Handprint and Actun Tunichil Muknal Caves

Black Rock Lodge was beautiful and the staff went out of their way to ensure everything was perfect for us.





They even had an organic bug repellent. It was a perfect way to dispose of their scraps while keeping the bugs in their place.

You could go tubing around the lodge and if you could stay in your tube over this small falls you earned a free beer. I would be purchasing my beers throughout this trip.

And the best part of the lodge was the food. They grew everything right on the property and it was so clean and fresh. I even enjoyed the vegetarian options.





Today we were heading to Handprint cave and Actun Tunichil Muknalk cave (or ATM for short). The Mayans believed that the caves were the entrances to the underworld, or what they called Xibalba. A place of fear and darkness that you could journey into, and that some could also emerge from. Xibalba is also the origin of the ball courts in the Mayan cities. While the rules of the game vary from city to city it is largely a reenactment of Mayan lore. A story of a champion or hero that was tricked in to his own death by the demon Gods of the underworld. It was not until generations later that the Hero Twins managed to outwit the Gods and reemerge from the underworld alive.

Cameras are no longer allowed into the underworld due to two unfortunate incidents. The caves contain many human remains. A few years ago a Chinese man was taking a picture and dropped his camera on a skull, crushing it. But it was not until the magazine Men's Life disrespected the sacred site by publishing a photo of one of their editors lying down next to a full skeletal mocking it that cameras were officially banned. So for now I'm going to have to borrow a few images from the internet.

We had two great guides today who were also archaeologists that worked in these caves. While bringing a scientific approach they were also very connected to the spiritual side of the cave and the Mayans. They were perfect for this part of our journey and it was almost as if the spirits picked them just for me. Our first stop was Handprint cave which required a bit of crawling and squeezing through some tight spaces. Once we reached the main chamber it was clear how the cave got it's name.

They created a negative of their hand by taking a type of pigment and blowing it on the walls around their hands in ceremony. In this kind of environment it does not take much for you to enter the mindset of the ancient Mayans and to become them. After a brief discussion about the cave we all turned out our lights and sat in the dark hearing nothing but silence itself. And it was this silence that I was able to use to explore the cave, traveling down each path and finding new chambers, using my ears instead of my eyes.

We emerged from Handprint and then headed to ATM. ATM would prove to be much like a game of Tomb Raider as you have to swim, dive, crawl, and climb to get roughly two miles in. We started with a short swim at the cave entrance.



We then walked and waded about a mile before we started to climb. A few places were tight and you could either dive under or try and squeeze your neck through and risk decapitation. The climb was not without its dangers. Even though we had on swim shoes with decent grips there were plenty of places to slip and fall. The helmets we were wearing with a light on them were nothing more then a beacon so that they could find the body if we did fall. We passed a few skulls that were not crushed by the Chinese man.

The cave was also scattered with all kinds of pottery and offerings, in fact at one point we were required to take off our shoes and only wear our socks in order to proceed.

We then got to the skeleton that was featured in Men's Life, originally thought to be a girl it was later confirmed to be an 18 year old boy.

After spending time in this cave and connecting with it you really do emerge as a different person and it's easy to see why the Mayans considered this the entrance to the underworld. It's so big and seems to go on forever. We explored less then 10% of it with gear and modern day LED lights. How the Mayans got through this with only a torch is mind boggling. And what if they got say four miles in, and like the Chinese guy, were a bit clumsy and dropped their torch in the water. It would be impossible to find your way out without a light source. We cleaned up and then headed back to the lodge. My room was awesome and just close enough to pick up the internet from the main lodge.





National Geographic lists the ATM cave as one of the top ten things you need to do before you die, and after experiencing it I'm looking to see what the other nine things are. Having journeyed deep in to the underworld and successfully returned I enjoyed an amazing dinner and then drifted off to sleep with the sounds of the river in the background. Feeling in my heart how much every one of my trips has helped me to grow and learn, and how lucky I have been to be on this journey that I call my life.

VIDEO: Mayan Cosmology - Day 7