Thursday, June 19, 2014 - The ATM Cave

At 4:00 a.m. the howler monkeys started… they sounded like giant cats, mountain lions, or leopards, kind of an angry cry.  Danika thought there was a leopard outside her door and she was so scared that she kept poking Jason awake because she didn’t want to be awake on her own.  She almost jumped into bed with him!

We got up at 5:45 for 6:00 a.m. breakfast.  We had scrambled eggs, bacon, and sopapias with jam.  It always starts with freshly squeezed juice, a bowl of fresh fruit, and granola with milk. After breakfast we left for the ACTUN TUNICHIL MUKNAL (ATM) cave, the Cave of the Stone Sepulcher.  Lenny was our guide. 

It was such a bummer that we were not allowed to take a camera on the hike or in the caves, so we have no pictures from today’s adventure. No photos are allowed because in 2011 two different tourists dropped camera lenses on the skull of a child, damaging it.  I was sad that we couldn't take pictures, but Vicki, from Pook's Hill, sent me several postcards below via email...

The hike through the rain forest was really nice.  We crossed the river three times.  We stopped near the entrance to the cave to put on helmets and headlamps. The water at the mouth of the cave was such a beautiful blue and it was really deep.  It was too deep to touch bottom when we started, so we were swimming into the dark cave.  We swam in a ways to where we could stand and turn on our head lamps.  

After you swim across the deep pool, we got out here and put on our headlamps...

We walked through flowing water, squeezing through tight spaces and walking through giant caverns with enormous stalactites and stalagmites. Some of the stalactites looked like crystal chandeliers as they reflected the light from our lamps.

At one point we got out of the water and rock climbed up quite a way and even climbed a ladder to a higher part of the cave.  There was a part where our guide, Lenny, showed us two giant stones way up high that had been carved.  They represented the tools used in the sacrifices.

We were shown ceramic pottery, carved stones, and skeletons.  One skeleton was that of a person around 40 years old.  We were told that the Mayans did human sacrifices.  Jason asked how old you had to be to be sacrificed and Lenny said ‘any age’.  He said there were two infant skeletons and a seven year old and showed them to us later.  The last skeleton was that of a 17 year old girl (directly below).  The sex originally was thought to be male, but was recently found to be female by a scientist from the University of Montana!

The photos in these postcards make it look like you are right next to the skeletons and pottery.  That's because you actually are this close!  In almost every location you could actually kneel down and touch (but we did not) the artifacts.

We were so lucky to get there early.  The park opens at 8:00 a.m., but Lenny is allowed in at 7:15.  So we were in the cave with him (seven of us including Lenny) for 2 ½ hours.  We didn’t see anyone until we started to leave, and then it was a steady stream of people coming in with guides. 

On our way out, Lenny took us through the Devil’s Spine.  David and I were at the back and looking down at everyone in front of us.  It would have made an amazing picture. It began as a little slide down some rocks into high-waist, low-chest deep water.  It was a very narrow passage.  Then we made a sharp right, the water was a little deeper and the rocks were jutting out on both sides creating a very narrow passage that just your neck could fit through.  Your head had to go above it, and your body below.  I really wish I could have taken a camera with me!  I am really happy we went; it was a great morning of hiking.

After we came out of the cave, we had lunch of cheese, onion, tomato, and mustard sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, carrots, cucumber, fresh pineapple, and banana bread, a feast!  We hiked back and drove back to Pook’s. 

We went to the Mayan Plaza (ruins) at Pook’s and took pictures.  I stood still for just a second and a red ant bit me!  Gotta watch out, don’t stand in one place too long!  However, it is really cool to be staying right among the ruins.  I have to say I love the thatched roof cabanas as well.  You can see it all works together really well!

We went down for chips and dip at 6:00 p.m. again.  This time we left the kids because they were fast asleep.  A large lizard was hanging out on our window.  It is just like the one that is living in Danika and Jason's shower...

We woke Danika and Jason for dinner at 7:00 p.m.  We had rice and plantains, pork with gravy, okra, fried eggplant, cho cho, red beans, and salad.  Crepes with lemon and sugar for dessert too!

This is what is on the wall behind the buffet... just gorgeous!

We went upstairs for coffee afterwards and talked to Nora and her dad, Barry from Texas.  Nora, Danika, and Jason hung out in the hammocks for awhile...

The kids went to collect lighting bugs.  While they were gone they decided to scare Ken and Tiffany.  They went outside their cabana and Jason made the scary large cat sound while Danika shook the screens.  Tiffany was scared until she heard the kids laughing.  We can sleep in tomorrow as we don’t have to be at breakfast until 8:30.  Ken and Tiffany are leaving tomorrow…