The Adventure in the Cave

Javy, March 30, 2015

Today we went to a cave.  We waited until the cave guide was ready for us.  Then we talked some about the cave and where the water came from and where it goes.  If you have been reading our blog, when we were at Ecoparque, the river there was the water that came from this cave, so that was pretty neat.  I can't believe I was swimming in bat poo.  I learned the word guano, which means bat poo.*  

We walked up a trail and then our journey into the cave began.  I was in front of the group, with the guide and some other people.  Teo and Mom and Dad were in the back.  I felt like an explorer.  

As we all know, caves are dark.  This cave was extremely dark.  And the worst part about it was that it smelled like poo.  And I swear that when I was going down, I felt some poo on the railing and it was disgusting.  The steps were very mossy, which meant very slippery.  We got down without breaking a bone, and I waited for my family to come down.  Then when we all got down there, the tour guide talked in Spanish and chattered on, and then he turned out the lights.  You could see nothing, and I thought I was in another dimension.  I felt like I was a ghost.  The disturbing part about the cave was that there were bats that flew around your head.  The fact was that there were vampire bats (mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha) as well as fruit bats.  You could feel their wings fluttering around, and you could hear them whining.

Then the guide turned the lights back on and he pointed out the crickets.  They are white like  ghosts. The interesting thing about the crickets was that they have no eyes.  They eat something that people do not eat.  They eat bat poo.

After the tour was over, we went to the restaurant right next to the cave.  The guide turned out to be our waiter, too.  We found out that he was in the Olympics.  We thought that was pretty cool.  He ran in the Olympics in Spain in 1992, and four years later, when the Olympics were in Atlanta, he was a coach for the Uruguay track team.   We talked to him a little bit and we ordered some food and ate, and then we left.  

We saw gauchos on the way home, and lots of horses and cows.  Then we rode home and did some school work and took a walk on the beach.  It was a great day!

*Note from Marilyn:  And I learned that the word guano, which is the same in English as in Spanish, comes from Quechua, an indigenous language spoken in the Andes Mountains by the Inca and others.