Journey To The Center Of Our Ego, Part 2

Shawn Tedrow

On the last day of our vacation, Jenny and I winged it, and decided to take a different route than the typical traditional tourist attraction. We decided to explore an ancient Mayan cave that was off the beaten track, called Che Chem Ha Cave.

This cave was discovered in 1989 by a sixteen year old boy by the name of William Morales. One day William was on his family farm harvesting bay leaf palms, used in thatched roofing, when his dog began chasing a rodent, called a gibnut, and suddenly disappeared into a hillside covered by bushes. William went to where his dog had vanished, pushed aside the bushes, and discovered a cave. After shouting to his dog, and getting him to return, he went back to his house and told his parents what he discovered.

The next day he went back with flashlights and entered into the cave. Within fifteen meters of entering into this narrow passageway, it opened up wide and high, and he discovered a cave system containing precious pottery relics left behind by Mayan ancestors.

Years of exploration ended up place in this cavern with the support of many archeologists from universities and organizations. The cave had nine levels to it and went about 240 meters deep, with numerous sacred Mayan ceremonial sites being discovered. Having nine naturally created levels exhibited significant wonders to this cave, as the number nine had deep religious meaning to the ancient Mayans. Hundreds of years of Mayan history were discovered as they explored deeper and deeper into this cave.

Because this was found on private land, the cave remained the property of William Morales' family. William's life was completely changed because of his dog’s passionate zeal to catch that gibnut. He dedicated his life to studying the Mayan culture and became a tour guide to many historical places for about ten years. He eventually ended up coming back home where he now does private guides at this cave that he and his dog found on his family's farm.

The way William Morales found this cave reminded me how Alice in Wonderland stumbled across her life changing adventure, following a rabbit that lead to a hole she fell in. Yes, William Morales’ life was completely transformed because of this finding.

When we arrived at the Morales family farm, we were greeted by William, with a big grin on his face. We were an hour early but he asked, with such enthusiasm, "Are you ready to go?" He then grabbed his machete, and hats, with flashlights mounted on them, and off we were, on an uphill trek along a jungle trail that was cluttered with roots and rocks, that were quite slippery from the humidity. After about forty-five minutes of huffing and puffing up this jungle trail, we finally arrived at the cave.

With a pause for about a ten minute rest, we then commenced going into this cave, what the Mayans called the underworld. This underworld is where the Mayans communed with their ancestors and gods. All of the ancient sacramental pottery that we observed in the cave was not touched or moved from their original positioning when found in 1989. This Chechem Ha Cave adventure was surely the highlight of our entire vacation.

After about thirty minutes of going through different levels of the cavern, and viewing many sacred Mayan sites, we finally reached the end of the cave, at the ninth level. There at the floor was a large four foot high ceremonial stone with rocks circling it. There was a crude carved etching of a woman on the cave wall just behind this sacred stone alter. To the right of this carving of the woman, about eight feet up the wall, was a concaved ledge. William explained to us that the Mayans used to have a torch and incense burning at this ledge during their religious ceremonies.

William then told us all to turn off our flashlights, and it became heart-throbbing pitch black. He then reached up towards the ledge, where the Mayans used to have a torch burning, and lit a flame there. This small flame that William lit flooded illuminating light throughout the chamber of the cavern we were in. William then pointed to the wall on the left side of the etched woman, the opposite side from the ledge where he was holding the flame, and behold, there was a shadow cast from the carved woman on the wall. This shadow though, had magnificently transformed from the original carved image of the woman, into a completely different figure of another woman. The etched woman looked earthly crude, and unfinished, while its shadow appeared as a female spirit-god. It was crystal clear to me then, that this transformation from one woman’s image to another was what the Mayans use to observe and meditate on during their sacrificial ceremonies at this ninth level in the cave.

It is very difficult to explain what happened to me at that very moment. While sensing how dauntingly deep we were into the guts of this mountainside, and observing this awe mystifying transformation taking place, eerie quivers of resonating thoughts went up and down my spine that were vibrating back and forth off the two images of these women, and the title of the famous novel and post that had been in the back of my mind. I don’t believe in a personal God, but damn, this whole Che Chem Ha Cave random excursion we went on sure felt like a setup related to this emerging post I was trying to ignore.

Sometimes I feel like I need a coconut to fall on my head in order for me to realize that I am under a coconut tree.

I was finally persuaded that I should take a chance, and start writing. Sometimes I just need to cave into the situation, so to speak, and go with the flow, even though I don’t know what the hell I am doing.

Okay, I guess I’ll have to get to work and continue on writing this new RT post that just wouldn’t leave me alone.

I’ll see you in about one week

You can check out Shawn's other musings here.