One of the first places we visited was this cave that you can read about at this address. It was absolutely amazing! After a 30 minute hike in the jungle - crossing a river three times, we headed into the cave. The only way in is to wade up to your chest in the cool water that flows through the cave. It is an amazing site for history as the items found inside are anywhere from 900 - 1500 years old! We saw things exactly where the Mayans had left them. We walked through certain parts in socks in reverance to the sacred area and also to keep the oils from our bodies away from the artifacts. It was a great way to start our vacation away and on a very hot day outside we remained very cool in the caves. Our guide was Juan Carlos and he knew many things about the Mayan lifestyle, religion, and history. We saw places for food, blood, and human sacrifices. These caves were considered very sacred for the elite of the community while most of the lower class folks would perform their worship outside such places. It was soloemn, awe inspiring, stunning, and truly a mind opening experience (Don't worry, we won't be using many of their ideas of sacrifice when I return to BUMC in November! LOL). Lisa felt this was a trip where she stepped beyond her comfort zones more than once and I've even got a picture of her swinging through the trees on a vine that will just amaze folks! As we headed back out of the cave Juan Carlos allowed those who wanted (there were six total in our group) to go through much thinner areas where we had to twist and turn and the water got to shoulder level. Chris, Matt, and me found those times to be the most exciting though the whole trip was great!
We've got great pictures to share and as soon as I can get the blog to accept them we'll get some of the them up there! In the meantime, here is a website to check out! Folks we talked with stated this was one of the most important things to see in this area of Belize...
http://www.belizex.com/tunichil_muknal.htm
Whether we agree or not with what they did, we can wonder what folks sill say about our worship styles when they look back on us in the years to come. What would people say if they walked into our sacred spaces today? What images, thoughts, understandings would they have? Will they see commitment, intentionality, discipline, faith on behalf of those who gathered?
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