The arrangement made with Pacz Tours was that we were to be at the Teakettle Village junction at the A.T.M. sign at 9am sharp. Having only a vague idea of how long it would take to get there (sources told us about a 1/2 hour), we got up early to hit the Tuesday market for breakfast before catching the 8:00 bus westward.
I scored a tasty ham and egg breakfast burrito and Jes sourced out some fresh-sliced papaya, watermelon and pineapple. We both had banana smoothies and the whole meal cost a pittance, not even worth remembering. Jes also picked up a couple bananas for a Belizean quarter (6 US cents a piece) and we bought some banana bread, apples and nectarines for the trip.
We hopped on the bus and were under that A.T.M. sign with time to spare, which was spent marvelling at the locals parading around on the street as we cowered from the sun in the shade of the sign.
We had packed some closed-toed shoes and a change of clothes, as recommended on the phone by the tour guide operator the previous night. Beyond that, I went into this with no clue what to expect. A tour guide from one of the other companies doing the A.T.M. tour was also waiting by the sign and was happy to answer some of our questions. We found out that our closed-toed shoes would be getting wet as there would be numerous river crossings. He also mentioned that we would have to give our camera to the guide until we were inside the chamber about a mile into the cave, at which point, we'd get it back and continue through the cave in our sock-feet. I was confused.
Regardless, our guide showed up and whisked us off to the site after a quick stop to wait for the rest of the crew. After some confusing directions about what to bring, we brought our packs, stuffed with lunches provided by the tour group, dry socks, drinking water and one helmet each. After a mild amount of hiking including three river crossings in my brand new running shoes (the only closed-toed shoes I had brought on the trip), we reached a staging area where we'd leave our bags and later return to for lunch. We marched onward with nothing but the clothes on our backs, the shoes on our feet and the head-lamp-adorned helmets on our heads (and shorts on our bums), having given my camera to the guide to stow away into his dry-bag inside a dry-bag inside a dry-bag. It wasn't long before it was made patently clear why the triple water-tight seal was needed. We entered the cave and started our descent into the darkness with a short swim across which even my lengthy frame couldn't touch bottom; I was neck-deep, doggie-paddling to the next rock ledge.
The next two hours were spent meandering through a network of caves as grand as cathedrals to body-contortingly tight with water levels varying from neck-deep swim-throughs to shoe-top-high cricks. Eventually we came to the chamber and had to remove our shoes and continue in our socks. Jes and I were smart enough to have stored our socks in dry location: under her helmet, so we had the added luxury of carrying forward with dry feet. The descent was not yet complete however as the was still some walking, climbing around and even ladder climbing to get to the end of the chamber.
Along the way, the guide regaled us with theories of these underground Mayan customs while pointing out many pieces of broken pottery and skeletal remains, all said to be authentic archaeological discoveries, in place just as they were discovered. Carbon dating placed some of the artifacts back to 730 AD. The piece de resistance was a full-skeleton of a woman at the end of the cave.
We headed back from whence we came, passing all the same artifacts, stalactites and stalagmites we had on the way in. The one big difference on the way out was passing all the other tour groups on their way into the cave. We were fortunate enough (or fast enough) to have been the first group in that morning, and once we heard the first echoes of the second group as we left, we were grateful to have had such a peacefully quiet experience inside.
I'm not sure if it was for the scare-factor or to prove that he knows these caves like the back of his hand, but at a certain point, our guide had the six of us line up in a row, hold hands, take one last, looong look in the direction we were headed.....and turn off our lights. I will never be in a literally darker spot. I may as well have not had eyes, as there was no difference between opening or closing them. Our guide then marched our human-chain forward, describing to the next person in line the obstacles in front of him, would relay the descriptions to the next person, and on down the line. We turned a corner, felt the water get deeper, up to our chest (well, my chest...I had to help the short girl behind me from going completely under), over some rocks and suddenly after what felt like 100, maybe 200 meters, maybe more, I saw a sliver of daylight and things started coming into focus. It was pretty fun experience and an impressive display by our guide, who, no doubt, was not leading this tour for the first time.
We exited the cave, had our pre-made chicken sandwich lunches, headed back to the van, changed clothes and were outta there.
The guide dropped us off at a gas station a little closer to town than we'd been picked up, and recommended we grab a beverage at the attached convenience store to sip on while we waited at the bus stop. We partook in his brilliant recommendation and engaged in a relaxing beer/cooler sipping session at the bus stop, which was on the wrong side of the road for the direction we wanted and behind a parked truck, impeding our view of any oncoming traffic. It didn't take me long to lose myself in the frosty bliss of my suds, so I was fortunate that Jes was paying mild attention to the road. I wasn't a quarter into my beer when she shouted "BUS!!". I looked but could scarcely see the road for the parked truck in the way, but I couldn't see one so I assumed she was joking. I thought she might not be joking when she started scrambling her bags together and running out to the road, during which time I stood up and saw our bus barreling down on us. Jes managed to flag the bus down in time and, for a brief moment, I thought of some way to get my alcohol onto this public vessel but took the high road and left the poor thing there, undranken. Meanwhile, Jes was running ahead of me to an impatiently-waiting, and very full, high-school-style bus. I managed to catch up with her and noticed that her thought process regarding her beverage had taken a different branch. She was running full-tilt, pack on her back and open alcohol bottle in hand. As I passed her I was thinking "we're screwed, we're not getting on this bus and it'll be an hour till the next one". She, however, had something more crafty in mind. As I raced past her, and to my dismay, she slyly stowed her open drink in the water-bottle pocket on the outside of my day-pack. I was too rushed to do anything but go along with this sneakery, and needless to say I deeply regretted having left my beer to swelter alone in the Belizean heat by that bus stop once I had successfully smuggled Jes's drink aboard. As retribution, I drank a good portion of what remained of that drink, but losing that beer is a sorrow I won't soon forget.
We had supper at our hotel restaurant, which wound up being a bit of a lengthy affair as we were back fairly early, being the first group in and thus, the first group out of the caves. We racked up a BZ$100 bill of appies, supper and booze while we internetted and texted on the wifi and called it a night shortly thereafter.
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