Today was a day of tourism. The destination was the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave in San Ignacio. Around 8AM, we left the Tropical Education Center for the last time, stopped at Benge’s Cost Less general store to drop off our luggage trailer, and reached the ATM Cave by 9:40AM. Our guide took us on an hour hike through the rainforest towards the cave, which was devastated from a hurricane last year- the guide told us that at least 15-foot water waves ripped through the trail we were hiking on, damaging a lot of the trees there.
The cave is a wet cave; when we reached the cave’s mouth, we swam through refreshingly frigid waters and continued to hike/swim through the wet part of the cave before we scaled a tall rock face on a sketch ladder to the cave’s dry part. On the way to the dry part, the guide pointed out stalactite and stalagmite formations that looked like curtains and dresses- all naturally created by water over millions of years.
The dry part was ridden with ancient Mayan ceramics and 14 human skeletons, of which we saw five. These remains are said to be from Mayan sacrifices done in conjunction with bloodletting ceremonies to appease the rain god Chaac and other deities in times of drought or hardship. Speaking of bloodletting, I scraped my knee on a rock and it was pouring rain once we exited the cave. Coincidence or did I just unintentionally appease the Mayan rain god Chaac with my type A negative blood?
I only saw one unidentified spider today in the cave- it was large, brown, and motionless on a rock. It very much looked like a wolf spider but the legs were more spindly and longer. After the ATM Cave, we drove to San Ignacio downtown and spent time strolling through shops and the fruit market before heading to our eco-lodge for the night, Crystal Paradise Resort. Everything about that resort was rustic and grandeur: thatched roof, huge rooms, and an attached bathroom! I was really excited for that attached bathroom. After dinner, I presented on the geologic and biogeographic history of Belize, strolled around the eco-lodge for a bit, and finally crashed in my bed at 10PM.
Crystal Paradise Resort Hut