We’re in central Belize, in a region of dense tropical jungle, full of ancient Mayan ruins. We’re swimming into the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave (commonly known as the ATM cave). It’s full of ancient relics and sacrificial skeletons.
Getting to the cave is no small task. It’s about an hours drive from San Ignacio (a town in central Belize), over some rough dirt road. We got a free unplanned extension to our adventure when our bus had a flat. Standing on the side of this hot, dusty road while they fixed the tire, we got a close-up look at how women here still carry heavy loads (in this case large buckets of oranges) on their heads. Eventually we arrived at the parking lot, where we were fitted out with hard hats and lunches. 2 important basics!
From there, it’s a 45-minute hike through the jungle, with 3 crossings of the Roaring River (fortunately not roaring much right now)! After all of this, we arrive at the entrance of the ATM cave, and that’s when things get even more fun.
It starts by swimming through deep water into the cave. We go 1/2 mile into the cave, wading through water sometimes chest-high, scrambling up and down rocks, and squeezing through tight spaces. The helmets come in VERY handy! 
Eventually we reach the area used by the ancient Mayans to communicate to their gods, beseeching them for rain. They believed that caves were the entrance to the underworld, Xibalba (pronounced shee-ball-ba). These were sacred sites, used by priests and elites (and their victims)…
Many caves in Belize have some Mayan remains, but the ATM cave is exceptional, with hundreds of relics still there, left as they were. The floor is marked with tape so that visitors don’t accidentally step on a 1300 year old pot, or even a human skull. Human sacrifices were done here, at least 14 of them — babies, children, men and women.
It’s a very spooky place, especially when you imagine it lit by flickering torchlight, the way the ancients would have seen it.
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This is one of the most amazing adventures I’ve had — certainly one I’ll remember the rest of my life. National Geographic featured this cave on their Journey Through the Underworld. We’ll be announcing our women’s trip to Belize soon, and will keep you posted!
3 responses so far ↓
1 Carl // Sep 23, 2008 at 6:48 am
Human sacrifices never made much sense to me outside of Abraham and Isaac. The cave experience sounds great but I’m just too chicken to go into tight places underground. Glad you enjoyed it.
2 Melanie // Sep 23, 2008 at 11:05 am
Wow, this sounds like so much fun and a true adventure! I would be scared to swim/wade into any small space, especially a cave, but it sounds like it was very much worth it. Thanks for enabling me to live vicariously through you.
3 Deanna Keahey // Sep 23, 2008 at 10:36 pm
It really was very cool, doing it in modern times, with headlamps etc. It would have been a totally different thing way back in Mayan days, with flickering torches and bloody rituals. Glad I’m doing it nowadays!
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