Entering the Darkness

Cochillo was our leader and I was third in line. I was already soaked from the neck down due to the swim training session, so the subsequent crossings of the river didn’t bother me. It was a small winding river with points where there was banks on both sides of sand and small rocks that were easily passable, one passable side that may or may not be easy with large boulders that had to be climbed up and down, and impassable sides due to steep cliffs or cave walls so swimming down to a passable point was inevitable.

Once we finally reached total darkness I was in awe of the small view of the cave I had through the circular porthole of my head lamp. It was hard to tell actual how high and how far away things where because my depth perception was out of whack due to the extreme darkness. Just the thought of this whole world inside a mountain that only a small number of people have seen and I was in that group. I felt so small and insignificant because I could easily be swept away or crushed my any small movement by Mother Nature. That was a feeling I’ve never had before.
We winded back and fourth, in and out, and up and down through the calm mild temperatured cave. There were incredible visuals that are hard to explain. Looking around and only seeing the small window where your or another persons light was flashing, it reminded me of the part of level eight on Super Mario Bro’s 3 where you can’t see the level, just a round spot where you were (If you played it you know what I am talking about). Looking back at the long line of head lamps bouncing up and down that resembles light bugs dancing in the wind on the side of the highway on a calm summer’s night on a random road going through the forests of Northern Michigan.

Surprisingly you would dry fairly quickly after being out of the water for a few min, but you would have to get right back in. The dark and the cold didn’t bother me at all, I was more interested in the view and letting my mind wander about random philosophical topics such as the purpose of my life, how the hell did I end up here, and I kept trying to imagine what the other people in my life were doing at that exact moment.

About an hour in we came up to an area with a huge cathedral type ceiling and a large multi layered platform at the outer bend. We climbed up and at the top of the platform were two statues of the Virgin Guadalupe with several lit candles, messages to loved ones, and pictures of the dearly departed. As we passed, everybody went to pay their respects as did I. We all gathered around the statues and Martin told us a story about their importance to out group. He said that these specific statues performed miracles. The first year they traveled through the caves and when they came upon the Virgin Guadalupe, they prayed. Martin specifically prayed for his sick mother. She has been chronically ill for a few years. Soon after they returned, his mother’s health drastically improved and she is still healthy to this day. He made a promise to the Virgin that day, that he will return every year at the same time to give thanks and pray for others in need.

This large platform was to be our campsite for the night. We picked out our spots, undid our gear, got our wet cloths off and hung up, put our dry cloths on, ate dinner (sandwiches), and went to bed. I went to bed right away due to my continuing headache and a new felt nausea. Fernando and Hector got out their bread, ham, mayonnaise (real stuff not miracle whip, nasty!), cheese (that got wet and was mushy, nasty!), mustard, and jalapeño chiles. I told them that camping was supposed to be simple and you don’t need all the extras like mayo, mustard and chiles, especially if you have to lug them around. But they assured me that it was necessary to have. They again refered to a joke that they say all the time; “you are in the land of chile and lime, we even put chile on our chile and lime on our lime.” There were even chile packets for the carrots! They again said that it was necessary, I stressed that I want my carrots to taste like carrots and not chile! We all laughed, and before I knew it, everybody was asleep.

Through out the night there would be groups coming through, one in particular got me to wake up because I hears a whole lot of girls, good looking ones too! I would look around hoping to get a peek of some of them changing their clothes but they were only passing. I wish I hadn’t wakened up because I kept waking up after that due to the graphic fantasies that were flying through my sexually deprived brain. At one waking point I felt like a million bucks and snacked on a couple sandwiches (basic – just bread and ham), Quaker bars and a boatload of Gatorade.
We were awakened promptly at 7 am by Ernesto (Uncle Dave look alike) singing a song, “son las siete, todos se levanta, son las siete de la mañana…”