CAVES OF TONAYA
On August 14, 1987, Jesús Moreno, José Jaime (Mano) Ibarra, Ignacio (Nacho) Icaza and I were on the first day of a two-day trip near the small town of Tonaya, in the state of Jalisco. Tonaya is about a four-hour drive from Guadalajara, the state capital, where we all live.
Since it was during the rainy season. (May to September), in which it rains almost every afternoon or evening, the vegetation was as lush as it can get in this area. In this part of Mexico (west central) the underbrush is so thick that it is sometimes difficult to find caves even in the dry season. So we followed the standard procedure: we asked a knowledgeable-looking local for the location of a cave we had heard about.
A Plunge into the Depths
After a short, vigorous climb through clinging vines out of a Tarzan movie, and after stomping around looking for the entrance for twenty minutes, our informant discovered where it was hidden. Ever eager, Nacho plunged into the black space, probing the depths of the cave. All of us had standard caving gear: three light sources (headlamp on helmet, battery-powered flashlight and spare light source), hardhats for our heads (so we wouldn’t bump them on rocks or formations) and old clothes we didn’t mid getting filthy.
Dreaded Vampires?
Entering a cave that is unknown to you, you hope you are about to discover a big one. This was no exception. Ignacio. Mano, Jesús and I went into all the different passages. Before we were a few feet into the cave, bats started to whiz by us. We didn’t know what kind they were, but the passages were narrow and they came close enough for us to sometimes feel their wings.
Since we were all experienced caving veterans (- This is just 21/2 months after the founding of the club! - Ed.) we knew that even it’ they were the dreaded vampire bats, they wouldn’t harm us. We were glad we brought our face masks, though, because without them it would have been difficult to breathe, due to all the bat guano (feces) in there. Plus, we didn’t want to catch histoplasmosis, a disease of the lungs. We only found two passage, though. One of them ended about 15 meters (50 feet) from the beginning, and the other petered out about 24m (80 feet) from where we started. This was not to be a big cave. That afternoon, it rained cats and dogs, but we had brought a tarp for just that purpose and we cooked our supper in a very dry place on the hillside.
