OSIRIS: (The French-Cameroonian-Polish Guy): After 45 minutes in the forest, it appears: a big opening through a stone which seems to be unbelievable to have been undiscovered since the last century. Leaving this huge mouth, a water source goes down the forest. After few advices about caving, we start our adventure in the belly of the ATM monster. The deep river at some points requires us to swim sometimes in warm water. Wearing a head lamp to light our walk, the guide presents us the different chambers and secret entrances of the cave that we could not have guessed ourselves. A spider scorpion bother by Kimo shows us its large antennae and in spite of the girl screams “oh it’s Huuuuge !”, Emil let us know that this is not the biggest form of the species, by far and oh good news, it BITES ! When all the girls are ok, we continue our journey facing the sliding and vicious rocks spread under the water. Pieces of nice pottery used by the Mayan as presents to their Gods are found in a lot of chambers which starts to make us feel more the mysticiticy and religioucity of this wonderful site. Some tight ways force the tallest persons (including me…) to articulate their body in order to continue to move on. Gymnastic. It is very emotional and mysterious to place its feet and paws at the same place where thousand years ago the Mayans formed incrusted tracks into the rock. The spirit of the site penetrates us a bit more when we discovered the first place of the human sacrifice with modified skulls and broken bones, followed few meters further by a crystallized skull (I’m not lying, the skull was literally covered by crystal!!!Beautiful!). The highest emotional part of our trip into the cave is the 7-year-old sacrifice dead body in the position of the fetus next to the intact body of a young princess. A precise history of the Mayan culture tells by our guide permits us to understand more the reasons of those sacrifices while we continue to walk/swim in the (according to the Ancient Mayans) Underworld. It is not surprisingly that our guide explains us that a lot of actual Mayans and even other Native American Tribes, still come to this cave doing ceremonies, the spirit of the Mayan culture penetrates us…
Oupsiies! We totally forgot the time! Well, once again we won’t respect our schedule but it is worth it. We leave the cave after enjoying a little bit more the deep water at the entrance, jumping into it from an isolated rock. The ATM and its beauties are still here after thousands years, end its magic will still live into it for others centuries…
JONI: ATM is an abbreviation of three words which I (Joni) will not attempt to say or spell, they are the name of one of the many local caves, possibly the most famous. Our journey began after a pancake breakfast at Trek Stop. We loaded up in water savvy clothing and boarded our modified tour truck. We made a quick stop to p0ick up our day packs and lunch then made our way to the “parking lot” of ATM. They parking lot is in the middle of a forest, it is absolutely stunning. From there we went for a hike crossing three or so small streams in the process. Those of you reading who know about my knee injury are possibly wondering how I managed this. Well one of our lovely guides brought a broom handle for me to use as a walking stick. It is safe to say without my stick I wouldn’t have made it very far! After our hike we come to a picnic grounds and get into groups with our headlamps and helmets and started on a short hike which lead to the mouth of a cave. To get into the cave we had to swim a few yards where we made it into dry land, but the cave had several other locations requiring swimming. There were several tight spots and we were constantly ducking and hitting our heads and squeezing between rocks hoping to not get stuck. There were areas where we climbed rock formations. I had my stick to help me get up, used mostly like a lever in these tight spots and used my arms to pull me up. There are not words to explain the beauty of this cave. Not only the natural wonders but also the remains left by Mayans during rituals. The cave is symbolic to the Mayan people because it is considered to be the gate way to the underworld. For that reason it is important to respect the cave. We make as little impact as possible traveling part way in water shoes and part way in socks. This is unlike anything I’ve ever seen and I can’t tell you enough how gorgeous it was and how I simply cannot describe it. Although I have to say it is a hard trip, but very worthwhile!
ESTRELA "STAR" YGLECIAS: The Cave was AMAZING!!!!!!! Nothing I would have imagined. You have to swim in to get in, and swim through rivers inside. Wish you guys were here to experience it with us. I didn’t want to leave the cave, I just wanted to stay longer.
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