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Published: February 26th 2010
With my gammy knee having recovered, I decided (as hinted at in the previous post) to do some "crazy" adventure activity stuff. I have to while I'm here - I'll have no credibility if I leave San Gil without doing something!
Mónica (she who is always right), suggested La Cueva del Indio - Indian Cave. I've never done caving before so I thought "why not - it's not too extreme" 😊
It was actually super-easy to organise. I spoke to Blanca who works here at the hostel and she made a call, took my 25.000 COP and gave me directions to the bus station - I already knew where it was because I'd been to Barichara yesterday. I was instructed to get a bus to Páramo (3.000 COP) which is an EVEN SMALLER town than Barichara.
I asked what I should take with me and was told t-shirt, shorts, sandals, nothing valuable. I wore swimming trunks under the shorts because I knew that this would involve getting wet. I really thought I'd be cold - I really needn't have worried. I packed a change of clothes into a dry sack. Under advice, I
didn't pack my camera - that's why this posting has no photos...sorry.
Any way, the time now was about midday so I headed out to get some lunch (I'd arranged to leave here at 1pm to get there for 2pm-ish).
Lunch was nowhere near as adventurous as the ant-fest of the previous day. Something local (in terms of geography, rather than cuisine) was the order of the day. So I found the nearest eatery called Rib's Plaza. The dish of the day was Burritos so that's what I ordered, together with what I think they said was a guarana shake. Not sure about that, though. While I was waiting the owner asked if I could help translating a sign for them so I did - earned me a free glass of sangria...not really what I needed before caving, but there you go.
My food arrived and it was OK - the meat wasn't the best, but what can you expect for £3.50 all-in?
I was halfway through the second Burrito and the heavens opened. The restaurant seating area is in a courtyard so I scurried to a side table and gave the staff a hand moving the other tables (did I mention that I was the only one in the restaurant - this seems to happen to me a lot in Colombia). That, thankfully, didn't earn me another sangria. Anyway, I polished off my food and watched the weather do its worst to rain on my parade - speaking to the owner of the restaurant, she said that they wouldn't let me do the caving if it was raining - and it really was TIPPING it down.
Having finished dinner and paid, I ran up the hill to the hostel to find out whether I could still go ahead. The rain was STREAMING down the hill - it was really like the road had, literally (and I mean literally) turned into a shallow river - small geysers shooting into the air where the body of water met with steps or kerb stones. It was still raining heavily but easing off. I spoke to Blanca and she called ahead for me and confirmed that it wasn't raining in Páramo and that everything was still on.
So I grabbed my stuff and headed down to the bus station.
I noticed that everything that is built to shade you from the sun actually works really well to protect you from the rain too. So I didn't actually get that wet on the way down to the station - and it's warm enough that I dried off totally pretty quickly once I was on the bus.
I was lucky. The buses leave every hour at a quarter past the hour and as I arrived the bus was just pulling out. Having no time to buy a ticket I just hopped on - which is entirely permissable, it seems (you just pay your 3.000 COP as you get off rather than handing over a ticket).
The journey took about 30 minutes although it was only 13km. As usual, people were dropped on and off on route - it's actually a system that works really well when you get used to it - and I guess not too disimilar to the Routemasters of old.
About 5km before you reach Páramo, the bus turns off onto a steep dirt-track that leads to the town. Getting off the bus was another tumble-weed moment. All eyes were on me as I wandered through the square looking for the Adventure Sports center. It astounded me that, for a place that has such a small number of commercial establishments, nobody seemed to know where it was! Any way, I found it after a couple of trips up wrong roads. I met up with Juan who was to be my guide. He was in his late 20s, I'd guess. Athletic in appearance (as you'd expect). At first I got the impression that he wasn't really happy to see me - maybe because there was just one of me (not a great pay day for the guy). But he soon opened up and we chatted about English football (embarrasingly, people here know more about it than I do) as he fitted me out with a life vest and helmet and we headed down the road towards the cave.
We descended down a steep rocky / muddy slope towards the cave entrance. All around was lush and green. The cave entrance itself was about twice the size of a train tunnel, maybe larger. The ground was littered with rocks of various sizes and it was no mean feat just staying upright.
As we entered the cave, I expected to feel cool - but I didn't at all. We were about 20 meters in, I guess and I stopped to look back. Such a beautiful scene - the darkness of the cave giving way to the lush greenery outside, sunlight streaming through the leaves bathing the sea of rocks below in a dappled glow.
Juan explained that I needed to turn the light on on my helmet. His was white, mine was red - I'd pushed the button the wrong way. Right is white, left is red. Got it.
Just a little side-note at this point, because the above is a great example of how even the simplest things can trip me up in Spanish. Another example was later in the day when I went into a shop to buy a bottle of water and there were 3 other people there - but I couldn't work out whether there was a queue or not - and I didn't know the word for queue. So I stood there thinking "do I just walk to the front and ask - and potentially seem rude - or not?". Of course, none of these are life threatening situations. The point that I'm trying to make is that even the simplest of things drain some energy from me because I'm
always thinking, listening, trying to understand, trying to find words to respond, to ask questions. So pretty much every waking minute of my day involves my brain running like a rabid mouse on its wheel...round and round in circles just to keep up. Pretty tiring.
I should confess that, although I remember certain distinct parts of the cave, I'm not entirely sure of the order in which they came. I'll write it as though I know what I'm talking about but if you ever do this cave and the order isn't as you expected, you'll know why!
With the helmet light sorted, Juan explained that the whole cave was cut out by the sea (some time ago, I guess). He pointed out a slab of rock on the ground that had hundreds of small fossils embedded - their white outline against the black rock made it look like something that an ancient civilisation had etched out in an early attempt at art.
My guide went on to explain that this was an example of a "humid" cave rather than a "wet" or a "dry" cave. I understood the difference when he explained it but I can't remember what it is now. I also thought that he said that this actually a cavern rather than a cave because it had an entrance and an exit rather than just one way in. I might have got that wrong, though.
Any way, we set off. I was constantly looking down, desperately trying to keep up with Juan, literally following in his footsteps, searching for the nearest rock that was flat-ish. The roof was high enough that I could still walk upright at this point. I could feel the darkness enveloping us as we moved on. We veered of to the right and pretty quickly the light from the head lamps was the only light that existed.
Abruptly the rock above my head got closer. Juan explained that we should move quickly through the next section because to stay too long crouched was bad for the back - and because there was a fairly bad pong. Fortunately, this section was largely flat and rock free. It was sooo humid in the cave. I was sweating and panting for breath as our stooped dash ended after about 50 metres.
Standing upright I stumbled into the next rocky section. At this point Juan turned off his light and instructed me to do the same. I did, but with some hesitation. I thought "this guy could just leave me here and I'd have no idea he was gone" I felt TOTALLY exposed. But while he kept talking I knew that he was there. He explained that we were turning off the lights to help us to get used to the dark. Every time he stopped talking I was just desperately listening for his breath - was he still there? The problem was that I couldn't hear so well - there was another noise...what was that noise?
Juan turned on his light and looked upwards to the rock about a metre above our heads. It was
covered in bats, hanging in small clusters, as though they were the fruit of the cave.
Occasionally, one would detach and flutter around the cave - Juan obviously wanted me to see more fluttering...he clapped his hands lightly, more bats detached and fluttered. Again...and more bats. I needed the Spanish phrase for "dude, that's fine, let the little bats sleep...really...no really, STOP CLAPPING!"
It fascinating to watch. I noticed that the we were surrounded by small flying insects - a feature of the cave as a whole. I haven't really seen much by way of flying insects here since I arrived - only one mosquito bite so far on my whole trip. In fact the most insects that I've seen in one place were on my plate the lunchtime before. I cursed myself for not having applied mosquito repellant before I came.
We moved on. Shortly we came across a "wading" section which actually came to just below my long shorts. The water was totally refreshing, and the footing below solid, not at all rocky. I should have paid more attention to where my guide was stepping - I lost my footing and was up to my waist. Doh! Scrambling around - more in an attempt to rescue my dignity than through any fear of the situation, I righted myself and scrambled up the rocky bank on the other side. Honestly, I appreciated the cooling effect of the water. It wasn't so bad.
A couple of meters further along, we reached a shelf of rock that reached my shoulder height. Beyond that, a hole that looked to be about the size of a cat flap. Juan explained that we needed to crawl through it. Of course, it was actually bigger than a cat flap! He gave me a leg-up and told me to crawl ahead. The rocks were hard against my elbows and knees as I dragged myself along. It was seriously hard work. But it wasn't a long section - maybe like the width of a swimming pool. I was relieved to enter a section where I could stand. The roof was seriously high...and in the distance more bats. This time, I was told, vampire bats. He didn't clap this time. We moved on.
We came across a wire ladder attached to the rock face that descended into blackness. Juan explained that I should go descend the ladder - when I got to the bottom there would be a ledge. About 5 meters below the ledge was a pool of water. I should leap from the ledge into the water - he would point out with his torch where I should aim for. Eeeek! I'm not good with heights, but I'm ok with water. But water with the possibility of rocks - not so good at that. Still there's only one thing to do in this situation - take the plunge.
As I hurtled towards the surface of the water I thought "probably best not to swallow this water". Don't swallow...don't swallow...
The angle of my descent gave me a harder impact than I'd expected. The water was not cold but the combination of heavier than expected impact and fresh water took my breath momentarily. Surfacing I gulped for air. Bugger, I swallowed some water.
I was breathless. For a split second I couldn't think of anything. I just laughed out loud.
Juan shouted out "do you want to do it again?". I thought "how am I going to get back up there?". Then I noticed the wire ladder leading down from the ledge to the surface. I didn't have to jump at all! Was super pleased that I had though. Finally, I was cool.
We pulled ourselves along a rope and the exit to the cave came into view. It was like the entrance but seemed more beautiful - the absence of light over the last 40 minutes adding to the beauty in no small measure, I'm sure.
As we exited the mouth of the cave we headed right up a steep bank that seemed to go on for ever. It was raining and the rocks were slippy. Up we headed...up and up and up...and then, exhausted, hot, wet we reached the top. Turning around I could see right across the valley - lush lush greenery everywhere.
I was exhausted. I was happy.
A short walk took us to the adventure sports center. I went to go have a (room temperature) shower and get changed. I asked if they had a towel because I'd forgot to bring one. They didn't. So I did my best to dry myself off with my wrung-out wet clothes. It was about 4.07 as I finished getting dressed and I remembered that the buses leave every hour at a quarter past the hour. I dashed out of the center, shouting my thanks as I ran for the bus.
And that was my "extreme" adventure in San Gil yesterday.
On the way back to the hostel I stopped for an espresso and a small local cake. I don't remember the name but it looked like a swiss roll and inside was something that tasted like toffee (but not as sweet). Super sticky. Really tasty.
I got back to the hostel and washed my wet clothes in the sink - making first use of my portable washing line to dry them in the bathroom. My room really does look like the sort of place that you first rent when you move to london - except cleaner, of course. The hanging washing in the bathroom only adds to that effect.
Last night, there was a party at the property of the owner of the hostel, but I was exhausted and instead opted to hang in Café Con-Versano, playing card games, drinking a couple of beers...relaxing with the staff. Was a great night 😊
A couple of miscellaneous things to tell:
* The GPS on my watch IS working - it's just that it takes ages to get a signal.
* I learned a useful phrase - "qué chímba". I think that it basically means "cool" or "that's great" etc.
* There isn't a guitar in this hostel, and I'm missing playing 😞
* Today, I'm going to try to get to PANACHI - a national park about an hour up the road towards Bucaramanga. Need to get cracking.
That's it for now amigos
Hasta luego!
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anita
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WOW.. what an adventure. It was really exciting to read about how you felt in the cave. I would have been quite scared especially with the British distrust of people hanging on me like a dead weight. It reminded me of the film Touching The Void where the fallen guy descends into a bottomless dark crevice not knowing where it would lead or if he would ever get out alive again! Of course, your guide wouldn't have much of a business if he left all of his customers down in the cave LOL...More heavy rain today.. oh hum.. Enjoy!