A trip to the dark
by Francisco Solsona
We can not allow escape was the only thought that we shared, "we can not afford!" I repeated over and over again. The talks are typical of previous stories, some nervous laughter and, while some chose routes that would take the rest of lamps and backpacks we looked back, do I have everything you need? Have I forgotten something important? The hardest part is waiting uncomfortable.
Movement in the center of the team, Gordo , our leader and direct descendant of the Goat was giving instructions and explaining the risks and problems to be encountered. Two teams, was his first statement, first enter through the door and pointed his index to an opening rather than an entry wound was on the mountain. To his left was a member of its exploration team and she was appointed a group leader, to come so, affectionately , Gordo drew tourist route. Asked for volunteers, about ten accepted the challenge.
instructed Looking Angel, his partner and longtime friend, to head the second group, which enter through hole, my team. El Gordo silently revised each of which would have to go through the hole, there was reproach in his eyes, seemed to say "very quiet", "not resist", but said nothing and a minute later was walking and taking the last instructions to the group leaders. The two teams split up and headed to our respective points of access to the caves.
It was 00:30 pm on Sunday, Juxtlahuaca seemed to know that a battle was coming, the air increased his strength and hit us in the face and body. We walked about 50 yards to the hole and slowly but surely started the descent.
starry night Goodbye
El Gordo slowly climbed the rope that minutes earlier had used to download and wished us luck. He would stay outside, standing guard. As the rope disappeared into the hole, he recalled the recommendations of Rebecca, who went with the first group, "remember that you will return to the same place, so it can not be separated, no turning back!". A small shiver ran down my back, but could not allow others to notice. We are a team, no one is left behind, nobody.
powerful Angel lit two lamps, one would take himself to the top of the group and the second, in the hands of Arthur, in the rear, at most three people behind the second lamp. We all had personal lamps, but did not have enough power to start the shadows in the huge and spectacular camera that we should go.
Guano, confirmation that we were in the right place, the influence of the different species of bats that inhabit the caves of Juxtlahuaca and were, most of them out looking for food. Three species, the larger ones, occupy nearest cameras to the inputs and despite their appearance, feeding on fruits. The fourth and final species, the vampire, are more sensitive to light and prefer inner tubes. Fortunately, these vampires were out bleeding the local livestock. Fast forward these sections, with its strong, unpleasant aroma of the guano managed to drive off with just a glance at the huge columns, stalagmites and stalactites full of black stains left by bats. Swarms of mosquitoes and other insects marked the first meters of our slow progress through the caves.
Gradually, the smell subsided, and the flies and the majority of small insects and were replaced by an indescribably beautiful, whimsical formations that leaks of water with its load of minerals has created over thousands of years. Accompanied us now, vigilantes, immune to light our lamps, hundreds of cockroaches. In two states, are round and the first two centimeters in diameter and unable to fly, however, extend and evolve when measuring an average of 10 centimeters. These cockroaches feed on bat guano.
The mood of the group was in constant increase, the road was difficult and tortuous, but we discovered one by one the cameras, spectacular formations, samples of our ancestors, the Olmec culture, even we find some marks left by the Goat in his explorations of the mid-nineteenth century and which we used as a guide and food for the spirit. There were times, I confess, that I did not think we could do it, but there was always a pat on my back and a voice of encouragement, we are together, let's do it!
So move for about an hour to get to our first serious obstacle: getting of the screen, a small camera that seemed at first glance to be a dead end, but actually had a small opening at ground level, which had to go as a contortionist, face up and go five feet to the next chamber of the caves. The journey continued, until the second obstacle, the step the worm, which had to crawl, chest on the ground, about five meters. The reward after each obstacle was to find more natural beauties, each more amazing than the last.
Some cameras have a few dozen square meters and a handful of stalactites and stalagmites, while others had hundreds and gigantic columns linking the floor and ceiling, about twenty feet and that they seemed to hold it.
The three-hour tour so far, but did not prepare for the third step, step of trouble, a narrow cleft between rocks that seemed like an eye and that we should scroll up about four meters at an angle of 60 degrees. It was not only a physical test where all muscles, including some you never knew were there, but also a test of wit and self-control, because the opening did not exceed 60 centimeters wide and 40 high, in narrower sections, so we had to maneuver in tight spaces reduced to find support for your feet and hands and pushing or pulling, and adapt your body to the rock and move an inch at a time. We took about an hour to spend at fifteen by the way, the constant physical and moral support from peers and the greatest incentive, when the force seemed to leave your body, the only thing separating you from despair and neglect.
An encounter with the Olmec culture
Amazed as we were the entertainment that our senses had been so far, with natural beauties and whimsical formations, I think no one expected a petrified human skull, placed in one chamber to 1,000 feet deep about 800 BC and part of the Olmec culture.
Although the journey through the caves of Juxtlahuaca, so far, there had been no serious incidents at this point some of the team members had already suffered a few falls, we were all tired and humidity and heat began to wreak havoc on the general physical condition. A few meters later, we joined the other team's tour, which followed the tourist route . That although not the three steps mentioned above, has a length and complexity that they deserve respect. We spent Some cameras with huge sizes, one of them, there is a column, named after the Goat and his descendants as the independence column, height and size that make you feel fragile and ephemeral. The minerals deposited by filtration in these columns, stalactites and stalagmites grow achieves a cubic millimeter in five years. The column mentioned independence and many other Juxtlahuaca formations are still growing.
few meters ahead, more traces of the Olmec culture in two paintings, one will represent a man in a black cloak and a headdress. His arms and legs are appreciated jaguar fur and a tail of a jaguar hanging from his back and is armed with a trident and a snake-whip. At the foot of another man prostrate on a smaller scale, making this picture in one of the few examples of representations of the domination of one man over another is known of the Olmec culture. The second painting is a representation of a feathered serpent, near a red jaguar. 
To reach one of the wonders on our tour, the Hall of the crystals, we had to pass a series of partially flooded chamber, where the water came up to half of the leg. And although it is a journey complex and elaborate, the camera view is well worth the effort.
Six hours later, exhausted but happy to have achieved our goals and not allow ourselves to escape a camera or a natural construction, those that steal your breath, we approached the exit, which was entry for the other team and again we knew by the change in the environment, the strong smell of bat guano, mosquitoes and, at this point, the flapping and overwhelming presence of bats, who had returned from his trip night in search of food.
Juxtlahuaca, Guerrero
Club Spain
Section Mountaineering and Hiking
March 7, 2010
Notes: Some images came from the entry on Wikipedia and this entry, with some modifications, published in the journal of the Club.
0 comments:
Post a Comment