Within its dark recesses you will discover large clay jars, left long ago by the Maya people, in hopes that the gods of rain and fertility would find them suitable offerings. Ceramics, stoneware, and skeletons lay forgotten for centuries. The most famous is “The Crystal Maiden,” a young girl sacrificed and left for the gods, her bones slowly claimed by the cave and calcified to the sparkling, crystallized remains you can view today.
Your tour starts with a 45 minute hike in the cool tropical rainforest where you will cross three streams and eventually enter the cave’s hourglass shaped mouth for a 30 foot swim in water that reaches depths of 15 feet. You swim until you touch bottom and land on a rock shelf. The next 2,000 feet is a journey that takes well over half an hour. It is filled with many sharp and slippery edges and water depths alternate from just covering your toes to portions where only the tallest won’t need to swim. After this distance you ascend seven to ten feet to a shelf above the river. From this point forward it is shallow and you walk barefoot (with socks only) to protect the cave.
As you go forward you will encounter increasing amounts of pottery, tools, and ceremonial items in all sizes and in conditions from near intact to completely shattered. The artwork found in Actun Uayazba Kab (a section of the cave) is unmatched when compared to any other site. The deeper in the cave you go, the more recent the activities of the Mayans were. Use of the cave by the Mayans of the Late Pre-Classic (1 to 250 AD), shows they tended to stay near the mouth of the cave, whereas later generations moved further into the cave, perhaps believing that this would bring them closer to the gods of Xibalba.
A not-so-common artifact is human remains. So far, remains from fourteen individuals have been found; seven adults & seven children (all under the age of five). These are not the ceremonial burials found in the other two caves in the area, but are sacrificial victims. They were all likely sacrificed in the hopes of appeasing the gods to bring rain. Young victims, particularly females, were important for rituals to be “zuhui” – pure and uncontaminated in the eyes of the gods. The Crystal Maiden was a young woman of about 20 years old whose complete remains lie at the back of the cave. It is believed that she was clubbed and left for dead and with the passing of time she has been cemented to the floor in a layer of brown calcite. To reach her final resting place, you must climb aluminum ladders mounted on a sheer rock face. Don’t choose this tour if you are not an adventure lover, it is not for the faint of heart!
Timetable: 24 hours noticed required
Departure Time: 8:00am
Return Time: 5:00 pm
Travel Time: 2.5 hours each way
Duration: Full Day
Included: Transportation, certified guide, lunch, and taxes & fees
What to bring:
Sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, bug repellent, camera, binoculars, sturdy hiking shoes, water bottles, and power/granola bars
This is an à la carte tour:
The ATM cave tour is not included in our all inclusive packages.
Tour Pricing & Availability:
This tour can be purchased à la carte for US$250 per person with a 4 person minimum requirement.
The zip lining and cave tubing was exciting and fun. The lines are long and you are able to go over the canopies and the river for great views. The cave tubing was refreshing and beautiful. The drive to the zip lining/cave tubing was 2.5 hours but well worth it. – TripAdvisor user