- We found it.
This is the cave right here.
And look, see all the bats?
There's about 150 bats streaming out
of this deep black mouth every single minute
and that's why this place is so special.
But we're not here to see the bats, are we?
Oh no.
We're here to see the snakes.
Deep in the Yucatan Peninsula,
there's a small Mayan town called Kantemó.
With a population of just 380,
it's a quiet place,
except it hides a secret.
A cave where snakes supposedly hang from the ceiling.
And today we are going to find it.
But first, a sponsor that helped make this adventure happen.
Now you might wonder how I stay healthy on the road
as I drag myself through jungles, caves and bat guano.
Well, today's video sponsor
is a company called Athletic Greens,
and it's a brand I've been using for years.
- AG1 is a daily supplement with 75 ingredients
that can replace a whole cabinet worth of stuff
that I don't have room for in my suitcase.
Like vitamins, minerals, and probiotics.
Getting sick sucks, especially when you're traveling.
So whether it's eating bee larva in the Congo
or whatever this soup is in the Philippines,
I do what I can to keep myself healthy on the road.
What I normally do when I'm not in the cave,
is I take a pack, open it up, woo!
And it goes into a big glass of water in the morning.
You shake it all up and it turns this magical green color.
All the good stuff in the world is green, right?
And on the go, you can stay healthy,
even in a cave if you want to.
Like I said, I'd already been using AG1 for years
before they approached to sponsor Fearless and Far.
Maybe you've got some fitness and nutrition goals
for the new year, and if you do, add this to the mix.
I've got a link below- athleticgreens.com/fearlessandfar
if you want to check it out.
And if you do, use that link to order.
They'll send you five free travel packs.
Obviously a big fan over here of those.
And also they'll give you a little bottle
of vitamin D3 and K2 for free!
For free.
For us, what's next?
You know it's the snakes.
Right this way, right after you.
Down that dark pit.
You scared? Don't be! There's only snakes and bats.
I mean, we haven't seen any snakes yet.
But so far this place is living up to the reputation.
Look at them all.
Alright, there's a few things to keep in mind here.
Number one, yes, helmets are required
because if you've ever knocked your noggin on limestone,
it hurts a lot.
And when you're dodging bats and snakes,
it's easy to hit your head.
As well, you know, snake protection, right?
Secondly, we have head torches
and now we are allowed to use white light.
The red is for later though,
because I'm not sure if you knew this,
but if I can get it on white-
is that red light, like this,
does not ruin your night vision.
So even if yourself, you're walking around at night
you can put on your red light.
It doesn't ruin it.
Same with snakes, same with a lot of animals,
but for now we're using white
and once we get deeper into the more sensitive area,
we'll be using red.
Cool. So helmet on, backpack ready?
Got some water, got some camera gear,
and I got a sense of adventure.
How about you?
I always know you do. Vamos!
Bats.
Let's head inside.
Let's quickly meet some of the characters
of this adventure, yeah?
This is Maria Jesus,
one of the few guides who braves the caves here.
Her, along with Adrian Balthazar and Edgar
lead what few tourists venture this deep
into Yucatan to see it.
I'm also here with Arturo from Tours Sakun,
an expert adventure guide, musician,
and my main contact here in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Maria Jesus lives in the village right beside the cave,
and she's dedicated her life to showing people this place.
But I have to ask her the obvious question.
(speaking Spanish)
Scared of snakes?
- My favorite animal.
- [Mike] Your favorite animal?
- I actually have one as pet.
- [Mike] Really?
- (laughing) Yes.
- [Mike] Arturo, there's so many, man.
- Hundreds of bats.
- [Mike] Look up there, right?
- [Arturo] Look back there.
- You know one of the benefits of not having hair is?
No bats get stuck.
Oh man, you, you though.
- Yeah. Then this is a bat trap now.
- A bat trap. (laughing)
Sucks to be you.
Hey, that actually doesn't happen.
That's a total lie.
Bats don't get caught in your hair.
Don't believe that stuff.
We continue into the cave.
For about 90 minutes every day at dusk,
between 100 and 150 bats a minute
leave the cave and search for food.
That time has come for the spectacle.
The big show is actually just up there.
It's now a bit darker,
so you can't see me very well or what I'm looking at.
But where the red lights are inside
is where all of the snakes live
and we have to switch our red lights on
so that we don't disturb them in their natural habitat.
So, ready?
Whoop.
That's the opposite of what I want.
That's what we're going for.
Whoa! Almost got hit in the face by a bat.
Wow man! They're coming out of there so fast!
It's like being shot with giant furry bullets.
They come, I dunno if you can see on the camera
but they come right like an inch from my face.
This passage is only about two and a half feet tall.
So you can see the ceiling's just right here
and we gotta crawl on our bellies to make it through.
So I've got a question for you.
Which one are you scared of more?
Confined spaces, snakes or bats?
What about all three?
Wow.
The air is hot. Thick.
With guano and bat breath.
Then she finds one- our first hanging snake
hunting in the darkness.
Okay, okay, okay.
Let me switch my lens so you guys can see better.
Maybe we can catch him actually catching something.
Maria carefully turns on a dim white light
so we can see it better.
But as we switch flashlights and camera lenses,
the snake catches a bat and retreats.
We missed it.
So he caught one. Yeah?
- [Arturo] Yeah. Already ate.
So we just missed it.
There he is.
Just a foot in front of me and we got here,
we saw him hang for a second.
We got our bearings.
Whoop!
And then he caught it and then went back into the cave.
Okay, well let's keep looking.
That's just one in the first five minutes in here.
(Maria speaking Spanish)
- [Mike] We head down a different branch
because Maria wants to show us something.
What is it? Water?
- [Arturo] Yup, it is. Down here.
- [Mike] Yeah?
- [Arturo] Come on man. Here.
- [Mike] Okay.
- [Arturo] I have a surprise for you.
- [Mike] A surprise?
I like surprises!
- [Arturo] A very good one.
- [Mike] A good surprise. Even better.
No. Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Oh there's two, all the- oh!
So we struck the jackpot.
There's blind cave creatures, blind albino cave creatures.
This is, these are really rare guys.
You have to understand that these creatures
only live in the purest water.
Like they're extremely sensitive.
I pop a GoPro into the water so we can see better.
And look, albino troglobitic shrimp
living in complete darkness, and a white lady.
This fish is endemic to these cenotes.
They have no pigment and if you look closely,
they have no eyes either.
Wait. An albino eel?
- [Arturo] Yeah.
- [Mike] Really?
- [Arturo] Go for it.
- [Mike] Where?
This is a blind swamp eel.
An endangered species that feeds on the albino shrimp
that we just saw.
It's very rare.
Just so people understand how lucky we are, how-
what are the chances of seeing an albino blind eel
in this caves?
- It's really, really small man,
so I really I cannot know how to transmit this feeling,
but from the 230 cenotes that I have been through
throughout my whole life-
- Which is a lot.
- A lot. Like, just to imagine that number.
It's the first time that I have seen this eel.
I have seen the shrimp.
I have seen the white ladies several times, right?
I have seen the (illegible) also or the three together
but it's the first time that I see eels
and like it's like one of a lifetime.
- I got so lucky.
Maybe it's my good luck charm.
You're hired.
Lemme tell you something.
My favorite days adventuring
with you guys are the days
where I get a little bit dirty.
Now, as you can tell, we're getting really dirty.
This creature is another creature of the cave.
It's a tailless whip scorpion.
And it might look like it's from your nightmares,
but it is quite friendly.
And not too unlike the snakes we're here to find.
So he or she, I can't tell,
hunts in the dark with these modified arms right here.
See them?
And they sweep them back and forth like an antenna array.
And maybe you're a cockroach.
A little critter in here touches one of these
and it has two appendages in the front that have these claws
and it gulps it down really quickly.
And yeah, I don't know. I think they're pretty cool.
We continue deeper for a better chance to see the snakes.
Where do we go? in this hole here.
- Here, yeah. Here.
- Almost.
It's time for the red light.
- [Arturo] All good?
- [Mike] All good.
- [Arturo] It's a little bit like tight,
but I am also small so it balances the thing.
- A little bit tight.
(both laughing)
- [Arturo] We can do it, man.
We can do it, man.
- [Mike] I can do it.
- [Arturo] We can do it.
- [Mike] I can do it.
Sometimes I break cameras.
That's part of the game.
(daring music)
(whispering) I don't want you miss it,
but there's a little snake there hunting.
I'm just trying not to disturb it.
Can you see?
I didn't quite know what I was looking at at the time.
A mix of scales, skin and fur.
The snake was suffocating a bat.
And then right in front of the camera it unfurls to eat it.
It's rare to see this moment.
We came at a fantastic time.
An animal perfectly adapted for this act,
hanging in complete darkness,
sensing the body heat of its passing prey
and snatching them out of the air
in a split second every day at dusk.
As far as we know it's the only place in the world
where this happens.
These snakes do horrible things to bats.
And after feeding, this one seems curious
of what we're doing so deep in its lair.
Do you want to see the sinister face
of this cold-hearted killer?
Meet the yellow-red rat snake.
Maybe not what you expected.
It's non venomous and harmless to humans
and honestly it's pretty freaking cute.
Right?
Mission complete.
It's torta time.
Do you know what a torta cubana is?
It's probably the most ridiculous sandwich
I've seen in my entire life.
It's famous in Mexico,
and tonight that's gonna be our dinner, right?
- Delicious.
- Stay tuned for this culinary monster.
Don't look.
This is it right here.
The grand unveiling of the torta cubana.
Literally the everything sandwich.
Hot dogs, chicken, ham.
What else do you see?
Beans, cheese, salami, lettuce.
Usually something you wanna share with a friend.
Luckily I got one.
- That's right.
- It's Arturo from Tours Sukun.
And if you wanna come here,
see some hanging snakes,
He's your guy.
Or what else do you do? Everything.
- Everywhere. Like uncharted caves,
uncharted cenotes, to go explore some Mayan ruins,
Go in hiking in the jungle, do some jungle camping,
diving, anything you like.
- Big love to our video sponsor as well.
AG1 by Athletic Greens.
When you eat stuff like this
you gotta make sure you stay healthy.
Check out the link if you want to help the channel.
Thank you.
We'll enjoy the sandwich.
I'll see you in the next video.
- See you next time.