My husband loves history and one-of-a-kind adventures and I love new experiences, so after reading many reviews on the ATM caves we decided to go for it. We were a bit nervous, but hoped that our status of "average physical shape for our age" would get us through the tour.
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| Lobby at Cahal Pech Village Resort |
We booked Carlos the Caveman Tours and we met at Cahal Pech Village Resort to start our journey. We were both wearing bathing suits, with quick dry shorts and shirts over top and we had both purchased and were wearing "swim tennis shoes" which I thought worked great for hiking in the water. Other people in our group were wearing everything from standard hiking boots to swim sandals and had on long pants and jackets, to shorts and t-shirts. We had bug spray and sun screen on. Sun screen really wasn't needed because we weren't really out in the sun and we did not have any issues with bugs either, so probably could have been OK without both. We were always a comfortable temperature. The temperature inside of the caves and water temperature was always very comfortable.
We brought with us a complete change of clothes, including different shoes, to leave in the van for after the tour, a dry pair of socks to wear for part of the cave tour, and a bottle of water. Nothing else was allowed in the cave.
There is a maximum amount of people allowed in the caves per day and a maximum number of people allowed on each individual tour (which is 8) so you should plan on booking your tour as early as you can. With that being said, the caves were not crowded.
We met our group and I was very pleased to see a women that was probably around 70 years old in my group and her name was Anna. I thought if she could do it, I could do it! The rest of our group ranged in age from a newlywed couple in their mid 20s to a married couple in their 50s.
The tour started out with our group traveling in a van for about 45 minutes down some VERY bumpy roads. I am a wimp and get car sick easy, so I sat in the front of the van and had no issues.
When we arrived at our destination our tour guide fitted each of us with hard hats with headlamps and we were offered life jackets. Anna decided to wear a life jacket and the rest of the group did not. We all put our dry socks in the top of our hats and headed off on the hike.
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| Start of the hike (although this picture is from after the hike, after we had changed our clothes) |
We hiked through the rain forest for about an hour to get to the mouth of the cave. The hike itself is very flat and our group was very leisurely paced, but you do have to walk across rivers to get to the mouth of the cave. All of the river crossings had ropes you could hang on to as you crossed. I found it was easier to just walk on my own.
Once we arrived at the mouth of the cave our tour guide went in first. He would explain to us every step we should take, including exactly where we should put our feet when we were going over rocks. The guide had the safety of our group, along with preserving the artifacts, as his top priority. He had Anna go after him and then the rest of us followed along. You kind of work as a team with your group as you go through the cave. I watched the foot placement of the man in front of me, so whatever he did, I did, and he was doing everything the trained guide told him to do. I knew if he did it and was OK, then I would be OK too.
As soon as you enter the cave you swim a short distance. The swim was an easy swim (and you could have a life jacket on if you wanted) and the water was a nice temperature - not too hot and not too cold. Anna actually said half way through the hike she wished she did not have the life jacket because it was just getting in her way and the swims were easy enough that it wasn't needed.
From that point on we were wading through water, climbing up rocks, swimming every now and then, and squeezing through a couple of tights spots. I am having a really hard time describing the experience because it was so truly different than anything I have done before or probably will do again! The caves were breathtaking. The Mayan Ruins were unbelievable. You really feel like you are back in time getting to peak into a world that you never thought you would experience first hand.
Overall everyone on in our group loved the experience. Something you have to see to believe and I really think it is something everyone should see!
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