The Journey Underground
How many beautiful places can a country the size of Ohio have? If you've followed our adventures, you know we've covered our fair share of Guatemala. The area known as Coban was the one famous place we had yet to explore, and we saved the adventure for Greg and Marshall's arrival. This was pretty much the only Old Town adventure trip left for us - The Coban Underground.
Early Sunday morning I had to remind Sarah and the guys that it was April 1st after telling them our guide canceled the trip. Juan picked us up at McD's down the street. Two girls from England and one from Canada joined the adventure. Also along for the journey were two of Juan's friends and Rich, the independent computer guru hired to make a promo video for Old Town. About half-way into the 6-hour ride, we stopped for a hike in the Quetzal Reserve. The payoff was a massive (60 ft?) waterfall.
The final 45 minutes of the drive was on a dirt road before we arrived at a great little hotel/hostel with small bungalows along the river in Lanquin. In the morning, we took our time preparing for our first caving experience. When Juan took out the rope and harnesses, it was the first we learned of our rappelling future. He "showed us the ropes" on a small 8-foot wall at the hotel. We drove to the cave and geared up with headlamps, helmets, and backpacks with lunch and emergency supplies. As we entered the cave, Juan reached up and slid a piece of paper above the door; we assumed it was our names in case we didn't come out! While this made us all a little nervous, this photo shows one person who was particularly apprehensive...
The first part of the cave opened up into large caverns, complete with light bulbs strung along stairways and railings. Several tourists with short ropes tied to their kids' wrists carefully climbed around this area. Before long, the lighting ended and a 20-foot drop greeted all who dared to go further. We all watched intently as Juan tied the rope to two large rocks and prepared the line for rappelling. Luckily one of the London girls was an experienced climber, so Juan sent her down first to hold the rope for the rest of us. I was the second brave soul to go, and while my drop was anything but smooth, it was a success. Sarah faced her fears head on and impressively made another successful landing. Except for a few healthy scrapes and bruises, our entire group made it down... Well, that is, except for Rich - the man responsible for filming the adventure wouldn't get close to that cliff and bailed. You'd think they would hire a videographer who could handle some adventure.
Once the rappelling was complete, we ate our lunch and pushed on. For over 4 hours we hiked, climbed, and crawled through a beautiful maze of underground beauty. The stalactite and stalagmite formations were spectacular, and it was easy to see why ancient Mayans used these caves for many sacred rituals.
Although we only saw a handful of bats, the cave is swarming with thousands of them. This fact was evidenced by the massive amounts of guana, or bat dung, that we navigated through. Combined with the mud, this made the cave extremely slippery. At one point, we were faced with the choice of climbing around a formation, or sliding military-style through a narrow, 15-foot tunnel... and it wasn't mud that the ground was caked with. Marshall, Greg, and I had to take the less traveled route, of course.
Didn't you want to spend your vacation sliding through bat poop?
Upon our release back to daylight, we grabbed our tubes and floated down the river to the hotel. Day 3 brought an early wake up call so that we could enjoy the natural phenomenon of Semuc Champey before exploring another cave. In one of the Mayan dialects, Semuc Champey means "sacred waters," and it's no wonder why. A series of unique, crystal blue and green pools rest at varying levels, fed by the creeks and waterfalls from the surrounding mountains. Adding to the mystique, the pools are formed on top of a natural limestone land bridge over the Cahabon River. The river violently twists its way toward the pools and disappears underground for about 400 meters. Supposedly several curious folks have attempted to explore the disappearing act, but nobody has made it out the other side and lived to tell about it. Here is a photo from high above the pools.
We spent a couple hours taking in this impossible scene and soaking in the pools of tranquility. The boys and I had an especially good time climbing around on the rocks and finding places to jump from.
Early Sunday morning I had to remind Sarah and the guys that it was April 1st after telling them our guide canceled the trip. Juan picked us up at McD's down the street. Two girls from England and one from Canada joined the adventure. Also along for the journey were two of Juan's friends and Rich, the independent computer guru hired to make a promo video for Old Town. About half-way into the 6-hour ride, we stopped for a hike in the Quetzal Reserve. The payoff was a massive (60 ft?) waterfall.
The final 45 minutes of the drive was on a dirt road before we arrived at a great little hotel/hostel with small bungalows along the river in Lanquin. In the morning, we took our time preparing for our first caving experience. When Juan took out the rope and harnesses, it was the first we learned of our rappelling future. He "showed us the ropes" on a small 8-foot wall at the hotel. We drove to the cave and geared up with headlamps, helmets, and backpacks with lunch and emergency supplies. As we entered the cave, Juan reached up and slid a piece of paper above the door; we assumed it was our names in case we didn't come out! While this made us all a little nervous, this photo shows one person who was particularly apprehensive...
The first part of the cave opened up into large caverns, complete with light bulbs strung along stairways and railings. Several tourists with short ropes tied to their kids' wrists carefully climbed around this area. Before long, the lighting ended and a 20-foot drop greeted all who dared to go further. We all watched intently as Juan tied the rope to two large rocks and prepared the line for rappelling. Luckily one of the London girls was an experienced climber, so Juan sent her down first to hold the rope for the rest of us. I was the second brave soul to go, and while my drop was anything but smooth, it was a success. Sarah faced her fears head on and impressively made another successful landing. Except for a few healthy scrapes and bruises, our entire group made it down... Well, that is, except for Rich - the man responsible for filming the adventure wouldn't get close to that cliff and bailed. You'd think they would hire a videographer who could handle some adventure.
Once the rappelling was complete, we ate our lunch and pushed on. For over 4 hours we hiked, climbed, and crawled through a beautiful maze of underground beauty. The stalactite and stalagmite formations were spectacular, and it was easy to see why ancient Mayans used these caves for many sacred rituals.
Although we only saw a handful of bats, the cave is swarming with thousands of them. This fact was evidenced by the massive amounts of guana, or bat dung, that we navigated through. Combined with the mud, this made the cave extremely slippery. At one point, we were faced with the choice of climbing around a formation, or sliding military-style through a narrow, 15-foot tunnel... and it wasn't mud that the ground was caked with. Marshall, Greg, and I had to take the less traveled route, of course.
Upon our release back to daylight, we grabbed our tubes and floated down the river to the hotel. Day 3 brought an early wake up call so that we could enjoy the natural phenomenon of Semuc Champey before exploring another cave. In one of the Mayan dialects, Semuc Champey means "sacred waters," and it's no wonder why. A series of unique, crystal blue and green pools rest at varying levels, fed by the creeks and waterfalls from the surrounding mountains. Adding to the mystique, the pools are formed on top of a natural limestone land bridge over the Cahabon River. The river violently twists its way toward the pools and disappears underground for about 400 meters. Supposedly several curious folks have attempted to explore the disappearing act, but nobody has made it out the other side and lived to tell about it. Here is a photo from high above the pools.
We spent a couple hours taking in this impossible scene and soaking in the pools of tranquility. The boys and I had an especially good time climbing around on the rocks and finding places to jump from.
It was then time for the grand finale - the water cave. After a sack lunch, we geared up again - swimsuit, wet suit, t-shirt & shorts (to protect the wet suit from sharp edges), water shoes, helmet, headlamp, and backpacks with drybags inside. This would be a cold, wet, slippery trip inside the underworld. For the first 20 yards we waded through knee to waist high water. However, it then dropped off and we were swimming inside some pretty close-quarters. After swimming for another 30 yards, we were able to touch the bottom again and were faced with a 30-foot climb. A waterfall gushed down the side of a big rock as we climbed up 2 rickety ladders tied together resting on the rock. Once reaching the top, we sat down (couldn't stand with the low ceiling) waiting for the rest of our group. It was at this point when Sarah decided the book waiting for her in the van back at the park entrance sounded like a much more enjoyable afternoon than the current state of affairs. She took up the guide on his offer to escort her out, and in hindsight, the intensity of the rest of the adventure told us she probably made a wise decision.
The local young guide (wearing nothing but swim trunks and a headlamp) wanted to turn back after 1 hour, but Juan insisted on giving us or money's worth by leading us further. He told us that as far as he knew, he was part of the crew who had explored the furthest into the cave. They spent 2 1/2 days inside, and they didn't reach the end! So nobody knows how deep it goes, but we decided to abort our exploration after 4 hours. The journey was a mix of swimming and climbing across slippery rocks.
At one point we came upon a small coffee plant inexplicably growing inside the cave. As we all stared in amazement, Greg the Science teacher quipped, "This changes everything." It was much narrower than the first cave and the water factor gave it a whole new dimension with unique formations. We also tried out several little side activities just for fun, ranging from the child-like natural water slide to the dare-devil underwater tunnel. Marshall went first on the tunnel, attempting to swim 4 feet underwater and slide up through a hole in a rock. After we pulled him out by the legs when his shoulders wouldn't squeeze through, the look of terror on his face pulled the plug on the rest of us considering the stunt. However, we did climb up the wall of the cave at one point and make a precisely calculated 12-foot jump into the rock-free portion of the water.
Jump riiiiiight there.
There was also a spot where we dipped our head under water to a small opening (basically big enough for my head) on the other side of the cave wall. Looking up revealed a 30-foot shoot cut into the cave. Our final discovery before turning back was a huge ceiling overhead that reminded me of looking up through the inside of the Golden Dome, except this was bigger. What an amazing place this planet is.
Just before reaching the mouth of the cave, Juan explained that we had a choice. We could climb back down those same ladders, or we could drop through a hole. He didn't do a very good job of explaining, because we envisioned a tunnel full of water where we could not find a gasp of air until it was over. However, the most intense part turned out to be waiting to drop and listening to the local guide shouting instructions at the top of lungs over the gushing water. Trying to climb into position, he screamed, "Mano aqui!!, Pie aqui!" Hand here, foot here, Go, Go, Go! Ahhh! Not knowing what you were getting yourself into was the scariest part, as it turned out to be just a short 7-foot drop into water below.
It was easy to see how "spelunkering" becomes addictive for people. The water cave especially was unlike any exploring any of us had ever done. The last ones to resurface out of the cave, Greg, Marshall, and I were fueled by adrenaline as we skipped up two stairs at a time toward the river. The rush inspired Marshall to emphatically shout Muhammed Ali quotes as the huge rain drops fell upon us.
"It's gonna be a killa, and a chilla, and a thrilla, when I get the gorilla, in Manila!" ... "I'm so pretty!" ... "I can't POSSIBLY be beat!"... "I shook up the world!"
This is why men explore. Face fear head on. Venture into the unknown. Because after complete domination of a place like Semuc Champey, you get to find out how Ali felt looking down at Sonny Liston flat on the canvas.
The local young guide (wearing nothing but swim trunks and a headlamp) wanted to turn back after 1 hour, but Juan insisted on giving us or money's worth by leading us further. He told us that as far as he knew, he was part of the crew who had explored the furthest into the cave. They spent 2 1/2 days inside, and they didn't reach the end! So nobody knows how deep it goes, but we decided to abort our exploration after 4 hours. The journey was a mix of swimming and climbing across slippery rocks.
At one point we came upon a small coffee plant inexplicably growing inside the cave. As we all stared in amazement, Greg the Science teacher quipped, "This changes everything." It was much narrower than the first cave and the water factor gave it a whole new dimension with unique formations. We also tried out several little side activities just for fun, ranging from the child-like natural water slide to the dare-devil underwater tunnel. Marshall went first on the tunnel, attempting to swim 4 feet underwater and slide up through a hole in a rock. After we pulled him out by the legs when his shoulders wouldn't squeeze through, the look of terror on his face pulled the plug on the rest of us considering the stunt. However, we did climb up the wall of the cave at one point and make a precisely calculated 12-foot jump into the rock-free portion of the water.
Jump riiiiiight there.
There was also a spot where we dipped our head under water to a small opening (basically big enough for my head) on the other side of the cave wall. Looking up revealed a 30-foot shoot cut into the cave. Our final discovery before turning back was a huge ceiling overhead that reminded me of looking up through the inside of the Golden Dome, except this was bigger. What an amazing place this planet is.
Just before reaching the mouth of the cave, Juan explained that we had a choice. We could climb back down those same ladders, or we could drop through a hole. He didn't do a very good job of explaining, because we envisioned a tunnel full of water where we could not find a gasp of air until it was over. However, the most intense part turned out to be waiting to drop and listening to the local guide shouting instructions at the top of lungs over the gushing water. Trying to climb into position, he screamed, "Mano aqui!!, Pie aqui!" Hand here, foot here, Go, Go, Go! Ahhh! Not knowing what you were getting yourself into was the scariest part, as it turned out to be just a short 7-foot drop into water below.
It was easy to see how "spelunkering" becomes addictive for people. The water cave especially was unlike any exploring any of us had ever done. The last ones to resurface out of the cave, Greg, Marshall, and I were fueled by adrenaline as we skipped up two stairs at a time toward the river. The rush inspired Marshall to emphatically shout Muhammed Ali quotes as the huge rain drops fell upon us.
"It's gonna be a killa, and a chilla, and a thrilla, when I get the gorilla, in Manila!" ... "I'm so pretty!" ... "I can't POSSIBLY be beat!"... "I shook up the world!"
This is why men explore. Face fear head on. Venture into the unknown. Because after complete domination of a place like Semuc Champey, you get to find out how Ali felt looking down at Sonny Liston flat on the canvas.
We had seen God in His splendors, heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man.
Ernest Shackleton
Throughout the day no time for memorandums now. Go ahead! Liberty and independence forever.
Davy Crockett
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"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." The Yosemite, pg. 198
"New beauty meets us at every step in all our wanderings."
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