complete skeleton of a sixteen-year-old Mayan.

As we were leaving the ATM caves, it began to rain. On the hike back, I saw Smilisca baudinii ( The mexican tree frog) hoping across the path. This frog had the characteristic light brown and black blotches on its back. A little while later, I saw the tiniest frog I have ever seen. It was about the size of my finger nail. I am pretty sure it was a juvenile Mexican tree frog. Later on the way to dinner, I saw a Incilius valliceps (Gulf coast toad) which has a characteristic white stripe on its back.

Transitioning Back to Land

Day 9 was amazing! We didn’t do too many things today, but the things we did were absolutely unforgettable. We had to say goodbye to Adrienne today, which was sad, but she promised to read and comment on all of our blogs 🙂

Belize Zoo

We woke up in the Belize Zoo but left early. We took a bus to the ATM Cave, which was one of the coolest places I have ever been. Sadly, cameras are not allowed in the cave, so I don’t have any photos to show you. We quickly became master spelunkers! We had to swim through the entrance of the cave to access it, and we waded through the freezing water deep into the mountain to see some ancient Mayan artifacts.

The cave was freaky at first, but once we got used to it, we loved crawling through tight spaces and ducking under the overhangs. We begged our guide to take us down the most interesting paths he could! He even made us turn off our headlamps at one point to appreciate the darkness of the cave (it was super cool). To reach the artifacts, we even had to scale a 50(ish) foot rock wall!

At the top of the wall, deep inside the cave, there were many Mayan ceramic pieces and several sets of human remains! They were amazing to see. We even got to see the famed “Crystal Maiden”, although it was recently discovered that she was actually a 16-year-old boy.

When we left the cave after several hours of adventuring, we emerged into a rainstorm in the forest! I was so excited to get the full experience of rainfall in the rainforest. We had to hike for a while and cross several rivers to get back to our bus, and we had a great time splashing and enjoying the water.

On our way to the ecolodge that we are staying in tonight, we stopped in San Ignacio to walk around. We visited a town square and an open air market. What a great city! When we got to the ecolodge, we were extremely excited to find that there are bathrooms in our rooms! We have definitely learned to appreciate the little things.

Sadly, there really weren’t any opportunities for epiphyte sightings today. However, I did give my presentation on epiphytes! Two presentations down, and one to go. Tomorrow is another travel day, but we will finally be arriving at Las Cuevas! Today was a nice tourist-y day, but our break will end as the research continues tomorrow.