On the Way Out

We got dressed into our cloths and boots from the day before, surprisingly they were pretty dry. Then we packed our gear up and got ready to head out. Some of the guys started a fire, not sure what for because we were leaving but it was to burn all of the trash. I wondered what they did because I had a small pile myself, but I had already wrapped it up to dispose when we got out. The smelled nasty, all the plastic containers and trash bags isn’t a good smell for the morning but it didn’t seem to mind anybody. Then we headed out.
We walked and swam for about an hour or so until we came upon the “hole” we were at during the hike up to the cave. It was even more astounding looking up as it was looking down into it. There were huge boulders all over; it seemed as if it was a place where they gathered when the water I high and fierce due to the almost right angle turn at this point. This our breakfast spot more like lunch because we were having sandwiches. There was a big sun spot shining down, which was like heaven to see, because I haven’t seen it for a while, and the rays shot down with an immense amount of energy into the lightless cave. There would be drops of water dripping down from the ceiling falling through the sun rays and it looked as if the sun was twinkling. It was truly magical and peaceful. I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw angels descend. I took a sweet photo but it didn’t come out.

We found a good spot in the sun to eat, but just as we got settled, the sun has moved and we were in the shade. It was almost like you could actually see the sun moving. The hole was small and far away, so the sun moved quickly across the cave floor. We again repacked up our gear and headed on.

This next hike was probably our longest and most difficult. At one of our resting spots there was a small flow of water gushing out of a hole in the wall about 2 feet from the ground. This was the place where the new guys got initiated. We had to pull our pants down and Ernesto poured to pure water over our heads and declared out Apollo (nickname), mine was oso de la cueva (cave bear) because I had a couple rumbling burps along the way. We continued.

The last leg proved to be difficult to some of the older gents. One in particular took a bad fall and hurt his ankle. A couple of us stayed back and helped him through the rocky terrain, through the shallow river crossings where you couldn’t see the rocks, and took turns carrying his gear. There was some steep rocks to climb and more swimming.

We finally got to the end, you could see the sun light trying to enter the cave but the darkness just swallowed it up. Once you could see a faint glow, you knew you were there. The longest part where we had to swim was here at the end, there was a nice current as well. The river shallowed and everybody took their gear off and had a little recreational swim. The water was warm and clear. There was another smaller river that flowed into it from a different, smaller cave as well.

The journey wasn’t over; we had to climb up about 400 more yards of steep stairs, then another 400 yards back to China’s house for lunch and to get to the bus. This was again tough due to the sun and soreness from walking all day through a RIVER IN A CAVE! But we did it.