WHERE’D THE ROAD GO?
By John Pint
Some years ago a shopkeeper told me there was a cave near Las Varas, Nayarit where he had lived as a child. “It’s in a hill called El Cerro del Toro,” he said.
Having spent several days in Puerto Vallarta enjoying the sun and the sea, we decided to head for nearby Las Varas to seek, out the cave. We soon found ourselves in Zacualpan where we were told of a local cave. “I’ve been in it as far as 200 meters,” said our informant, “and it just keeps going ... but if you want the cerro del Toro, you’ll find it between Ixtapa and balneario Platanitas.”
WHERE’D THE ROAD GO?
We decided to save the Zacualpan cave for future exploration and headed north to Ixtapa, a sleepy town with no sidewalks, paved streets or signs telling you how to get back on the main road. Naturally, we inquired. “Straight down that street,” someone said. “You can’t miss it!” So we drove straight down that street, and immediately found ourselves at the edge of a steep drop with nothing in view but a wide river gurgling below. We turned around and hunted up another local.
“Well, actually, there’s a better way out of town. Turn right over there, right again and then go straight.”
We followed orders and found ourselves at the edge of another near-cliff, above the same wide river!
This is when we sent out scouts to reconnoiter ... “Scouts reporting, sir! It seems the river is the main road, sir!”
Needless to say, the Jeep made it down the steep, muddy, rock, trail and then through the wide river to the other side. However, we happened to be traveling in two vehicles and we considered it a near miracle when Claudio’s Nissan sedan finally crept out of the water.
From here we could see the skeleton of a steel frame bridge spanning the river. Once it is finished. Ixtapa will become a far less memorable spot than it is today.
LA CUEVA DEL TORO
At one end of the bridge we found our asphalt road again and zoomed off northward. However, after five, minutes of zooming, we were back in water again, but as this was merely a little stream, it barely slowed us down at all. After passing one more stream, we stopped to address a lonely farm worker, the only human being we had seen since Ixtapa. Where can we find La Cueva del Toro?”
“It’s right up there.” he replied, pointing to a high hill or low mountain covered with thick Jungle growth. The man was willing to show us the spot and we were willing to go, but then he mentioned that the cave was vertical, a deep pit down which one could hear rocks falling for a long time.
As it looked to be an all-day climb, and, as we hadn’t brought any long ropes along for lack of space, we sadly bid the man adieu and proceeded to the “balneario,” which, to our surprise, turned out to be a sandy beach on the seashore.
LITTLE BANANAS BEACH
This was Platanitos or Little Bananas, an unpretentious, gorgeous inlet where we were strongly tempted to stay for the night. However, it was not without a good number of frolicking swimmers, so we strained our eyes to see if we could spot another beach further up the coast....
Sure enough, it looked like there was a wisp of sand in the far distance, so off we went, clambering over the rocky shoreline and a bit of jungle, in hopes of finding the dream of dreams of all tourists that have ever lived ... a truly deserted beach.
PLAYGROUND OF THE DOLPHINS
The moment we stepped upon that wide expanse of clean, white sand, we knew we had found the impossible, no litter, no refresco sellers, no houses, not even a fisherman! On top of that, footprints in the sand told us the last visitor to that golden beach had been a solitary raccoon!
Would you believe this fabulous spot, which included a grassy, flat area ideal for setting up camp, could possibly have a track through the Jungle connecting it with the road up above?
Well, it did and, after a tasty fish dinner at Platanitos, our tents were spread on the grassy terrace from which, later that day, we were able to watch several dolphins playing and leaping out of the water just off “our” beach.
YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTIN’ YET
Our map showed us that Platanitos was only a few kilometers from the Nogales-Tepic highway, so we decided to spare Claudio the grief of wetting his delicate Nissan once again. Therefore, after a late Sunday morning breakfast, we drove off to the north our fine blacktop road, which, a few minutes later, turned back into a series of detours and stream-crossings, all of them tolerable until we came to ... THE DEEP ONE!
The deep one! At first glance I wondered whether even the Jeep could make it across .. which it did without incident. But would Claudio? Could Claudio? ...
Yes, with engine roaring and pushing a wave a full meter high, Claudio’s car plowed through the Deep One!
Afterwards, all of us stood panting on the other side, watching a swaying truckful of people slowly approach us.
The driver stopped and we told him of our amazing conquest of the Deep One!
“Shucks,” he said (but in Spanish), “that ‘twern’t nuthin’!!! The worst is yet to come!”
After hearing the truck driver’s description of the deep rivers yet to be forded and the incredibly steep mountain road (covered with loose rocks) still to be climbed, we sadly turned our cars around and, plowing through the Deep One once again, headed back towards good old Ixtapa and the familiar fords we had come to know and love so well.
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RESUMEN DEL ARTÍCULO ANTERIOR:
BUSCANDO UNA CUEVA EN EL CERRO DEL TORO, CERCA DE LAS VARAS, NAYARIT, NOS DESCRIBIERON OTRA CUEVA CERCA DE ZACUALPAN, SUPUSTAMENTE DE MAS DE 200 MTS DE LARGA EN LUGAR DE IR A VERLA, SEGUIMOS NUESTRA RUTA, PASANDO UN BUEN NÚMERO DE RÍOS, HASTA LLEGAR AL CERRO DEL TORO. DESCUBRIMOS QUE SI HAY UNA CUEVA PERO ESTA SE ENCUENTRA EN LA CIMA DE UN ALTO CERRO CUBIERTO DE JUNGLA, Y APARENTEMENTE UN SÓTANO MUY PROFUNDO. POR NO TENER NUESTRA CUERDA LARGA, SEGUIMOS A UNA PEQUEÑA PLAYA AL NORTE DE PLANANITOS, UNA PLAYA COMPLETAMENTE DESIERTA PERO DE UNA GRAN BELLEZA EN LA QUE INCLUSO JUGUETEA UN GRUPO DE DELFINES. |
| SUBTERRANEO WEBMASTER: Luis Rojas ZOTZ WEBMASTER: Chris Lloyd COORDINATOR: John J. Pint ASISTENTE: Susy Ibarra de Pint ARTE: Jesús Moreno TRANSLATORS: Susy Pint, José Luis Zavala, Nani Ibarra, Claudio Chilomer, Luis Rojas U.S. MAILING ADDRESS: ZOTZ, PMB 5-100, 1605-B Pacific Rim Ct, San Diego, CA 92154-7517 DIRECCIÓN EN MÉXICO: Zotz, Apdo 5-100, López Cotilla 1880, CP 44149, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. TELS: (L. Rojas) (52-3) 675-3876, (C. Lloyd) (52-3) 151-0119 COPYRIGHT: 2000 by Grupo Espeleológico ZOTZ. (Zotz = murciélago en maya / bat in Mayan) |