San Ignacio & Actun Tunichil Muknal

I had decided to make only 2 stops in Belize on my way to Guatemala. San Ignacio should be a good contrast to the Beach & Party Island Caye Caulker.
I took the boat to get to Belize City which I had decided to skip as a full day stop. Just the 15 minutes walking from the boat to the bus station proofed me right. Belize City is just another City and even during the day it felt pretty sketchy.
After the fancy ADO Busses in Mexico i actually enjoyed getting on the local bus to San Ignacio. For shorter trips they are really ok and you get to learn more about the country and the people on a local bus.

The first surprise in San Ignacio was to meet Dinesha again. A girl I had met in Caye Caulker under some weird circumstances. Let's say... even though we are complete opposites - we seem to attract the same type of guy ;)
Anyway it was nice to meet her again to actually get to know her and laugh a lot about this strange night in Caye Caulker.

San Ignacio is the starting point to some tours you can take to the caves in the area. Even though I'm not a big fan of guided tours I should take the chance to see Actun Tunichil Muknal - an ancient Maya Site in an three-mile-long cave.

You are not allowed to bring a camera (we got some pictures from the agency afterwards) and as you have to swim to get into the cave you actually just go in your swimsuit and watershoes. You have to swim and climb trough an amazing landscape of stalactites and stalagmites inside the cave in complete darkness with the only light coming from your groups headlamps till you reach the main chamber where you find tons on relicts like old pots and the skeletons of the sacrificed mayan people! It's incredible they are not taking away that stuff to put it in some museum.

On the way out of the cave we were by ourselves with just our group of 7 people. Our guide made us turn of our lights and let us walk through the waistdeep water in complete darkness (you really couldn't see anything).

This tour was so worth its money. Definitely recommended!Read more