Atun Tunichil Mukal Cave y Rio Macal

this weekend i went to the Atun Tunichil Mukal Cave. about an hour outside san ignacio, (the town i'm staying in) i hiked 45 minutes in the jungle, across two rivers to get to this cave. it's partially underwater and inside the cave i had to climb, swim, and crawl for 2 hours! the caves are amazing. they are full of mayan artifacts, skeletons, rock formations, stalagtites, and bats. i'll just call it batman's cave. it was so crazy. the caves are so dark. so dark you can't see ANY light, you can not even see your own hand if you pass it in front of your face. we had helmets and headlights to use, but during part of the tour, our guide made us turn off all the lights and find our way through the cave, imagining what it must be like for mayans to venture so deep into the caves. they performed human sacrifice and different rituals in the caves. it's crazy to see pots and artifacts intact and untouched. only a few guides are allowed in the caves and they have only been open for 7 years to the public. soon they will probably close down the caves to protect the artifacts from looting and destruction. it was an intense experience. probably the most adventurous thing i've done.

on sunday, i canoed the macal river. 4 hours of canoeing upstream, 13 miles! and on the way downstream it started pouring and the wind made the river current go backwards, which meant basically going upstream again. my arms were tired! i got to see a toucan, visited a blue morpho butterfly farm and museum.