Starting the New Year in a cave is an old tradition in the So. California Grotto of the U.S. National Spelelogical Society. For 1989, ZOTZ decided to Mexicanize this custom: why not spend New Year’s Eve in a bubbling pool of Warm Spring water located amid the many marble caves of La Concha?
AMONOG THE FROGS AND HERONS
La Concha is the place described in SUBTERRÁNEO #1, where marble-cutters are systematically chopping away most of the local hills and. in the process, destroying a number of elegant petroglyphs etched in the beautiful white rock. Here, in 1988, we explored La Cueva de la Olla and Del Diablo and noted rumors of yet another cave, one with “a spiral staircase, a small lake and ancient paintings on the walls.
” On December 31, the Jeep was out of commission, but we patched the leaky battery in our VW bug and headed down the long and winding road to Barra de Navidad. Once we passed the horrendous precipice following El Grullo, we could enjoy the balmy weather and lush vegetation of the tropics. Ye, who abide in Milwaukee, eat yer hearts out!
Next to a newly plowed cornfield, we found our old campsite awaiting as, just as toe remembered it: flat tentsite next to the gurgling brook, frogs hopping left end right, a pure white heron flying overhead to check out the new arrivals.
After wolfing down sandwiches, Susy, and Jesús went off to try locating the cave, while I set up camp.
Several hours late, darkness fell with no sign of the intrepid explorers. There were no telephones around, so I could not call the Cave Rescue people in Texas. Therefore, I turned on the light in the Bug, to serve as a beacon, and lay down to enjoy the spectacle of a clear, star-filled sky, undisturbed by the glow of any nearby city.
A few minutes later, my reverie was interrupted by joyous shouts of “We’re back we found it! There 
are lots of passages! We only got lost once trying to find our way back to the camp” After a refreshing swim and supper, the sky seemed even brighter and we spent hours watching for shooting stars, interrupted only by two incidents. The first began as a nearby rustling and ended with Jesús’ gleeful capture of an enormous chinche or “bedbug,” a whopping three inches long and sporting a nasty-looking injection needle. This monster, Jesús assured us, was a type that specializes in catching small fish under water and had not been hunting us!
The second interruption was also caused by Jesús: “I have some news,” he announced mysteriously. Of course, we bit. “Ok, what is it?”
I’ll tell you tomorrow.
And not another word could we get out of him. So back we went to our Stargazing and among the four or five we spotted was the brightest any of us had ever seen. It flared brilliant yellow and then turned blue before sputtering out, practically in front of us. Was this a New Years omen assuring ZOTZ of bright caving prospects at La Concha?
Sunday morning found us helmeted, with cave packs on our backs and flashlights dangling from our necks, staring at a vertical stripe of chewed-up marble that went from the top of the hill to the bottom. “The cave entrance is half-way up,” said Jesús and off we trudged, for we were roasting in the intense sunlight of that January First morning.
When we reached the spot, we stooped over to walk into the caves brightly lit, balconylike antechamber. Obviously there had once been some fine stalactites here, but the marble choppers had managed to remove them all, even a fat one about 40 cms in diameter!
We worked our way down a steep slope into the main room. It was littered wit breakdown, including many large chunks 3-4 meters in size. “Well, where’s the spiral staircase and petroglyphs? I asked, wiping the sweat from my brow.
“We didn’t find any signs of either,” answered Susy, “but there are leads on all sides of this room.”
“If nothing else,” offered Jesús, “we ought to find the lake, and I bet it’s full of hot water”
This last remark referred to the humidity and temperature inside the cave, which reminded me of nothing so much as a Turkish bath. In fact, ten minutes later, all three of us were literally soaked in perspiration as we began to examine one opening after another.
BREAKDOWN STILL BREAKING DOWN
There were plenty of apparent side passages and about five real ones. Each, of these included narrow squeezes, sinuous twists and sometimes, tricky climbs. Susy had ample opportunities to practice her chimneying skills.
All of the passages inevitably led back to the main room. We found no lake and only a few decorations and soon concluded that most of what we were crawling through was breakdown from either an earthquake or a dynamite blast. Such a cave is far from stable and, in fact, in one narrow crawlway, Jesús literally had his hands full squeezing past a loose piece of rolling ruble that had nearly sealed him in.
The cave has some interesting features, however. We found a stalagmite about half a meter high, entirely made of translucent rock, much resembling quartz. And as for animal life, we found, in addition to plenty of small bats, two very large Vinagrillo, which look like a cross between a lobster and a scorpion (minus the sting, thank God!). These were at least 10 centimeters (four Inches) long, not counting the incredibly extended feelers, but showed no agressivity in response to a bombardment of light from our electronic flashes. In fact, they did not even zap us with their vinegar-like defensive spray, which, along with their claws, are their principal means of defense and the origin of their curious name.
After a refreshing swim in our private, naturally heated p
ool, we took a look at a small cave entrance nearby. Here we found a large number of tiny adult bats, hanging practically in daylight, all over the low entrance ceiling. These creatures are about six cm. (2 1/2) inches long with a beautiful heart-shaped “leaf” on the tip of the nose. They guard what appears to be a small, one-room cave flooded with hot water, well seasoned with Bat droppings. On one side of the room there are a few inches of space between the “water” level and the ceiling of the room. The only way to find out whether this goes anywhere would be to plunge into that blackish soup up to your eyeballs, a challenge none of us felt like taking up.
Further inquires and searches have convinced us that La Cueva de Los Vinagrillo is the spiral-staircase cave we have sought despite its lack of all the enticing features we had been told about. But, as we have commented in other articles, in México describing caves provides a rare opportunity for country people to try their hand at fantasy and science fiction.
Did you forget about Jesús’ mysterious piece of news from the previous evening? Once we were on our way back home, he deigned to reveal that the type of mosquito we had been swatting the night before is precisely the kind that carries malaria in México. Fortunately, we didn’t get it, but we’re keeping a close watch on our friends Rick and Marshal, who visited the site recently and who have displayed a special talent for picking up exotic maladies (like histoplasmosis).
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| 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) |