Actun Tunichil Muknal
Feb. 19th, 2019 09:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chickenfeetActun Tunichil Muknal may have been the highlight of the trip. It's a cave system that was used for various Maya ritual activities. Admission is restricted to guided parties but I'd say it's still too busy and there has been some damage to the site as a result. Guiding licences are now grandfathered in an attempt to slowly run down the number of visitors.
It's quite an excursion as the approach hike involves crossing the river three times including at one place where swimming is required. Inside the cave both climbing and swimming are required. It's not too hard but definitely not wheelchair accessible! We were the first party in that day and there was just myself, the lemur and our excellent guide, Braynard (most parties are much bigger). We had about an hour at the business end of the cave before the large groups started arriving. I think that made all the difference because it's a weird and eerie place. There are interesting rock formations but the main interest is a whole series of calcified remains of various ritual offerings including human sacrifices; some of which must have been pretty brutal judging by the state of the remains.
The generally accepted view is that the cave came into use as a ritual site as the rains began to fail at the end of the "Classic" period. The cave was seen as a gateway to the parallel underworld where the gods lived and so an attempt to summon the rain god back to the upper world.
No photographs as photography is forbidden. If you ever go to Belize I'd say this is the one "must" provided you are up for the physical aspects.
It's quite an excursion as the approach hike involves crossing the river three times including at one place where swimming is required. Inside the cave both climbing and swimming are required. It's not too hard but definitely not wheelchair accessible! We were the first party in that day and there was just myself, the lemur and our excellent guide, Braynard (most parties are much bigger). We had about an hour at the business end of the cave before the large groups started arriving. I think that made all the difference because it's a weird and eerie place. There are interesting rock formations but the main interest is a whole series of calcified remains of various ritual offerings including human sacrifices; some of which must have been pretty brutal judging by the state of the remains.
The generally accepted view is that the cave came into use as a ritual site as the rains began to fail at the end of the "Classic" period. The cave was seen as a gateway to the parallel underworld where the gods lived and so an attempt to summon the rain god back to the upper world.
No photographs as photography is forbidden. If you ever go to Belize I'd say this is the one "must" provided you are up for the physical aspects.
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Date: 2019-02-19 11:58 pm (UTC)