We spent 4 nights at the Midas Resort in San Ignacio. Everyone else stayed in their funky little cabanas, but somehow Steve and I lucked out and got the master suite. I guess the owner is out of town, so we're staying in the main house. The bedroom is huge, with a California king bed, tiled walls and floors, a gigantic bathroom and lots of room for us to spread out the considerable junk we need to travel. We didn't tell anyone about our luck, but we enjoyed it. If we went back to San Ignacio, I would stay at Martha’s Guest House instead.
We took day trips out of San Ignacio. The tour of Actun Tunichil Muknal ("Cave of the Crystal Maiden") with Mayawalk tours ( was the highlight of the trip so far. Jimmy, the owner of Mayawalk, came to our hotel to tell us about the various tours we could take with his company. He bragged and prattled so much, that most of us became skeptical of his claims and a few got nervous. One person asked how safe we would be on this cave tour. Jimmy scared and confounded us further by telling us that British army was standing by to provide air support if needed. Belize, which was a colony called British Honduras until the early 1980s, still has Queen Elizabeth on their money and the British army helps defend Belize from Guatemala’s attempts to move their border east to San Ignacio.
Anyway, Actun Tunichil Muknal has become very popular since being featured in National Geographic. This is a limestone cave that was used by the Mayans starting about 750 AD as a ceremonial site. A river runs through the cave and we had to swim across a pool to enter it. We were wading or swimming or climbing up rock walls or crouching through low passages the whole time we were there. There are unbelievably beautiful stalactites and stalagmites of white, rust and black. One of the chambers is at least 80 feet tall and 200 feet long. The whole cave extends 3 miles. We only went a half mile in, but spent three and a half hours being astonished.
There are no lights, stairways or handrails. The only modern addition to the cave is a ladder we climbed to gaze at the chamber of the Crystal Maiden, a sprawling female skeleton that sparkles with calcite deposits. She seems to have been thrown into this chamber by the terrified Mayans as a sacrifice to their gods.
Drought and poor hunting conditions lead the Mayans to believe their gods were unhappy with them. They believe this cave was the entrance to the underworld, where their gods lived. If you look at the stalactites hanging from the ceiling, you can see how they could think they were looking at the roots of the trees of life. The Mayans tried desperately to appease the gods, who demanded ever more precious sacrifices. The bravest heroes of the tribes would spend months purifying themselves to approach the gods. They entered the cave respectfully terrified.
The themes of the sacrifices were corn, blood and water. It's another concept about which I'm unclear, but I want to look into it further. First pottery and food were offered, as well as metates. All were ceremonially broken, and they are still lying on the cave floor just as the Mayans left them. The drought got worse, and the Mayans offered animal sacrifices, then babies, children and teenagers. The calcified skulls and remains of 14 humans are still there for us to see.
The water level in the cave has risen since the sacrifices were made, and the relics and skeletons are being covered with calcite. We have to walk single file on the rock dams to avoid stepping on any cultural artifacts. Unfortunately, not all visitors approach the cave with the proper reverence and care, and a skull has been carelessly crushed. This site is really too special to have the public blundering through it.
Our guide, a local man named Raenon who has adored all things Mayan since he was taken to a Mayan site on a 4th grade class trip, has lead tours here for 11 years, and is very concerned that the cave will have to be closed to the public because there is not enough regulation, so the limestone formations and artifacts are in jeopardy.
It's a sad situation that the government doesn't seem to care enough about this site to properly regulate it. There is no licensing of guides, and while there should be no more than 6 visitors per guide, the rules are flaunted, and destruction is occurring. Even worse is the desecration of the holiness of the site. We feel extremely fortunate to have seen this completely unique place while it is still open to the public.
There were 2 guides for our group of 10 tourists, which is a good reason to take Mayawalk rather than another tour group that might be $15 less. Mayawalk has only licensed guides, and they comply with the cave restrictions on group size and behavior. The other guide in our group, Carlos, has a tattoo on his arm: "Royalty in Exile". It’s possible that he is just that.
