This was actually a week ago but I figured I should write something before it all disappears from my (fairly short-term) memory... already it's fading fast.
Before we went down under we had to make sure we didn't take in excess liquids and carry water with us, which always freaks me out cuz of a desert hike long, long ago...
After donning our trench coats, helmuts, and gloves we were so ready to go! Going into the cave entrance was a sharp 10-ft drop with not much to see. I had to basically use my feet to feel for the footholds (and listen to my comrade before me)... after slipping a few times, I thought I could either be really brave and just jump down and pray for the best (courageous Chris) or be a wuzz and climb back through the entrance (cowardly Chris). Instead I did find the footholds in no time but thought: If the beginning was this hard what's the rest like?
The Play Doh-like mud down below was very sticky and it was during a short break our beloved instructor Ely, in his monotonous yet authoritative, a.k.a. National Geographic voice, told us that the mud contains pieces of silica and let's not throw it around cuz it may scratch your cornea. Oh great! (he also told us many times later that if we're not careful we might fall down a hole and run out of oxygen and die, but that's nothing really)
It really didn't get that much tougher but there were plenty to bring out the best of us. It's down underground that I realized hey it's not that great to be tall at times. There were crevices the size of a basketball hoop and thankfully my 32" waist held up. If it were a year ago, I would still be stuck down there right now.
The hoop that I just mentioned actually led into a small room where we were basically smelling each other for 5 min and see if we were claustrophobic. Thankfully no one went crazy during that time and started wielding machete's, you might know who I'm talking about.
It was amazing to look at all the stalagmites and stalactites up-close-and-personal, breathe the 53 degrees fresh cave air, swim 200 ft below ground (instead of taking the rubber raft across)--A cool refreshing 40 F, climb a 70-ft tall ladder, and learning how to do yoga underground--sort of.
2 comments:
wow Chris, sounds (and looks) like an adventure!
Was this a work-team-building event?
I bet now spending hours in meeting in conf rooms with colleagues don't seem so bad, huh? :-)
no, no machetes this time. we opted against the caving/cannibalism tour.
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