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Published: March 27th 2008
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22 February - 23 February
The border crossing here was much more civilized and well organised, what you would expect a border crossing to be, and through within half an hour!!
San Ignacio was 30minutes from the border and we got there by taxi,straight away the difference between Guatemala and Belize was apparent, mainly due to the signs and language being in English.
We arrived at the hotel, which was the first hotel that we stayed at that was outside the town centre (only by a fifteen minute walk). We had our own huts within a garden and a little patio attached to each hut, very Carribean!
San Ignacio is a town centred around rivers and rain forest/jungle. We arrived in gorgeous sunshine but instead going down to the river for a swim we took a walk into town to get lunch and go to the bank, an easy task you would think!! As there is a fixed currency rate in Belize (i.e. 1 US dollar always is 2 Belizian dollars), changing should have been simple. However it took an hour or so to work out what currency to get and how travellers cheques, visa cards etc
Belizian Jungle
Crossing the River on the way to the ATM Caves worked in regards to commission payments! Definately not as easy as we thought.!
We walked back to the hotel after lunch and the faffing at the bank for a presentation on the activities available for the following day! Quite a few options nearly all involving water. Even though we wanted to do something in the Moutain Pine Ridge (a national Park) we were too far away and it involved being in a minibus all day long. We took the more expensive ATM option (no not a cash machine!). This was a caving trip like no other!
23 February
Another early start, we were soon on our way to the ATM caves. We arrived an hour later after passing through the Melonite peoples land (these are similar to Mormons who have come from USA and settled here - very interesting) and crossing a river in the bus. We were then given our lunches and equipment and we set off for an hour long hike through jungle, crossing the river on foot several times which was great fun. When we arrived at the impressive cave entrance we were still not really sure what to expect. We put on our
helmets and head lamps and left our bags on a rock, and followed our guide swimming into the river at the front of the cave. It was a little cold but refreshing. The caves themselves were spectacular and the fact that we had to either swim or walk through water the whole way made it more enjoyable (especially with Bob's inflatable shorts!!).
The guide explained about the history, geology and what the mayan people used the caves for.
After an hour of wading and swimming we arrived at a set of rocks which we had to climb, once at the top we were told to take our shoes off and keep our socks on, so that we could enter the main chamber of the ATM cave. We had to take our shoes off so that we would not damage the artifacts and the stalagtites and stalagmites, also we had to wear socks so that the oils from our skin would not cause any damage to the cave either. The mayans used this area specifically for sacrifice of animals and humans and for the King/Queens family for other rituals.
We were also told to be careful not to
tread on any of the mayan artifacts! These were marked by only small bits of illuminous red tape!! At first we saw lots of mayan pottery untouched from where the mayans had left them. We were then led through a number of caves and were shown human remains from the sacrifices. The most impressive and intact skeleton was in a small cave up a rickety ladder held by a single rope and through a tiny gap at the top (Health and safety, followed very closely by the British Museum would have a field day in this place). The swim/wade back was just as fun and lunch was good too!
This was the most amazing experience either of us had had so far, well worth the money and the fact that in a few years these caves will probably be closed to the public makes them a must see for anyone visiting the area. To top it all off a stone hit the radiator underneath the car and we had to wait listening to howler monkeys in the dark on the side of the road and Dan was told old mayan ghost stories about the cave, what a way
to finish the day!
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