My Birthday in Belize
12.03.2010 - 13.03.2010
30 °C
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Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
on amyw's travel map.
It’s just another day really, or at least that’s what I tell myself anyway but at 36 this will be my last year in my mid thirties and I’ve got to make the most of that, right?
The day arrived and I woke up in a cramped room that with even two fans whirring away was so hot and stuffy I had barely slept. If we’d had a window to the outside world I would have thrown it open to let in the slightly cooler but rancid smelling air. As the two others I was sharing with slept I pushed through the non-locking, non-closing small saloon doors to the rather public bathroom.
After breakfast I (along with the others from my group) boarded a beat up old bus to go to ATM (Actun Tunichil Muknal), an underground cave system that the ancient Maya used for ceremonies and ritual sacrifices (Google it!).
After the 50 minute walk (including three river crossings) to the cave entrance I was so hot and sweaty that I was well and truly looking forward to the swimming and wading involved in the half mile walk/climb through the cave to the ancient site. As we dropped down to the cave entrance the temperature cooled significantly and was a welcome relief from the hot day. With bathers, a hard hat and a head torch we were good to go!
I’m not really sure how long it took to reach the ceremonial site but we were the whole time in the water and there were several tight squeezes and a few spots were we couldn’t touch the bottom and had to swim. At one point our guide had us turn off our head torches and he led us for about 10 minutes in the complete and total darkness!
When we reached the actual site which was in a dry cavern that we climbed up to from the underground river the only thing stopping us from treading on artifacts that were 1200-1400 years old were some strips of orange tape.
Later in the evening I was surprised with a birthday cake during dinner. It was a massive neopolitan cake (that I think was actually three cakes piled on top of each other) covered in sprinkles and candles. After dinner it was next door to the bar, where I got a free beer from the gold-toothed barman and then later to “Firewater” for a few games of pool. An awesome day!
Posted by amyw 23.03.2010 09:33 Archived in Belize
Looks like a great birthday! Welcome to the 36 club!
I could never have done that caving trip - you're very brave... It looks like a nice group of people you're doing the tour with. Your blog is great, nice to see everywhere you're going.
Keep up the good work!
Jacquie
28.03.2010 by Jacquie