Spelunking with skeletons
After swimming with the sharks in Caye Caulker, I left the island to head west, on my way to Guatemala. I stopped in a town in the mountains of Belize called San Ignacio. I was recommended to stay at a place called J&R’s Guest House, so I walked around trying to find it, with dark clouds threatening above. Some guy asked me if I needed a place to stay, and when I told him I was looking for J&R’s, he directed my straight up this huge hill. Well, there was no J&R’s at the top of this hill – he must have just sent me up there because I wasn’t interested in his place. Bastard. Anyway, some sort of medicine man told me where it was, so I walked back down the hill, the sky getting darker, and found the place. It was a little house owned by an old couple – John and Rose. Within minutes of arriving, the sky opened up and it absolutely poured. I was talking to some German carpenter trying to find work in Belize, sitting right next to him at the table (outside on the covered patio), and I could harldy hear him because the rain and thunder were so incredibly loud.
I walked around a bit and came back to find about a dozen of John and Rose’s family at the house. I talked with them for a bit about American politics, Belize, and this Water for People project that the one son works for, providing clean water to small villages in Guatemala where their health suffers immensely due to poor water quality. It was quite interesting. During the rainy season (which is now, let me tell you), they collect rainwater run-off from the roofs (they’ve replaced the thatched roofs with tin), and that’s their drinking water. During the dry season, they truck in clean water for them, stored in huge bins, which they need to ration through the season.
The next day I decided to go on a tour to a cave called Actun Tunichil Muknal, where the Mayans brought offerings to the gods of the underworld. It was kind of expensive, so I was a little hesitant, but decided to do it anyway. There were only 3 of us that went into the cave: the guide, a girl from the Netherlands, and me, which was pretty cool (the less people the better). We didn’t see anybody all day. We started out on quite a long drive into the jungle, then we started walking. We got to a little river that we had to cross, and I’m thinking, oh man, my boots are going to get all wet, but, whatever, let’s have a little adventure, how ’bout it? That was nothing. We crossed another two little streams and finally got to the cave entrance after walking a little over a mile. Who the hell found this place, anyway, so far in the middle of nowhere? We geared up for the cave – helmet and headlamp (although I wore my helmet the whole way through the jungle, a la roller derby – big up ladies). So, in order to get into the cave, we had to swim. Not far, maybe about 15 feet, but the water was a crisp, clear 12 feet deep. So, boots and all, I was in! We swam for a little while, checking out the little catfish swimming with us, and thoroughly soaked, we continued on.
We went for a good quarter of a mile, navigating through small passageways, in water the whole time, ankle deep to over our heads. We climbed up some rocks and entered this huge cavern, with tons of stalgmites and stalactites, covering entire walls, with different colors from all the different minerals. This is where the Mayans came with their offerings to the gods. There were tons of clay pots, broken and intact, and some skeletal remains. The further we went into the cavern the more the offerings – piles of bones, which I guess were human sacrifices, who were tied up and left there to die. It was really a very sacred place, deep within the earth, dark, dank (smelly dank), peaceful, and quite beautiful.
As a note, my boots took quite a few days to dry (it’s very humid everywhere here), and I think the mildewy smell is here to stay. The clothes, well, I washed those (handwashed), but it didn’t really help all that much. I’m getting used to the smell now, though.
Tags: Belize, Tag Index
Tania
October 10th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
She went in BOOTSNALL!!!!!
Looks like baby needs a new pair of shoes!!!!!
Mmmmmwhere have I heard that before??????
be careful.
luv,
mama&papa
October 12th, 2005 at 11:51 am
What an amazing time! I can feel your pain about the whole hauling-my-crap-uphill thing. Hope the rest of your trip is as memorable as this and that some sunny weather heads your way.