Today, we woke up a bit later than usual (7 am) to go on our day’s adventure. We decided to do the ATM cave (unfortunately it doesn’t dispense money) which stand for Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave. the Bus picked us up at 8 and drove us about an hour away to the start of the cave, where we had to leave our phones and cameras behind, as they were not allowed in the cave.
We walked for 20 minutes through the forest, crossing the river multiple times having to walk in the cold water reaching up to our shoulders, before we arrived at the entrance of the caves, there we jumped into the water and had to swim about 50 meters through the entrance of the cave to a more shallow area. we then followed the river upstream going through tight areas where we had to shift our bodies into various positions to make it through, including times where we had to fit our necks through a tight spot whilst the rest of our body was underwater. we followed this for about 30 minutes getting in and out of the water until we reached the dry part of the cave.
There we climbed on a boulder to get to the higher part of the cave where we took off our shoes and abandoned them there whilst we continued our journey wearing only socks. we walked through some more tight sections until we reach and large cavern where we could see remnants of Mayan pottery and human remains, our guide would tell us more about what the pottery was used for and how the sacrifices were done and why as we continued our journey further and further into the cave until we reached the crystal Mayden, an almost intact skeleton stuck of a mayan that had been sacrificed.
there we turned around and returned through the same path back to the main entrance, however, my light started dying and we were unable to get it to produce any significant light, so I had to be surrounded by people with lights at all times to not get lost and die. On the way back, once in the river, our guide made us go through some more adventurous sections, where we had to slide down mini waterfalls and swim through tight corridors in the stone to get out.
once we reached the parking area, we were served lunch, the same meal we seem to get on every activity, rice and chicken (but it was still good). we then headed back to the hotel, where I managed to get a nap before we had a big test, our covid test to get into Guatemala. Thankfully I passed that test with flying colours and get to continue travelling. so to celebrate we all went to dinner before having to pack for our early morning tomorrow.