To the Batcave........

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Simon went on an Introductory Diving course today and me Birger and Hannah went to the Batcave!

This was a real adventure - I felt like Indiana Jones trekking throught the jungle. We had to take a boat ride and trek for about 30 minutes through the jungle to get to the cave. It's on Bastimientos Island and Oscar, the guide, is great!

We saw a mother Sloth with a little baby sloth hanging in a tree. On the way out we saw a Cayman (alligator!) The cave is full of bats (hence the name) but they didn't get too close to us - they fly past your face and you can feel the breeze from their wings. The cave has a river running through it and we had to climb over large boulders so I was very glad I had been to the gym (thanks Tracey - it was the squat thrusts that did it!!). At some stages we were up to our necks in water. Oscar brought us into a newly discovered part of the cave where we had to pass through a narrow gap that was just wide enough for our heads! I thought I wouldn't be able to do it - but I surprised myself and everyone else by getting through it! There was a lot of gasping and "Oh my God"s going on but I wouldn't have missed the experience. There have only been 8 people in there before us.

When we got to the end of the cave there was a deep pool with refreshingly cold water. As I was first in after Oscar I got in for a swim. Then Birger and Hannah were supposed to get in. But they decided it looked a bit too refreshing and didn't get in!! Wusses!!

On the way back to Bastimientos we stopped at an Indian restaurant for a couple of beers (no not that kind of Indian restaurant - Kuna Indians 😊 It was very interesting listening to Oscar and his cousin - another Oscar - chatting to an old man called Stevenson. The women were dressed in traditional clothes and were making bags out of Palm leaves. It was a lovely way to spend an hour. A little girl abolut 5 years old came to buy something in the shop. She arrived in a little cayuco and went all shy when she saw us white people!

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