Happy Monday,
Three thousand tourists visited Golondrinas in one day? Blows my mind. I want
a Golondrinas shot glass. If there's one in the April 5 TCMA auction, I'm in
the bidding battle.
Bill
>From TagNet:
Mexico Caving Trip Report
By: Cody Planteen (Atlanta, Georgia)
Sorry, this is a very long post. Hopefully someone going to Mexico in
the near future will find it useful. From 3/15 to 3/23, a small herd of
cavers associated with Georgia Tech took a trip to Mexico. Our group of
8 consisted of Andreas Yankopolous, Andy Zellner, Charity Pires, Chris
Goodman, Cody Planteen (me), Jacey Planteen, Kyle Gochenour, and Kris
Fausnight. For 6 of us, it was our first time going to Mexico, and we
were fortunate to have 2 Mexico veterans (Andy and Andreas) along with
us. We visited Hoya de Guaguas, Sotano de las Golondrinas, Sotano de
Cepillo, and Sotano de la Huasteca. The trip was a great way to spend
spring break. Thanks to Kyle, Kris, and Andy for driving their vehicles.
And thanks to Andreas and Andy for coming along and sharing their Mexico
knowledge.
That's the summary of our journey, the details are below.
Sunday 3/16 We slept in the Holiday Inn parking lot in Brownsville until
8 am and grabbed breakfast at Shoney's. We then took the old bridge
across the river, paid the toll, and parked by Mexican immigration. We
then got our tourist visas, filled out the form, and went to Banjercito
to pay the fee. We had filled out our car importation paperwork online
and already had the stickers. Andy asked them if we needed to do
anything else and they said we were good. We then drove across the
border, all getting green lights. Andy said that was the easiest border
crossing into Mexico he had ever had.
Importing your car on the internet costs a few dollars extra, but it is
definitely worth it. Two of our vehicles were owned by the caver's
parents, but we were able to get all of this worked out without problem.
You just need to email them scans of the appropriate paperwork (and also
bring it along). If the vehicle is owned by your parents, you need to
show proof that you are a descendant of the owner and a birth
certificate is the easiest way to do this.
We reached Huichihuayan near dusk and got directions to the spring (El
Nacimiento). Nobody was there to charge, though there was a sign saying
you needed to pay 10 pesos to enter. We swam for a few minutes and also
poked our heads inside of Cueva del Nacimiento del Rio Huichihuyan.
There was a flat area off to the right side of the parking area under
some orange trees. We set up camp there and had a good night's rest.
Monday 3/17 After packing up camp, we headed for Hoya de Guaguas. The
entire road was paved and only took 15 minutes to drive up. Andy said 10
years ago it was a dirt road that took an hour to get up. We parked in
front of a building off to the side of the road and visited a house to
pay our visitor's fee. The community is named San Isidero. The road
eventually leads to the town of Tampaxal. The charge was 35 pesos to
rappel and only 10 pesos just to look. A guide took us back to the pit
to show us where to rig our ropes. It was a very nice trail, with stone
steps and plenty of trash cans. We rigged our two ropes on the low side
of the pit.
We were fortunate enough to see some Whitecollared Swifts and Green
Conures (we called them parakeets). It was awesome to watch the birds
have to circle to gain altitude to escape the pit. The pit itself was a
50m x 80m (160' x 260') opening, with a 147m (482') free drop from the
low side. The opening is apparently bigger than Golondrinas. The bottom
of the pit was green with small vegetation growing. We walked around the
bottom a bit and went to the overlook to the slope that leads to the
rest of the cave.
After frogging out, I hiked to visit the high side of the pit and got my
first taste of mala mujer, a plant that gives you a sting when you brush
next to it. None of mine developed into a full blown rash which was
good. We only saw a few other groups of tourists, nothing compared to
what we would experience at Golondrinas. After successfully making it
out of the pit, we headed back to El Nacimiento in Huichihuayan to bathe
in the spring. They charged us 10 pesos a head this time. We then
decided to head for Golondrinas to find out what time we would be able
to rig our ropes in the morning.
The road to Golondrinas is paved partially, but quickly turns to a dirt
road that you wouldn't want to take a car up. We did see a new Honda Fit
that made it up to the parking area, but their oil pan was leaking oil
after the ordeal. There were a ton of vehicles parked off to the side of
the road to see Golondrinas. Apparently, tons of Mexican tourists now
know about it. It may have been extra busy due to the fact it was the
week before Easter, but we heard that they had 3,000 visitors on
Wednesday. Andreas and Andy said it was nothing like they had remembered
it. There were even vendors selling Golondrinas shot glasses and other
trinkets. We paid 10 pesos to enter the pit area. We arrived around
dusk, so the birds were returning to the pit. It was quite a sight to
see. We were told that we could put our ropes in the cave tomorrow
around 9 or 10 am and would need to have them out by 3 pm.
A local man named Orlando told us he lived in a town above the pit (La
Union de Guadalupe) and said they had a spot to camp. We gave him a ride
up to town and we camped across from a store in an empty lot (or
pasture, depending on your perspective as there were quite a few pigs
and chickens in it). He also asked us if we wanted any help in the
morning and we asked for 3 people. The town wants to see more visitors,
since so many people visit Golondrinas but don't come up the mountain
the extra few kilometers to their small town. The town doesn't get any
of the money from the admission fee charged at Golondrinas. They were
working on a hotel next to the lot where we camped. Everyone in town was
very friendly.
Tuesday 3/18 We woke 15 minutes before dawn and ate breakfast. Our 3
helpers arrived early and we headed down the road a very short distance
to the trailhead. Each 1200' rope was stuffed somewhat equally between 2
bags, so we had 4 rope bags total. We had only hired 3 helpers, so I
volunteered to carry the last bag. They carried the rope bags with
straps across their foreheads and they virtually ran down the path to
the pit. I consider myself a decently fast hiker, but I was running to
keep up with them.
We brought our ropes to the middle overlook (not the high side, but not
the low point either). We paid our fee of 35 pesos per person to rappel
the pit. We convinced them to let us rig to the low side, since we
weren't sure if our ropes would reach from the overlook. We rigged the
two ropes and sat around waiting for the green light to go down the pit.
After getting the OK, I went down first. The rappel was the best of my
life. I kept an eye on how much detail I could see in the rope pile to
know how close I was to the floor. The pit is absolutely amazing.
There are a few small plants and lots of mossy plants growing in the
bottom. The low side was a 333m (1092') rappel. We had the pit derigged
before 3 pm. Andy talked to someone else who worked there and said that
the ropes didn't need to be out until 4 or 5 pm, I think they gave us an
early time to make sure our large group got out in time. We camped again
in the pasture in La Union de Guadalupe.
Wednesday 3/19 We woke, packed up camp, and headed up the road from La
Union de Guadalupe to Tamapatz to visit Sotano de Cepillo. In Tampatz, a
shopkeeper in the town square told us to park out in front of the
school, which was closed for the Easter holiday week. We hiked out of
town to reach Cepillo.
We rigged two ropes at Cepillo and the ropes ran across the road. We
always kept someone on top to watch our stuff and make sure no livestock
got would get caught up in the ropes. The pit entrance wasn't as
impressive as Golondrinas or Guaguas, but the inside was very nice. The
entrance was 15m (50') in diameter and was a 128.6m (422') free drop to
the floor. The cave reminded me of a larger version of Flowingstone Cave
in Georgia. There are some massive flowstone formations, along with a
lake and some rimstone dams.
We took a pit stop in Huichihuayan to visit El Nacimiento and bathe and
swim one more time. This time, they charged us the entrance fee of 10
pesos a person and a fee of 20 pesos per vehicle to park. The first time
everything was free, the next they only charged us per person, and the
final time we were charged per person and vehicle.
We drove to Xilitla and reached Las Pozas at dusk. Andy and Andreas' old
camping spot had a sign saying that it was prohibited to camp there. The
new camping spot had a "Paranoid Rock" concert going on in the middle of
it. At the gate, police were frisking all entrants and confiscated one
of our pocket knives but not the other. I think the cop just wanted a
nice new knife. They said if we wanted to bring vehicles in, those would
need to get searched too. Considering the amount of gear we had, this
would have been impossible. We drove back out and asked some vendors
closing up shop by the highway if we could camp where they were. They
asked us to wait 15 minutes and they would bring us to a much better
camping spot at the base of the mountain.
Their camping spot was next to the river at the base of the mountain.
They charged us 1,200 pesos for 2 nights and 8 people. The camping area
had a few huts, a swimming pool, electricity, lights, a bathroom, and a
boat. The area was covered in grass and was a great place for our
tents. The owners were all very friendly and told us to tell our
friends about the spot.
Thursday 3/20 The next morning, we arrived at Las Pozas early and
explored it until noon. We then headed in to Xilitla and ate lunch at a
nice restaurant called Cayos, which featured the only toilet seat I saw
in all of Mexico. After lunch, we spent a few hours wandering around
Xilitla to an internet caf? and shops. We then headed back to the
campsite. Kyle and I took the boat out for a spin on the river. The
boat paddles consisted of a plastic shovel head and a stick with a
small section of board nailed to it with bent over nails. The boat was
lashed together with a piece of rope and took on quite a bit of water.
After our nautical adventure, we spent the rest of the day relaxing
around the campsite.
Friday 3/21 We packed up the campsite and headed for Sotano de la
Huasteca. We went to Aquismon up the road to Golondrinas. We took the
split in the road to head towards La Linja. This road is very bad
compared to what we had done on previous days, but everyone made it up,
including a front-wheel drive Toyota Highlander. As we were driving up
the road, the locals were all dressed up and carrying flowers as they
headed for Good Friday events. We saw lots of women in the native dress,
very colorful.
We drove on the road past town and pulled off after a crest in the road.
There were two trails off to the left, which ended up meeting in the
trees. We had UTM coordinates from Caves of the Golondrinas Area and
used those to navigate through the trails. The coords put us out in the
middle of a field that was not the pit. Andy used his amazing cave nose
to find the pit. You need to go through the field to the other side
(field goes downhill) then head uphill for another 5 minutes to the pit.
You might want to bring some flagging tape to find the trail out of the
field and for a trail intersection after the field.
At the high side of the pit, we rigged two 600' ropes to breakdown and
trees. We noticed some bees within 15' of the rope, but thought it would
be ok. A few people got stung on their way down. Andy, left alone at the
top didn't like the situation and found us another rig point, pulled up
the entire rope by himself, coiled it, and rigged to another two trees
180 degrees from the old spot. We were plenty far away from the danger
of bees from the new rig point.
The pit was very pretty, with more vegetation than I had ever seen in a
cave, including Guaguas or Golondrinas. The plants were very large and
many species. The pit had a steep breakdown slope, covered in
vegetation. There was a large alcove at the bottom with a few dried up
formations and a room. The entrance is very impressive; it has been
measured as a 30m x 40m (100' x 130') and then bells out to 80m x 100m
(260' x 330') for a 128m (420') free drop. We then hiked back to the
cars, drove down the terrible road, stopped in Aquismon for drinks and
?Sponche!, and headed for Ciudad Mante.
We decided to try to camp at El Nacimiento del Rio Mante. We got
permission to camp with the condition that our cars would be out by 8 am
the next morning. We got to camp next to some goats, which was a good
way to round off the trip by camping as close as possible to different
types of livestock.
After dinner, Kris and I went to explore the cave by El Nacimiento. I
wore a pair of basketball shorts, a long polypro top, a pair of Tevas,
helmet, headlamp, and inflated my Swaygo for a flotation device. Kris
wore basketball shorts, a t-shirt, a harness to clip things to, helmet,
headlamp, and used an empty kerosene jug for flotation. The girls were
really laughing at us; I guess we looked pretty ridiculous.
First, we swam into a small alcove to the right that was filled with
vampire bats. We then fought the current to reach the main cave on the
left. This was no easy task, the current was pretty swift. After
reaching the opposite wall, we pulled ourselves into the cave and
started exploring. We swam in 100 feet to reach a pile of breakdown. We
crawled through the breakdown to reach what we determined was dubbed
the "Scariest Room Ever" or the "Sum of all Fears Room". There were
half a dozen vampire bats fiercely circling in the room along with a
huge spider on the wall. We then headed back to the water. We then let
the swift current carry us out, told our journey to the others, and
washed our hair.
Saturday 3/22 We woke early to get ourselves out of the camping area
before 8 am and had an uneventful drive to the border. The signs in
Matamoros directed us to the new bridge instead of the old one, where we
had entered. We had to go in backwards (against the flow of one-way
traffic) and got a representative of Banjercito to peel off the
importation stickers from our vehicles. We also turned in our tourist
visas and got exit stamps on our passports. I am not sure if we were
supposed to do that there, but it seemed to get done without too much
trouble. On the other side of the border, the US immigration people had
us pop the hood and inspected some of the cargo in the back of our
vehicles. They quizzed a member of our party on what the Spanish word
for cave was, I guess to make sure we really had been caving.
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