The past two days have, by far, been the most adventurous days of my life. It started Tuesday morning with our trip Caracol to see Mayan ruins. I don't think I could begin to explain how beautiful and amazing the ruins were- so you'll have to wait and see for yourselves when I post pictures ! But we climbed to the top of a HUGE Mayan building and the view was awesome! I also saw and jumped into my first waterfall..again, wait until you see these pictures!
But today was even more incredible than yesterday. Today we went to Actun Tunichil Muknal (a.k.a ATM). Atm is a cave where the ancient Mayans went to perform ceremonies, offerings and other rituals. They viewed the caves as a very sacred place because they were the underworld in their culture. We began our journey with a hike through the jungle, wading across water in several locations. When we got to the bottom, we saw the entrance to the cave and it was breathtaking. I couldn't believe we were about to go in there, but our guide jumped right in the water and began swimming into this huge cave. In some places inside the cave it was so deep that we had to swim across to get to the next rock landing. In other areas, the rocks were so close together and tight you had to move sideways and maneuver your body through the tunnel. We were climbing rocks, swimming and scootching along in the cave like pros before long..I couldn't believe how amazing it was. When we got further back into the cave we saw Mayan artifacts such as pottery that they had sacrificed to the Gods. We also saw several human skeletons which may have been sacrificed- either voluntarily, as an honor, or because they were prisoners. I was pretty impressed with myself !haha - we're off to explore San Ignacio some more !
Dear Miss Bilotti~
ReplyDeleteWe'd love to hear more about the waterfall, that sounds awesome! In the cave, could you touch the bottom or did you have to swim a lot of places? Was it like a maze that you had to find your way through? Did you take any pictures of the skeletons? If so, can we see them? :)
We miss you! Love, Mrs. Cumbee-Moore's fabulous class of 4th graders
Hi guys !!
ReplyDeleteHope you all had a nice break and I'm so glad that you're reading my blog!
The waterfall was so cool ! It was at the bottom of a long path through the woods. If we hadn't followed our guide there, I never would have thought it was down there. Our guide, Diego, showed us how to climb up the rocks at the waterfall and jump into the pool below..I was scared to jump at first, but I knew it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity!
The cave really seemed like a maze and it was SO dark, I'm glad our guide knew his way around! At some places we were only ankle or knee deep in water, but at others you couldn't touch and had to swim in order to go any further. I have TONS of pictures or the waterfall, cave and skeletons and will upload them as soon as I can ! I miss you all and can't wait to visit when I get back!
Miss Bilotti
oh my god! i think you should go back to the classroom...it sounds much safer! i don't beleive you are doing all those exciting things. can't wait to see the pictures. i just saw a show on pbs about the mayan civilization in, i want to say central mexico. you describe the cave exactly how it was shown on this program. there were even cave drawings. this village was beleived to be a central trading city for all of central america or their empire as it were. great pictures you posted. i like the ones of you with the children. great days! tell us more!
ReplyDeleteI knew you wouldn't believe it ! That is why I took pictures to prove it ! You will be impressed dad !
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