After a brief 30-minute hike to the entrance of the cave, inner tubes are used to float along the Caves Branch River. See your light flicker upon strange shapes and the ultimate darkness beyond. Hear the echo of your own voice bounce off the distant walls. Listen to the water dripping from the ceiling, creating spectacular formations in the stunning chambers. While you might be expecting dark and claustrophobic passageways, you are likely to find enormous chambers and cathedral-sized rooms. Journey into Belize’s spectacular underground realm and take a trip back. From the very beginning of ancient Maya culture, caves played a major role in forming this civilization’s distinctive worldview. In addition to their use as a water supply source, storage area, and dump, the Mayan caves were considered to be a supernatural realm, the home of deities and ancestors. Vapor clouds forming at the mouth of caves suggested to the Maya that these formations were inhabited by the gods of nature-the source of rain, thunder, and lightning.