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Published: April 18th 2011
It was my intention to enjoy a little R&R at Ixtobel but things don't always go as planned. I go to talking to some folks who were set to go on a guided trip to a nearby cave so I decided to tag along. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into but I figured that this was something that I could do because I had caving experience and I did know how to swim per the requirements set forth on the signup sheet. How hard could it be? Well... Plenty hard. I think I bit off a little more than I could chew on this occasion but I managed to choke it down because I had to. It was a two-hour hike up, over, around, and down through farmland and jungle just to get to the cave and then the fun really began. This being Guatemala, we had a minimal amount of equipment which is to say that we had none other than the flashlights that we provided for ourselves and the candles that the guide had brought. Helmets? We don't need no stinking hemets! The guide placed lit candles in those places where we might bump our heads so that there should be no excuse for that. It immediately became apparent why the ability to swim was a requirement for this cave tour. We were in over our heads right from the beginning and we ended up swimming about half of the one-kilometer distance that we penetrated the cave. We had to jump down a ten-foot waterfall at one point after the guide had carefully placed candles to illuminate the safe-landing area. I wasn't keen on doing this but on second thought I reconsidered that it would probably be better to drown here than to suffer the long hike back out of this place. Unfortunately, I didn't drown. The end of this story is that I lived to tell the tale but it wasn't pretty. I was pretty dehydrated by the time we got back in spite of drinking more than a liter of untreated water. I had a cut on my left elbow and left ankle from a spill I took inside the cave plus a ruptured blister on the big toe of my right foot that I didn't even notice until I had time to assess my injuries. It was fun. It was real. But it wasn't real fun. I think I'm going to dial it down a bit for the rest of this trip. I'm getting too old for this shit!
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Mike
non-member comment
Wish I was there
This is what travelling is all about! My jealousy meter is off the chart. Sounds like a great time.