Into An Ancient Mayan Tomb

It’s impossible to capture the adventure we had today with a camera, in part because it is something one can only fully experience firsthand, and in part because some clumsy “Joe Smith” dropped his camera on a skeletal artifact several years ago, giving him a cranial deformation, and forever ruining the chance for the rest of us to carry any such devices inside the cave.

The fabulous Belize Caving Expedition crew picked us up at our Airbnb at 8 this morning and transported us via highway and pothole-strewn back roads until we arrived at the head of the trail that would take us to the underground sanctuary.

From this point on we had to surrender our cameras and anything else that would weigh us down on our journey. We knew we had to dress in attired that could get wet, including shoes suitable for swimming and hiking and caving. What I didn’t realize is that not only would we be traversing the river three times on our way to the cave, we would also be in water throughout the first 3/4 mile inside the cave!

Up and down the limestone paths of the cave we splashed and swam, with an occasional squeeze between fallen boulders or massive stalagmites, until we finally arrived at the place where our ascent would begin. Tracing the steps of Mayan spiritual leaders a thousand years before us, we climbed up to cavernous rooms that served as a veritable museum of artifacts and sacrifices employed in an effort to secure the favor of their gods.

According to our guide, as we pressed further on in the cave, we followed the chronology of the rituals which depicted a move toward greater desperation to get their gods’ attention. This was marked by a progression (regression?) from broken ceramics wherein the steam of foods was presented as an offering to the horrifying discovery of human remains. Archaeologists have uncovered only a fraction of what is buried in the cave, but the sixteen human skeletons that are visible clearly belong to a number of children, including newborn infants.

Presumably, these human sacrifices were made in conjunction with a long drought and were a desperate means of appeasing the god of rain and persuading him to save them from such dire straits. Our tour guide classified all of the dates he passed along in his information in reference to “so many years after the death of Christ.” I remarked to him on our way back down the path that it was significant to me as we learned about the violent sacrifices the Mayan people made of other humans for the sake of appeasing their gods that the account of Jesus Christ was different in that He was God and was the one who sacrificed Himself for the sake of humanity. Such a stark contrast!

I’m not sure what time we started into the cave, but by the time we made it back to our van, it was 4:00 and we were more than ready for lunch. Thankfully our driver doubled as our lunch server and had a delicious Belizean meal of chicken, rice, plantains, chips, and salsa on our plates and ready for consumption.

In addition to the awesome experience of the cave itself, we were blessed to have Patrick as our guide. Half Mayan and half African, Patrick grew up learning the ways of the Mayan culture from his parents and grandparents and has spent his whole life learning and becoming an expert in many areas of jungle survival. In fact, years ago he was hired to train the Belizean military in jungle survival strategies. Now he leads tours like ours (he was part of the group that discovered this cave in 1985 and is one of only 16 licensed ATM guides in the country!), speaks to Belizean school children about their culture, and serves on a search and rescue team. Oh, and he wields a mean machete!

By the time we made it back to our Airbnb it was 6:30 and we were ready for a hot shower and fresh change of clothes. the excursion cost us $115/each plus tips and it was worth every penny: truly a once-in-a-lifetime adventure!