Francis Ford Coppola’s Blancaneaux Lodge Launches New Cave Explorations

Francis Ford Coppola’s famed Blancaneaux Lodge in Belize is commemorating the highly-anticipated final year of the Maya calendar by launching five exciting Cave Explorations within Belize’s Maya Mountain Massif, a collection of twelve protected areas considered to be one of the largest, most biodiverse and pristine wilderness regions remaining in Central America.

Blancaneaux Lodge’s new cave explorations, available throughout 2012 and beyond, are a fascinating and engaging way to celebrate the completion of the Maya Long Count Calendar’s significant 13th b’aktun, ending on December 21, 2012 and marking the end of a 5,125 year era before resetting at year zero.

As a large civilization that spanned Mesoamerica thousands of years ago, the Maya’s unique discoveries on astronomy and mathematics are still relevant today. Commonly debated is this ancient prophecy of a new cosmic cycle, or b’aktun, resetting at year zero, causing reason to further explore and understand Maya culture this year.

Suitable for clients of all ages, Blancaneaux Lodge’s cave explorations range from the easily accessible Rio Frio Cave to the strenuous Actun Tunichil Mucnal Cave (ATM). Culturally imperative to the Maya, caves represented a mythical zone of life and death and are often described as entries into the underworld. Evidence of religious rituals, ancient burials and offerings to the deities is abundant to this day. Maya remains can be found among the caves near Blancaneaux Lodge and guests may gain knowledge of the country’s ancient inhabitants by caving in the Rio Frio Cave, Barton Creek Cave, Offering Cave, ATM Cave or cave tubing in the "Caves Branch" Nohuch Che’en Reserve.

Visit www.coppolaresorts.com/blancaneaux/explore/cave-explorations