Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave (aka ATM Cave) in Belize’s Cayo District is a fun and exciting place to visit. We booked our guide through Hun Chi’ik Tours, who also brought us the much more challenging Crystal Cave, (aka Mountain Cow) a few days earlier. Our guide Glis was very knowledgeable about the nature and history of the surrounding area. The hike starts with a nice and easy stroll through the beautiful surrounding jungle. There are a couple of stream crossings, but they are easy to cross. It just adds to the experience! We went during the dry season, so it is possible that this could be a bit more difficult when the rains come back around.
Continued below…..
Driving to the ATM Cave
River crossing
Jungle hike on the way to ATM Cave
River crossing on the way to the ATM Cave
Prosthechea cochleata - the national flower of Belize
All ready to start spelunking!
The ATM Cave river
The two of us at the entrance to the ATM Cave
The ATM Cave entrance
Fish at the mouth of the ATM Cave
Our small group of 4 before entering the ATM Cave
The ATM Cave exit (inside the cave looking at the exit)
Once we arrived at the mouth of the cave, our guide took everyone’s cameras to protect them from getting wet. I had brought my waterproof camera and asked if I could keep it with me. He wasn’t too sure about this since they were in the process of changing the rules to no longer permit photography in this cave. Unfortunately, a past visitor of this cave had dropped their camera lens and broke out teeth in a Mayan skull. I read that cameras are no longer permitted in this cave as of May 2012, only a month after we got back, due to another tourist dropping their camera and breaking a Mayan skull. I hope that these careless creatures were tossed into Xibalba!! Fortunately for me, after my persistent cajoling, I was allowed to take my waterproof camera! I even have a picture of little fish swimming at the mouth of the cave where the fun begins!
You have to swim into the mouth of the cave in order to access the rest of it. This is the most swimming that you will have to do in this cave. The rest is wading – knee, waist, or chest deep, or traversing over rocks through the stream. It is a pretty simple cave to navigate with your guide pointing out what to watch for. You have to climb up a bolder to access the upper dry section of this cave. This is where all the Mayan artifacts are found. The floor has a very nice pattern with indentions that many artifacts can be discovered in as you walk along the cave. There are quite a few skulls and bones found in this cave of those that were sacrificed that have been calcified over time adding to the ambiance and intrigue of the whole experience.
Towards the end of the Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave expedition, you come upon the famous Crystal Maiden, possibly the best preserved full Mayan skeletal remains in Belize. The way the water had over centuries calcified over the bones made it shimmer and sparkle in our head lamps adding to the mystical underworld of the ancient Mayans!
Glis explained that some researchers believe that The Crystal Maiden may not be a maiden after all. Studying the pelvic structure it is thought by some that the Crystal Maiden is male and not female. We were also told that the skeletal remains are not displayed in a manner that was common to sacrifice. To sum it up, it is believed by some that the Crystal Maiden may have just been a clumsy guy crawling around in a cave that slipped, fell, was injured and died in this position. Wow, what a way to go – probably doing something stupid in the underworld to show off to some chic, dying and having thousands of people come and visit your skeleton… and as if that wasn’t enough, they keep calling you a maiden!! Well now, I suppose “The Crystal Bachelor” doesn’t quite work, but what is so wrong with calling it the Crystal Master? That has a nice ring to it :-D! There is still much to be learned and discovered of the ancient Mayan life, culture and and wonder. Much is still shrouded in mystery and theory and may always be, which is what makes this culture so very intriguing!
Compared to the fantastic challenge of spelunking in Crystal Cave (Mountain Cow), Actun Tunichil Muknal was a nice simple and relaxing experience for us.. ATM cave is a wonderful experience with the jungle, splashing through the wet cave and all the artifacts that abound, but this was a very easy cave to access and traverse in comparison to the grand adventure of Crystal Cave. If this is one of your first times spelunking, then this would be a great one to start with! Even if you are an experienced spelunker this is a wonderful cave to visit just for the history and fun of it all. If you plan on doing both the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM Cave) and Crystal Cave (Mountain Cow) I would recommend visiting the ATM Cave first. Both are a unique and unforgettable experience in their very own way! I highly recommend them both, and would definitely suggest you use Hun Chi’ik as your tour company!