Day 11: San Ignacio

Monday, April 8th, 2019

Day 10 of Mayan Discovery by G-adventures tour

Todays G-adventures itinerary:

Enjoy free time to visit the sacred Mayan cave, Actun Tunichil Muknal, explore the Mountain Pine Ridge area or see the lesser-known Mayan ruins of Xunantunich or Caracol.

Optional acitivities abound around San Ignacio. Choose to see the Mountain Pine Ridge area or take a day trip to the astounding Actun Tunichil Muknal cave. Explore the cave’s water systems using a helmet and headlamp. An experienced local guide will provide insight into the fascinating practices of the ancient Maya.

Alternatively, opt for a trip to the impressive Maya ceremonial centre of Xunantunich. Getting there includes crossing a narrow river by a hand-cranked ferry.

Your Discover Moment San Ignacio Full Day
There’s plenty to see and do in San Ignacio, and we wanted to make sure that you had some time to take it all in. Feel free to relax or try optional activities like cave exploring, visiting Mayan ruins, and horseback riding. Your CEO has more ideas if you need them. Just ask!

We opt to do the Actun Tunichil Muknal cave, so called ATM cave. I would have liked to do crystal and atm cave, but this is not possible today due to organizational limits. So the friesian girl is doing crystal, most of us do ATM cave.

We get up early at 5:30 am to be at Pop’s diner for breakfast. Lola recommended to get the fry Jacks or tostada Jack’s there. It opens at 6:00 am and at 7:00 am we will leave for the cave to be the first to enter.

Fry Jack’s are made of wheat, and deep fried. Fat at carbohydrates. Tasty. Especially with the black bean sauce.

TV news can be like this, too. No background and a guy in a 70ies shirt, who reads 5 min from a script. LOVE Television.

At 7:00 am we are ready with swimming clothes, towels, water and shoes, which can get wet, for the case. We drive about one hour, get a helmet with a torch on it. If you want, you can opt for a life vest. Nobody does. Antonia joined us, she feels better and has eaten breakfast. We walk another 30 mins, cross 3 streams, two of them ankle deep, one neck deep to the entrance of the cave.

Last instructions, headlamp on, into cold water and swim. The first views are amazing.

It is a permanent switch from walking, climbing, swimming or walking ankle deep in water. We are completely wet, but we donot need to dive. It is cold, the path goes up. It is technically easy. The guide tells us about geology, history, discovery and exploration of the cave. The explorers marked sections with artifacts with red bands. There are strictly no cameras since photographers destroyed some artifacts.

We climb up a letter and enter an even narrower part of thr cave. There sacrifications were made. Firstly only pottery, that traces of blood which came from priests who pierced their tongue or penis and sacrificed their blood. Finally stalagmited skulls and bones, later full skeletons.