The ATM Cave

Okay, I’ll spell it out for you one time, I’m talking about Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave. It was an ancient holy place to the Mayan culture. The ATM cave is the site where increasingly brazen and upsetting human sacrifices were taking place more than 1000 years ago.

The Hype

There is a lot of hype surrounding this cave, and yes, a lot of the hype is warranted. National Geographic designated this site as the #1 Sacred Cave Destination in the World. In fact, I would tell you that if you only do one thing on the mainland of Belize it should be this. The ATM Cave should cause you to want to visit Belize, it is that cool. However, it was also described to me as one of the Most Incredible things I would ever achieve in all my life of traveling, and it didn’t quite meet that level of hype. So let’s talk about it!

Navigating the Cave

There are a few private companies that offer this tour of the ATM Cave. Hanna Stables arranged everything for us to spend our day with Maya Walk Tours. This is a very physical activity that requires hiking, swimming, and climbing.

Our guides were out of this world, they were knowledgeable down to the position we would set our foot down within cave. We wore helmets with lights on them, but it was still very dark! There were some portions of the cave where the guide would tell us to squat down half way, slide our back along a smooth rock, and turn our head to the left in order to slide through the narrowest of passages. Oh, and did I mention we were swimming?

Most of this cave is underwater. But the guides knew where the water was 2 feet deep on the right edge of this room, and 5 feet deep on the left. They warned us when there was an unexpected tall boulder that would bust up our shins. They knew this cave backwards and forwards, and as we blindly contorted our bodies through this narrow and dark cave, I felt confident that I would be okay.

Early Sacrifices

This was the second of three trips through Mayan civilization on this vacation. With every new guide I learned more and more about their culture, their missteps, and the terrible tragedies that befell them as droughts upended their way of life in the 800’s to 1100’s AD. The guides filled us in on the details along the way, and my recollections do not do this justice.

The first signs of sacrifices were early in the cave. Pottery mostly, and as we got deeper and deeper into the cave I could feel the bravery of these historical peoples, trekking into this foreboding cave, trying to appease an angry god by entering the underworld and bringing more and more elaborate offerings. They didn’t have the guides telling them not to step here or there. They were just carrying these items on faith, or skill, or repetition. And sometimes the items they carried in were children.

The Skeletons

There are skeletons of men, women, children, and even babies in the caves. The remains of more than 13 individuals have been found. Our guide told us that the children were probably alive and unbound when they were abandoned. Something tormented about their crying and suffering was meant to capture attention from the rain god. They Mayan’s believed that this cave was an entrance into hell.

The Crystal Maiden

The crown jewel of the ATM Cave is the Crystal Maiden. She is said to have been 18 years old when she died, and her broken vertebrae lend to theories of particular violence. Our guide told us that that it was probably an adolescent boy. He probably volunteered, they say now, he was probably very proud to do everything he could to offer something to the gods. The idea was to stop the oppressive lack of water and famine that was unrelentingly unraveling their culture.

The Crystal Maiden, or Man was probably disemboweled and left there before he had succumbed to death, and now because of the mineral environment within the cave the minerals covering his skeleton sparkle. These human sacrifices were late attempts to up the ante about 800-1000 years ago. And the drought didn’t end. The Mayan’s eventually had to abandon their cities to seek more fertile ground.

Photography

We were not allowed to take pictures within the cave. First, because it was wet, dark, and perilous, but also because there have been so many abuses. There was literally an instance of someone dropping a camera on a skull while trying to take a close up. Therefore, we were only provided stock photos from our experiences.

It’s an hour walk to through the jungle to get to the mouth of the cave, and I was happy for the rum they served us at lunch after such a somber morning. It was an absolute must do, but David an I are huge fan’s of caves, and if the history of the sacrifices and the skeleton’s weren’t present, it would have been WAY less interesting. I ended up wearing cheap knock off Merrill shoes, they managed the trip but I haven’t had the opportunity to wear them again.