We woke up early for our 8 hour adventure of Actun Tunichil Muknal. Our guide picked us up from our cabana home to drive us an hour through seriously rough terain, including small bodies of water so that we could begin our hike.
Flash backwards for a moment to the night before. We were told that we needed water shoes for ATM so we bought some frocks (fake crocs) for 15 belizian dollars ($7.50 American) in town, and walked back to pack our bags for the next day. The only bags that we brought to Belize with us include 2 backpacks, as in seriously huge backpackers bakpacks and one small bag each. my small bag happens to be a hot pink/blue/green flowered le sport sac. Naturally we were not going to bring our huge bags with us on the hike so we packed our change of clothes and some protein bars in our small bags and went to bed.
Flash forward to this morning. There is couple who we are traveling with on the tour. They show up in waterproof clothing (the kind where the pants zip off into shorts) hiking boots and a backpack whilst we are in our frocks with our over the shoulder le sport sac ready to go. The guide hands them a delicious looking meal for them to eat lunch along the way, and then hands us a large bag of bananas. Needless to say, our new friends are highly confused.
After our psycho joy ride (which according to our guide was a "free massage") we reached the entrance of our hike. We decided to go to the bathroom before we left, which was actually a small hut with a large hole in the floor. Enough said.
We started on our hike and immediately came to a wide river. The guide jumped right on in and casually scurried across. Frocks on slippery mossy rocks and le sport sac high above our heads, we eventually made our way across as well. We quickly learned that our guide was not interested in our well being and frankly did not care whether or not we were actually behind him. If we stopped to take a picture, we would have to run ahead to catch up with the group. We carried on this way for an hour, crossing the river three more times and listening to our guide joke repeatedly that only three of us would return (as opposed to the four who had arrived).
We stopped for a snack, our guide handed us helmets with lights on them and we hiked again. We reached the mouth of the cave and our guide asked if we could swim. We nodded, he said "good enough!", and plunged right on in to the water. We swam a few feet, climbed back up onto jagged land and carried on our merry way. The sunlight slowly faded as we hiked/ ran/swam/waded through half a mile of pitch black caves with a guide who assumed we were cave experts. He sped on ahead of us, attempting to shout out helpful hints such as "big drop" or "jagged rock" but the loud rushing water and his incredible pace make it impossible to hear. We started a game a telephone attempting to all make it out alive and in one piece. At points the water was up to our ankles and at points to our necks, against a seriously strong current. Some of the rocks were the coolest shapes and I found myself praying "please do not break under me" as I balanced on the tall skinny cylinders that I know took hundreds of years of dripping water to form.
We reached a landing point and our guide said take off your shoes and put on your socks, as this is a holy Mayan temple with ancient artifacts all over. We then sped/hiked/ran/waded/ swam/climbed ladders barefoot through a pitch black cave with ancient artifacts.
We saw all kinds of vessels, but the coolest part was the skelletons of the high-class Mayans who were sacrificed in the caves to the rain gods. The skeletons were fully intact due to calcifiction inside the caves over the years.
An hour and a half later, we turned around and made our way back to the opening ofthe cave. If you know me at all then you already know: speed is not my thing. Thank God for the helmets, as I smacked my head numerous times while basically doing the limbo through stalagmites, stalactites, and tiny cracks in huge rocks. So now in addition to the mystery bug bites from yesterday, I now have scratches, bruises and cuts to add to my collection.
After another "free massage" aka joy ride, we made it back to the hotel just in time for us to check out and move on to our next lodge.
Muscles soar and so tired, I am now writing from my bed which is suspended around 50 feet above the ground. In a tree. The only thing keeping me from being one with nature is a tin roof and some broken screens. My pants are tucked into my socks, attempting to ward out the large amounts of mosquitos, which quite obviously are interested in eating me alive. I am hoping that I will fall asleep quickly and sleep soundly through the night however the jungle (which is next to my head) is telling me otherwise.
Of course there is no Internet in our tree, so it is unclear when I will be able to send this but if you are reading this now, I obviously found a way.
Waking up bright and early to travel to our hotel on the small island of San Pedro. Sending some sunshine your way!
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