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MAYA & MENNONITE CULTURAL VILLAGE TOUR
Barton Creek Mennonites
There are approximately 10,000 Mennonites living in Belize. Although originally of European descent and heritage, ... moremany Mennonite children and their parents have been born and raised in Belize, creating a unique blend of culture and spirituality. The Mennonites are much like the Amish, living a humble and religiously pious lifestyle. The Mennonites of Belize are peaceful, hardworking people and the more remote communities like Barton Creek retain a very traditional and simple way of life, relying on their knowledge and strength to farm and survive in the jungle with few modern amenities. Belizean Mennonites speak a dialect of German as well as the local languages of English, Kriol, and Spanish.
The communities are very conservative and the women wear bonnets and long dresses, while the men wear denim overalls and wide-brim hats. The men may wear traditional suspenders and dark trousers. They use horse-drawn buggies for transportation and till their farm fields with horses. In the most remote communities, they still use horses to drive their sawmills.
The Mennonites of Barton Creek are very restrictive with their use of machinery and they produce many agricultural crops without any modern machinery. They are highly productive people and they produce honey, milk, eggs, poultry, beans, and other staple crops. Often confused with the Amish, the Mennonites are actually their own distinct religious group with strict Christian principles and their own language. They have many traditions and practices that date back hundreds of years, including arranged marriages. Come to explore this fascinating and reserved culture on a trip through the jungle and back in time to how things were before cell phones, cars, iPods, and even before electricity.
San Antonio’s Women's Group
Located on the road to the Mountain Pine Ridge, the village of San Antonio was named after St. Anthony of Padua when a Spanish Priest who visited regularly from the town of Benque Viejo del Carmen brought a statue of St. Anthony to the Village. The statue can be seen in the Catholic Church near the Village Square. Prior to the name change, San Antonio was known in the local Yucatec Maya dialect as “Osh Multun Kakab” which translates to “Three Mound Virgin Forest”. Today villagers simply refer to their village as “Tanah,” which is the Mayan term for “our home.”
This is a beautiful and productive community with various cultural activities throughout the year, especially in the months of June and December. June 13 marks St. Anthony Day and villagers celebrate for 13 days with traditional Mayan music, foods, such as tamales, and festivities. This is mainly an agricultural community and the local residents grow crops such as peanuts, corn, squash, and beans, much like their ancestors. There are currently three Women’s Groups in San Antonio. One group operates the community bakery, the other specializes in pottery, local jewelry, and embroidery, and the most recent group is making hammocks, embroidery, and clothing. Tour this lovely village and get a firsthand look at living Mayan culture. Local Mayan lunch is included with your tour.
Type of Tour/Activity: Cultural Immersion
Departs From: San Ignacio Town
BARTON CREEK TOURS
Barton Creek is a remote cave that, like many of the subterranean caverns of Belize, was used by the ancient Mayan people for ceremonial purposes. This is a relaxed, ... morebut exciting canoe trip inside a mountain on an ancient waterway where you can observe grand cathedral ceilings in the cave, as well as numerous formations and stalactites and stalagmites.
We begin our journey through farmland where you can observe the Mennonite community of Upper Barton Creek and experience their traditional lifestyle. We then reach Barton Creek Cave, much of which is still to be explored and which stretches for 4.5 miles. We canoe in for one mile exploring the amazing history and geology of this massive cave. At the entrance of the cave, we board our canoes, switch on our headlights and start to slowly paddle into the cave passage. While floating deeper into the passage we learn about the geology, archaeology, and Mayan history of these caves. Our lights will bring to life sparkling crystal formations that are millions of years old. After exploring the caves, we turn our canoes around and float back to park our canoes and complete our half-day tour with a refreshing swim.
Optional Add-ons:
To extend the fun into a full day, please check with our front desk personnel about adding another activity such as jungle zip line, butterfly farm, or waterfalls.
+Jungle Zipline
After the relaxing canoe paddle at Barton Creek, you can opt to pump up the adventure and take a stop at our longest aerial canopy zip-lining tour—Ultimo Explorer— which is more than 2,700 feet. Each of our four tours offers you a return to the main platform on a 500 ft run via our jungle lift platform. The 2-hour tour is for zip line enthusiasts. It combines the Explorer and Intermedio in over 2,700 feet of a zip line, comprised of 9 runs and 15 platforms, that takes you over and through the jungle. This is a safe and exhilarating way to see the jungle like never before, flying through the treetops!
+Waterfall Big Rock Falls
Big Rock Falls is a 150-foot waterfall flowing over the granite boulders of Privassion Creek. We hike down the escarpment hidden deep in the Mountain Pine Ridge where we come to the stunning waterfall and the crystal pool into which the cascading waterfalls, spray a cooling mist. You can scramble over boulders and see the water rushing past you as you plunge into the pool below. Enjoy the natural beauty of this hidden paradise with a picnic lunch and only the sound of splashing water, birds singing, and wind in the trees to disturb the peaceful solitude.
+Butterfly Farm & Botanical Garden
Located in the Cayo district, between limestone hills covered with lush vegetation, is the Belize Butterfly Ranch and Botanical Collections. Here, you will be able to see a kaleidoscope of exotic butterflies of various species, from iridescent blue to gorgeous orange, dazzling yellow to intriguing gray. The butterflies fly freely in a 3,300-square-foot beautifully landscaped butterfly display. This facility is geared toward conservation, research, and education. There is also a botanical collection of over 120 species of plants, including orchids, many of which are critical to the butterflies’ reproduction and rearing. After viewing the butterflies, enjoy a snack at the picnic area or take a peek at their gift shop! Come to be dazzled and amazed at the beauty of these rare and alluring creatures!
Type of Tour/Activity: Jungle and Rainforest Adventures
Departs From: San Ignacio Town
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ATM CAVE TOUR
Taking a journey into the Mayan underworld at Actun Tunichil Muknal, or the “Cave of the Stone Sepulchre”, will be one of the most enlightening, epic, and unique experiences ... moreof your life. Leave the world of the living behind as you venture into the heart of the ATM Cave with your licensed guide. Recently deemed the #1 Sacred Cave destination in the world by National Geographic, the ATM cave is not only beautiful geologically, with its crystalline stalactites and stalagmites, but also historically, as is a natural museum of ancient Mayan artifacts, as well as a sacred burial place. This is the final resting place of the “Crystal Maiden”, an ancient Mayan ceremonial victim, as well as the remains of 13 other sacrificed men, women, and children. MayaWalk guides have led government officials, National Geographic teams, the Discovery Channel, The British High Commission, and US Embassy officials into the ATM Cave.
This sacrificial site is accessed by approximately an hour's drive from our office in San Ignacio. Here we enter the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve and park our vehicles at the ranger post. From this point on we are on foot, hiking through the jungle for approximately 45 minutes to the entrance of the cave. The hike includes three stream crossings. To access the cave, we swim across a small spring-fed pool with the assistance of a rope and wade into knee-high water into the dark underworld of the cave that allows us access to the extensive underground maze of tunnels, passageways, and chambers, climaxing in the ceremonial chamber housing stoneware, ceramics and the famed crystallized skeleton of the “Crystal Maiden”. We spend approximately 3 hours in the cave under the instruction of our experienced guides.
Leave your cameras behind and experience the power of ancient spirits with your mind, body, and soul. This is not only a physical adventure but a journey into the spiritual realm. We enter back into the jungle world and hike to our vehicles, where we relax and enjoy a homemade picnic lunch, with water and soft drinks, before driving back to San Ignacio.
Type of Tour/Activity: Jungle and Rainforest Adventures
Departs From: San Ignacio Town
Actun Loch Tunich is not for the faint of heart! This tour works every muscle so be physically prepared before signing up to explore the “Mother of Caves”. Formed from a sinkhole, ... moreyou will rappel down through the rainforest canopy. Journey about 300ft until you reach the bottom! A picnic lunch will refuel you for the return trek back home!
Type of Tour/Activity: Jungle and Rainforest Adventures
Actun Tunichil Muknal, One of the Top Caves to Visit in Belize
When you step across the entrance to the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave, you’re beginning a journey into the mysterious ... moreunderworld of the Maya. The ATM Cave sometimes called the “Cave of the Stone Sepulchre”, will leave explorers amazed, enlightened, and uplifted.
Rated as the #1 Sacred Cave in the World by National Geographic, the ATM Cave is one of the most important historical sights in the world. Only accessible with a licensed guide, the ATM Cave is an incredibly beautiful underground world filled with glittering stalactites and stalagmites.
But it is its position as a Maya artifact that draws in tourists from around the world. Deep in its underground labyrinth lie the remains of the Crystal Maiden, a young adult who was sacrificed to the Maya gods more than 1,000 years ago. Near her bones, which have taken on a sparkling shine after having fused with the minerals in the cave, lie the remains of more than a dozen other victims, including very young children.
Untame Belize Tours is one of the few companies in Belize to offer authorized guided tours of this cave. Located a short drive from our office in southern Belize, the tour begins with a drive to the ranger post in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve. From there, participants must proceed on foot, hiking through the jungle for approximately 45 minutes, crossing three jungle streams along the way.
Once at the mouth of the cave, participants must swim across a spring-fed pool, using a rope for guidance. And then the adventure truly begins, wading through the knee-high water until a network of vast tunnels, chambers, and passageways is reached. Only after climbing up and into a remote ledge deep in the rear of the cave will participants reach the sacred chamber once used by Maya priests.
The ceremonial chamber still contains pottery, obsidian objects, bowls that once contained food offerings, and the famous skeleton of the Crystal Maiden. It takes approximately three hours to explore everything in this cave.
Strict rules in place by the Department of Archeology forbid any cameras inside ATM Cave, but participants will experience a truly remarkable journey into the lost world of the Maya. After exiting the cave, there will be a return hike through the jungle followed by a delicious picnic lunch.
Type of Tour/Activity: Jungle and Rainforest Adventures
Your adventure starts with an 8 am pick-up from your San Ignacio hotel. You will then have a short drive to the stables where your personal guide will enthrall you with the site's ... morehistory and fauna of the archeologically rich San Lorenzo area for approximately two hours. Once you leave the farm you then take an approximately 1-hour drive to the amazing Big Rock Falls. Once at the falls, you will enjoy your home-cooked lunch. Although the path to the falls will require some physical agility, the opportunity to witness and swim close to this spectacular 150-foot cascade is a must-see. After a few hours of frolicking in the water, you will be ready for your drive back to your San Ignacio hotel. Alternatively, you may opt to curtail your time at Big Rock Falls and enjoy the sedate Rio On Pools as well before driving to your hotel. WEIGHT limit: 250 lbs per rider
Type of Tour/Activity: Jungle and Rainforest Adventures
Departs From: San Ignacio Town
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Best Value
Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave is a cave in Belize, near San Ignacio, Cayo District, notable as a Maya archaeological site that includes skeletons, ceramics, and stoneware. There are several ... moreareas with skeletal remains in the main chamber. The best known as "The Crystal Maiden", is the skeleton of an adolescent (an 18-year-old girl), possibly a sacrifice victim, whose bones have been calcified to a sparkling, crystallized appearance. Recent studies, however, claim that the remains are male and not female.
The ceramics at the site are significant partly because they are marked with "kill holes", which indicate that they were used for ceremonial purposes. Many of the Maya artifacts and remains are completely calcified to the cave floor. One artifact, named the "Monkey Pot", is one of just four of its type found in Central America. The Maya also modified cave formations here, in some instances to create altars for the offerings, in others to create silhouettes of faces and animals or to project a shadow image into the cave. The cave is extensively decorated with cave formations in the upper passages.
Animal life in the cave includes a large population of bats, large freshwater crabs, crayfish, catfish, and other tropical fish. Large invertebrates like Amblypygi and various predatory spiders also inhabit the cave. Agouti and otters may also use the cave. These and many other species are quite common in river caves of this size in Belize.
Type of Tour/Activity: Jungle and Rainforest Adventures
Departs From: San Ignacio Town
Water adventures on the Mopan or Macal Rivers. Enjoy the scenery of beautiful birds, wildlife animals, fish, and orchids under the shady trees the watchful eye of our local iguanas ... moreare looking at you.
Type of Tour/Activity: Jungle and Rainforest Adventures
Departs From: San Ignacio Town
Tour with us as we unveil the mysteries and secrets of the Maya underworld. Morales family, owners, and pioneers to this location many years ago can recount many stories of the logging ... moredays, jaguars, and the long mule trips into their little “paradise.” The cave, a healthy 40-minute climb through the bush from the Morales farm, consists of Mayan pottery-filled chambers with large intact pots varying in size, shape, and decoration.
Che Chem Ha Cave was used by the Maya as a storehouse for grain as well as a ceremonial center for their after-life bloodletting rituals. The different levels of the cave contain numerous pristine artifacts, including large pottery vessels, some with paintings and other district markings. One of the chambers contains artifacts used in performing their ritualized ceremonies.
Type of Tour/Activity: Jungle and Rainforest Adventures
Departs From: San Ignacio Town
Inn The Bush Eco-Jungle Lodge is set just a short 25-minute drive from downtown San Ignacio, built on 70 acres of lush jungle. We are a boutique lodge running solely on solar power ... moreand rain-collected water. You will be sleeping in a luxurious cabin (without paying the "luxurious" price)beautifully decorated with local art. Come sleep on a 4-poster, king-size Mahogany bed and enjoy the sounds of nature. Sleep in or wake up early and enjoy the mountain or garden view where you will see numerous colorful birds including our National Bird - the Keel-billed Toucan, Agouti, Grey Fox, and other creatures we share the property with. We have our family-size Bougainvillea Cabin that has 2 large bedrooms - One bedroom with our signature King-Size bed, and the other bedroom with 2 Queen-Size beds, a spacious living room, and a private bathroom with hot/cold shower that offers an outside view while taking a shower. Take a hike up our nature trail that leads up the mountain to offer you a breathtaking view of the valley below. Either spend a day on the property reading that long-awaited novel in the hammock of your private porch, letting the kids run freely and enjoy the refreshing swimming pool. Looking for somewhere just for you and your significant other? Our Harpy Eagle Cabin offers maximum privacy, facing the mountains and set away from the other cabins.
Wake up and come over to our Open-Air Palapa restaurant where you can enjoy that steaming cup of coffee/tea with your breakfast which has been prepared from scratch with only the freshest and best quality ingredients. We also offer dinner which can be had either at the palapa, in the garden, or by the pool for a romantic setting. Let us know if it is a special occasion you are celebrating and we will take it to the next level and make it even more memorable.
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