Originally we had planned to go on an overnight caving adventure with Mayawalk tours. When we woke up, however, it was pouring rain and we were all apprehensive about spending the night in the rainforest while it was raining so much. Plus, Clane really decided that he wanted to venture into Guatemala to see another Maya ruin. We had originally decided against going into Guatemala because we had heard bad things about the treatment of tourists there. I will admit that I was a bit upset about changing plans, but I tried to be flexible. We were picked up around 9:00 am by the Mayawalk tour guide, Ted, and he took us back to the office to discuss the plans. Ted was awesome and wanted to do whatever possible to accommodate us. After some negotiation, we decided that we would go into Guatemala that morning and then go into the rainforest for the camping and caving as soon as we got back.
So, we set out for the Guatemalan border with Andrew. He was great in getting us across the border without a hitch. He contacted the driver on the Guatemalan side, who drove us to the Tikal, about 50 miles west of the Belizean border. I am not sure what the driver's name was, but he made me a bit nervous because he was watching a movie the entire time he was driving. At one point there was a horse standing in the middle of the road and we really didn't think that he was going to avoid hitting it! Actually at several points during the trip we saw horses wandering the streets--like stray dogs--it was very strange!
We eventually arrived at Tikal, which is located in a Guatemalan National Park. Tikal, "The place of voices", is the largest Maya ruin, with around 3000 structures. It was one of the major population and cultural centers in Maya civilization. Tikal was also used as background scenery of the Rebel base on Yavin 4 in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
Our guide, Mario, was simply amazing! He is very knowledgeable about the site and was a lot of fun.
We spend about four hours with him exploring the part. There really are not words to describe how amazing the site is. The structures are so beautiful and stand so tall and prominently in the landscape. It is set in the rainforest, however, and many of the sites remain unexcaved, so you can see how they were "buried" by forest. Some of the structures are tall, with very steep steps. We were able to climb to the top and enjoy amazing views.
After we explored Tikal, Mario took us to the driver and we drove to the outside of the national park and stopped for lunch at a little restaurant there. The food was SO good! After lunch, we heading back toward Belize and dropped Mario off. It was dark when we reached the border and the driver dropped us off to go through customs. The customs official pretended that he did not speak English (though I am sure that he did) and made us pay $2 US each to get back into Belize, even though there is not supposed to be any charge. We knew that there was no charge, but felt unable to confront the official and since it was such a low amount, went along. That was a bit disturbing to me, however. We are so spoiled in the States with mostly being free for government coercion and corruption.
Anyway, we made our way back into Belize and met Ted, the guide from Mayawalk. He drove us back to San Ignacio where we got all of the gear for the camping trip. We stopped and picked up the cooks--Clifford and his son WarrenWe drove about 45 minutes to the entrance of the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave. The road was dark and extremely bumpy and I wasn't sure the old van was going to make it. But we made it there in one piece and grabbed the gear to start the hike into the jungle. It is SO dark in the rainforest. The canopy of trees blocks out all of the stars and feels like a roof covering everything. We were all excited, but a bit apprehensive about hiking so late (it was about 9 pm when we started out--and to put it in perspective, the sun sets around 6:30 pm).
Anyone that knows Gessner knows that he loves to look for animals--especially snakes--so he was on the look out, even in the dark. Shortly after we started out, Gessner yells that he sees a snake. Clifford was not far behind him and determined that the snake was a fer-de-lance, one of the most poisionous snakes in Central America. As soon as Clifford saw the snake, he chopped it in half with his machete! Ted told us not to point things out as the "locals" are really scared of them and will kill them immediately. We were in a conservation area so you are not supposed to kill anything.
After that, Gessner either didn't see anymore snakes or didn't point them out. We also encountered a skunk on the trail, which was ready to spray, but fortunately we got by without getting hit. On the hike we had to cross three rivers. That was a bit difficult because it was so dark--we each had a flashlight, but the light wasn't much against the pitch black of the jungle. But we made it to the camping site which was location just outside of the cave's entrance. A couple of the tour companies, including Mayawalk, have built some structures that are used for these tours. There were thatched huts for some shelter, a big fire pit, some picnic tables, and a "stove" like area. The cooks set everything up and started making dinner for us--a traditionally Belizean meal of rice & beans and stewed chicken. While they cooked we set up our tents and settled in. Ted also too us down to the river to see the opening of the cave. We ate dinner and drank some rum punch and then headed to bed. Gessner and Sky (and Ted) heard a puma that night, but I slept right through it!
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