The movie "Up" is one of my favorite movies of all time. The story is funny, sweet, sad, and adventurous in all the right ways. I have always loved the catch phrase "adventure is out there" that is constantly mentioned in the movie and during this trip I have used it quite often. Well folks, I finally found my adventure. Today was the best day so far. Every day I wake up thinking that it can't get better than this, but it does and today I have hit a peak. Today was a free day so we could do whatever we wanted to. Colin, Tony, Bailey, and I decided to try climbing through The Crystal Cave! This cave is not very popular because it is known for it's level of challenge. It has been open for six years and does not see very many visitors compared to the others. You are warned ahead of time that it is a treacherous adventure and that you must meet certain qualifications to go. We decided that we were up for the challenge and called our friend Diego, who was our guide for the ruins. Diego agreed to take us to the cave and we planned the trip on the spot.
We woke up this morning and met Diego around 7:30. He took us in his car to The Blue Hole National Park where we got our gear ready and hiked for about 30 minutes to the mouth of the cave. The hike was no typical walk in the park. We were constantly climbing up and down rocks on slippery terrain getting further and further from civilization. Finally we reached the mouth! It was beautiful and so exciting to see. The cave is a dry cave and you have to rappel to get into it so we put on our harnesses and got a quick 5 minute lesson on how to rappel and off we went! Colin went first, then Bailey, and then me. I have rappelled in rock climbing before but never like this! We basically were strapped to a rope and were told to put one hand behind our bottoms and the other on the rope and tighten or loosen our grip in order to go down. We could walk down or begin to jump down. When it was my turn I climbed up onto the huge rock where the rope began. Diego strapped me in and I leaned back and began my descent. It was amazing! I decided to try jumping down and the feeling was so cool. I was free falling for 30 feet over huge rocks in the jungle going into the mouth of the cave and I was in control of my own destiny! I finally reached the bottom and sent the rope back up for the others to come down.
Once we all got into the cave we just took in our surroundings. I can't begin to describe to you how big this cave was. It was very scary, but absolutely breathtaking. We began our journey at 10:00 and quickly descended deeper into the cave. We quickly understood why the cave was for expert cavers. The ground was slippery and muddy and there were no man made hand holds anywhere. Everything was up to us and Diego's guidance. We had to get down and dirty fast by squeezing through tiny holes, free climbing 50 foot walls, and shimmying down huge rock faces. I was in heaven! I love to climb things and this was nothing but that. I think it was good that the cave was so dark because we couldn't see how far we would fall if we made one wrong move. The cave was immense and seemed to go on forever. There were massive stalactites and stalagmites that loomed over and under us and all of them sparkled because of the quartz deposits. Everywhere we went was just breath taking. I really could never describe to you how amazing this experience was! We crawled and climbed for quite a while constantly testing our limits but not a single question or worry came from the group. I was really proud of how well we worked together and with our amazing guide Diego!
We finally made it to the beginning of what they call "Wonderland" and we stopped for a snack and to take off our shoes. The air was very thin because we were so far back in the cave. We even had the chance to sit in pure darkness for a while before we made it to this point. It was one of the most eerie things have ever done. Before we went into Wonderland we took off our shoes once again so that we didn't ruin the formations we were climbing on. We then began to free climb up huge stalagmites using calcium deposits as footholds and upper body strength as our savior. You could tell when we made it to Wonderland. It was pure quartz crystal all the way around us. Everything we saw sparkled when our head lamps shone on them and the sight was astounding. We took many pictures but it really doesn't do it justice. We climbed all the way around the outside of the huge cavern through Wonderland and then circled back around to where we left our shoes. We put our shoes back on and began our trip back going up this time! We free climbed the entire way back and were definitely challenged by the slippery clay and our mud cakes shoes as well as the steep rocks we were ascending. We took a slightly different route back and finally made it to the point where we could see light again! For the first time in four hours could smell the fresh air, it was almost overwhelming. We had one last obstacle to overcome before we made it out though! We had to jump onto a huge, smooth rock and climb our way up it into a tight crevice. I wanted to go first and I will be honest it made me nervous, but I somehow made it up, dangling on the side for a moment over a huge drop to the ground and finally finding footing and making it to the top. I felt so accomplished at that point. We worked really hard but had the time of our lives doing it! We all made it back to the mouth and ate our lunch inside the cave before climbing back out.
Once we got out we hiked back to our car with smiles on our faces. Then we drove to The Blue Hole and swam in the water to cool off. It was a nice reward for working so hard and it helped to cool down our muscles. We hiked 1,200 feet into the cave almost 85 feet below the jungle floor and then hiked all the way back out. Once we finished swimming we were exhausted so we changed and headed back to the hotel. Diego was an amazing guide and became a friend during the trip. We all got his email and promised to send pictures and goodies. This trip was really something that I can't do justice by describing. It was an experience like nothing I had ever done and challenged my spirit of adventure and my will. I saw things that can never be matched in that cave and will never forget the beauty of Wonderland. Adventure is out there, and I finally found it.
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