Going to the ATM caves

Our stay in Belize has sofar been very pleasant. We have relaxed, walked around and done alot of stuff. The Hotel Trek Stop here outside San Ignacio has also been very good, except for one small thing, the cabins we stay in have roofs made out of sheets of metal. And guess what. Guatamala experienced alot of rain last night so I cant honestly say we got alot of sleep. But that aside.
We went out with a guide to the ATM caves Actun Tunichil Muknal. These are caves about one and a half hour drive from San Ignacio and a 45 minute walk from the carpark.
The drive over there was about20 minutes driving on roadss, the rest was offtrack, fun and really beautiful. Alot of hills and semi mountains covered by jungle (or subtropical humid forest). Real fun. The guide told us alot about Belize and why it looks like it does (can you believe they pay as much for petrol as we do in Sweden?). After the drive, we took our gear, borrowed some boots and headed into the jungle. 3 minutes after we start trekking, we hit the river which we had to cross. The water was quite a bit over my knees. With wet sock, wet boots, we went forward. We crossed the river 2 more times before we were at the caves.
The thing with the caves is this. The Mayan belief said that the Gods were in the underworld, and caves were a pathway, or a way to communicate with them. So the higher classes went down caves and offered everything from pottery to human sacrifice.
The enterance to the cave was flooded with river water so we had to swim (yeah, swim, none of that sissy knee high stuff) into the caves and then trek in there. We walked almost all the time in water, and had to swim through some quite deep spots. It was great to explore the caves that way (with headlights and wet boots) but we finally reached the mayan grounds, where there were different stages. In the beginning there was only pottery (food for the Gods) but as we walked on, there were sculls and bones. Everything calcified. In the deepest part of the caves that where tourists were allowed, there was a complete skeleton of a 15-18 year old girl, definetly sacrificed. Bloodthirsty gods I guess.
It was a great tour. Well worth the extra cash (Yet again I cant upload pictures but I have alot of good ones I'll show y'all when I get home).
The we got back, ate some dinner and played with the hotel owners pet Tarantula. Cute little thing, kept trying to creep up my t-shirt that filthy bugger(don't worry, I've got photographic evidence of that aswell).That was today.
See you next time.