Belize on TV

Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave, Belize

We've never cared much for Andrew Zimmern's "Bizarre Foods" show on the Travel Channel. As a host he was likable enough, but it was more focused on the shock factor of various foods throughout the world, and less focused on the cultures of the peoples who produced and enjoyed the food.

We were hopeful when we saw previews for his new series, "Bizarre World." Maybe it would focus more on culture. We were encouraged by a snippet of footage that we recognized as Actun Tunichil Muknal, a Mayan cave which we had visited in Belize in 2004.

We watched and enjoyed his first episode about Cuba. He covered a lot of ground during the hour. Though he still eats some outlandish things, the show has a much wider focus.

The next show was the Belize episode. It did not disappoint. He went with Chief Archaeologist of Belize Jaime Awe nearly half a mile underground to Actun Tunichil Muknal. They explained that the Mayans saw caves as entrances to the underworld, also called Xibalba. This particular cave was associated with the Mayan rain god. Around 1000 years ago, sacrifices would be made an the entrance of the cave. As drought conditions became worse, they would move the sacrifices further into the cave, closer to the rain god himself. The mouth of the cave looked just as we had remembered it. A vertical crack in the limestone with a river flowing out of it. Zimmern and Dr. Awe got into the water and swam in with their hard hats and headlamps.

Crystal Maiden skeleton

Steph swimming in the cave

Around 750 - 800 CE, sacrifices were being made in "the cavern" about 1/2 a mile inside the cave. When Zimmern and Dr. Awe arrived at the cavern after swimming and hiking through various depths of water, they found ritual pottery shards as well as some whole pots. Many of the pots had been smashed as sacrifices to release the spirits in each pot. Humans were sacrificed as well. There are scattered bones and skulls with evidence of blunt trauma. Pots and bones become calcified and crystallized, becoming one with the cave. There were also shards of sharp obsidian, which were used for ritual bloodletting practices. A complete skeleton of a young woman has been dubbed the Crystal Maiden, and it lies on a rock ledge above the main cavern. A ladder must be climbed to reach "the stone sepulchre" where her bones lie.

 

Our guide Ben poses next to some beautiful cave formations

 

Ritual pottery remains

It was incredible seeing all of these areas on TV. The cave had been a definite highlight of our trip to Belize, and it was fun to relive the adventure now 5 years later. Dr. Awe next took Zimmern to a part of the cave that we had not seen before, as it is not usually open to the public. There they found the bones of an infant who had been ritually sacrificed.

We very much enjoyed this episode, and are now hooked on "Bizarre World." Though Zimmern does at times still eat things which are difficult to watch, he has at least gotten away from "thrill eating" (as he calls it) being the focus of the show. We'll be tuning in regularly.