We continued our float for a couple of hours, ending up outside in the wonderful tropical sunshine o

As we planned our trip north through Central America, we realized time was running short if we wanted to be home for summer. We decided to skip over a few places that we would have loved to visit (northern Costa Rica and Nicaragua) in order to save time and money to finish up our trip in Mexico. Jason was eager to see Belize, and I was happy to return after having visited there a couple times almost 15 years ago, so we flew into Belize City with plans to fly home from Cancun three weeks later.
We had good advice from some fellow travelers in Panama not to miss the jungles and caves of San Ignacio (Cayo District), located near the border with Guatemala. We quickly realized that many of the region s highlights were far from town and required a tour operator to reach, so we booked a family-run hotel that could organize all our tours. We were able to get an excellent low-season value by taking advantage of a deal where the room price was 50% off when booking two tours. The hotel was homey and quiet, run by a lovely family, located about 3 miles from town, and had a small restaurant for breakfast and dinner onsite. They even organized a private airport pickup, complete with a cooler of local beer to welcome us to Belize!
Our first day we were up early for one of the most adventurous outings of our entire trip: the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave. More commonly known as the ATM cave , this archaeological site is located deep underground, nearly half a mile inside a spectacular series of caves. The site includes the human remains of 14 sacrificed air canada ticket Maya and many intact air canada ticket and ceremonially-shattered ceramic pots.
Reaching the site is more than half the fun: we had to gear up in long pants, running shoes, helmets and headlamps, and then head to the mouth of the cave via a 45-minute brisk hike through the jungle. air canada ticket We were a group of six led by a Maya guide who wasn t one to slow down. He led us charging across three river crossings (one of them almost chest-deep) before we even reached the cave, and that was just a warm-up for what was next. At the mouth of the cave we plunged off a rock into a cool, dark pool of water about 18 feet deep and swam straight into the darkness of the cave. On the other side of the pool we clambered up on a rock formation, lit our headlamps, and started following our guide deep underground through a maze of caves. Photos are not allowed in the cave, so you ll have to take my word for the experience.
I had never been caving and wasn t sure how I would do with the whole experience. It turns out that despite the cold air and cold water, being soaking wet, not having any idea where we were heading next, and not knowing what was under that water or around air canada ticket the next rock, I actually really enjoyed it. If you stopped to think about the fact that you were deep underground in a dark and scary cave with some GIANT spiders (including the extra-creepy scorpion spider), you would probably freeze in fear. But if you just focused on the amazing stalactites and stalagmites, the crystal rock formations, the exhilaration of hurling your body over rocks and through tight spaces, and the unbelievable place that you were experiencing, everything was just fine. At least that is how it worked for me.
At the end of a couple of hours of wet and cold caving, we reached the entrance to the dry cave where the archaeological site was. We removed our shoes and approached the site in socks to preserve the dry floor. The site is unreal: air canada ticket absolutely open, without any boardwalks, glass, lighting air canada ticket or any other structure between you and the remains. You have to follow the guide extremely carefully to avoid stepping on any pottery or bones. As we navigated through the site, he did an excellent job of explaining the history, meaning and mythology around the site. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and not one we will soon forget.
After exiting the cave (via plenty more swimming and shimmying over rocks in the dark), we had the hike back to the car to warm up in the tropical air. We were so exhilarated by the trip that we decided to do another cave trip the next day! Our second caving adventure was more relaxed, but still a lot of fun. Jason and I had a private guide from a village just next to the Guatemala border. He spent the entire day sharing stories about his people, his country, the natural history of the area and the caves. We stopped at a touristic complex about an hour and a half from San Ignacio to pick up innertubes and life jackets, and then hiked a couple of miles up-river to the cave entrance.
This day of caving started off a lot lazier than the ATM: just sit in an innertube and float down the river! We went through three different series of caves, all pretty wide open with beautiful rock formations inside. Inside the second cave, our guide asked if we wanted to be a bit more adventurous. We agreed and parked our tubes on a dark shore to begin a steep climb up to a dry cave. At one particularly narrow part we had to lay down on the floor and army crawl using only our elbows air canada ticket to pull us forward through an opening not more than a foot tall. On the other side of the narrow passage was a cave tall enough to stand up in with several entirely intact ancient ceramic pots. Only one or two other guides knew of the spot, so we were lucky to get to see this.
We continued our float for a couple of hours, air canada ticket ending up outside in the wonderful tropical sunshine over the Maya Mountains. Our time caving in San Ignacio was some of the most unusual and exciting of our entire air canada ticket trip. There are loads of other wonderful places to visit in the area (Mennonite air canada ticket farms, an outstanding farmers market and several Mayan ruins), air canada ticket but the caves were a highlight for us.