Sunday, June 18, 2006
Things that live in caves
Yesterday we spent the whole day hiking to and in a cave system that's close to our field station. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to risk brining my camera, hopefully I'll be able to get some from someone else.
Given the considerable dangers that the expedition could have encountered, the guide company did a presentation with us the night before we went. The presenters only spoke Spanish, so our TA, Pablo translated. It was an extremely loose translation but managed to convey the major dangers, including statements like "If you get Histoplasmosis, symptoms range from a mild cold to total body failure". By the end of the presentation, we were all sure that the trip would end in certain death for most of us.
We hiked in to the cave entrance, which was about 2 miles up and down about 1,000 ft of elevation in our rubber boots, without a trail to speak of. When we got to the cavern, we hiked in about a kilometer, past the bats, through the extremely slippery mud, and got to the bank of a fast river that was about 50ft across. We hiked around, mostly through the river which averaged waist high water, for about 4 hours. There were times when we descended narrow, slippery tubes barely wider than our bodies. There were crevases in which you had to wriggle on your belly and turn your head sideways to fit through. You could never have done something like this in the states, the liability would have been enormous! But it was an incredible experience and we didn't lose a single person.
Given the considerable dangers that the expedition could have encountered, the guide company did a presentation with us the night before we went. The presenters only spoke Spanish, so our TA, Pablo translated. It was an extremely loose translation but managed to convey the major dangers, including statements like "If you get Histoplasmosis, symptoms range from a mild cold to total body failure". By the end of the presentation, we were all sure that the trip would end in certain death for most of us.
We hiked in to the cave entrance, which was about 2 miles up and down about 1,000 ft of elevation in our rubber boots, without a trail to speak of. When we got to the cavern, we hiked in about a kilometer, past the bats, through the extremely slippery mud, and got to the bank of a fast river that was about 50ft across. We hiked around, mostly through the river which averaged waist high water, for about 4 hours. There were times when we descended narrow, slippery tubes barely wider than our bodies. There were crevases in which you had to wriggle on your belly and turn your head sideways to fit through. You could never have done something like this in the states, the liability would have been enormous! But it was an incredible experience and we didn't lose a single person.
# posted by Erin @ 6:15 AM 
