Memories of Belize

My first morning in the rainforest of San Ignacio, Belize, I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping and the barking of our neighbors, the howlers, high up in the trees of the jungle surrounding a panoramic view of the Macal River. We stayed in a cabin near the river, providing a primitive setting that brought us close to nature for the first half of our visit.

The riverbank nestled in the rainforest, and the sun shone through the trees with a golden glow. The sounds echoed in the open air of the howlers who made their presence known. The guys discovered a hanging rope from which they swung into the river to see who could land the furthest out into the water.

A highlight was the tour of Xunantunich Ruins of where the climax was climbing to the top of El Castillo (the castle). A hand-cranked ferry carried us across the Mopan River. From there, we continued to the ruins passing a family of howlers up in a tree. Of course, we jumped out of the van to see the monkeys. Our tour guide advised, “You don’t want to go directly underneath them. Monkeys don’t wear diapers. When they have to go, they just go.” Living in Belize, he was familiar with the monkeys!

Xunantunich means Stone Woman in Mopan (Yucatec Mayan language). Our tour guide explained that Stone Woman refers to the ghost of a woman dressed entirely in white with glowing red eyes. She generally appears in front of El Castillo, ascends the stone stairs, and disappears into a stone wall.

The most famous building in Xunantunich is El Castillo, a pyramid soaring 130 feet above the main plaza. El Castillo is remarkable due to its large stucco frieze on its eastern side that details stories of the gods and stories from Maya creationist myths.

The nine rooms of the royal palace represented the nine chambers of the underworld. The Mayans believed that close friends of the emperor lived in this palace. We climbed the wide, steep stone steps to the ledge and then made our way further up the palace. From that point, we hiked to the back of the castle. We climbed up another set of steep steps to a ledge and then further up passing through doorways ascending to the top where we took in the fantastic view that stretched beyond the border of Guatemala. We were on top of the world!

Another highlight was a tour through a sacrificial cave, Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM), where the Mayans brought food and drinks as offerings to the gods for rain.

We walked two miles on a dusty trail in between three river crossings to the entrance of the cave. When we came to the first crossing, our tour guide, Abraham led the way through the roaring river with a chilling water level up to my chin. Fortunately, each crossing had a rope to hold, and that’s just what I did as I dog-paddled to the end. We continued the trail until the second river crossing, which, to my delight, was ankle-deep. After more hiking, we came to the third crossing and, surprise, it was also ankle deep!

Now that we went through three river crossings, I imagined the rest to be of ground level. To my astonishment, we approached a small spring-fed pool that required swimming to the inside of the cave. The crystalline water gave hues of blues and greens, especially at the entrance. At first, I didn’t move, but with no choice, I took the plunge and swam through the pool to the cave’s entrance and further inside since the water remained high for part of the way.

The headlamps attached to our helmets guided us through the dark cave. Bats flew above us and some rested in holes in the walls. As we walked or swam further into the cave, things started to get interesting, passing through narrow passageways.

The stalactite formations were phenomenal because, according to our guide Abraham, they grow at a rate of 1/16th inch per year. We saw some stalactites and stalagmites that grew into each other. Abraham instructed us not to touch these particular sides of the cave because of the oils from our skin that could impact the formations by stunting the growth.

As we went more in-depth through the cave, the water level ranged from knee-high to neck high. We had to climb through narrow, rocky spaces, sometimes ascending massive tricky rock formations, and swim through tunnels. After about one-half mile into the cave, it became much more challenging as we approached the first boulder about 15 feet high. After climbing the wet, slippery boulder, we hoisted up to the next level, which was very high, where we sat on a ledge, took off our water shoes, and put on socks for the next half of the dry cave. We climbed a ramp, holding on to the edge of the cave wall to keep a grip.

Continuing up to a higher level, we entered the ceremonial chamber where we observed shards of pottery, ceramic bowls, and jugs that the Mayans brought in for offerings of food and water to the gods. There were narrow-mouthed pots that held liquids and wide-mouthed that had contained food.

Abraham explained how the Mayans performed ceremonial rites to the gods to try to appease them to get rain during the drought season in the late classic period, which was about 900 AD. He further explained that when the gods didn’t give them rain, they started to bring in animals. Human sacrifices were brought in as well into the ceremonial cavern of young deformed skulls.

As we continued to walk further into the cave, we saw the first set of scattered bones, deformed skulls, and human remains for live sacrifices. The Mayans brought into the cave typically young, strong children, usually of royal families, because they were more valuable to the gods.

Continuing, we climbed a ladder up to the rear of the highest level of the cave. There, we saw a whole skeleton that was probably a sacrificial victim whose bones have been given a sparkling appearance by centuries of calcification, referred to as the Crystal Maiden. We took a few moments to gaze at the highlight of our tour before descending the ladder, walking back to the ledge where we took off our socks and put on water shoes. The dry part of the cave had passed. Now, we would return to the water and make our way out of the cave. The ATM cave tour was the most adventurous part of our trip, and I was proud of myself for taking the challenge and surviving!

From the rainforest of San Ignacio, we transferred to the Caribbean coast of Placencia to spend the remainder of our trip at a beach house. The scenery was full of palm trees, white sandy beaches, black frigate birds, and brown pelicans flying over the waters and floating in the sea soaking up the sun.

On our last day in Belize, we rode on a fisherman’s boat across the sea to a small private island, Ranguana Caye, for a day of fun and relaxation. The small island provided a paradisal setting as an ending to our Belize vacation.

By Linda A. Egelston