Infiltrating the Camuy Cave
“15 bucks to see a cave?” I roared “Since when do we have to pay to enjoy nature”
“I know right and it’s so expensive too” Ingris the agreed while driving
“Privation of nature.. they are doing the same thing on the window cave, trying to charge you to see it”
“What? The window cave too, and I still haven’t seen that one”
We parked the van and wager wherever to pay up and see the cave or just leave.
“I only got 20 bucks “I announce
“I’m not sure I have the money” Ingris said while searching her purse. “You want to leave?”
“Let’s stay and look around, then we decide.”
We got out and I ask her to store my phone, wallet, camera and key in her purse, but It actually look more like one of those baggies that collage kids like to use. Ingris has long brown hair, big stunning hazel eyes hiding behind sunglasses and a Star Wars T-shirt for men. As we walk she sport out her French and I’m no expert in French, but she sounded pretty alright. I try to counter with my pathetic excuses of German, completing my sentences with Germanize English words. She has me beat in language dominance obviously, but she doesn’t know that and I lead her on.
“Look, a train!” I interrupt our poor foreign language conversation. It was a rusted coal train from back in the day when Puerto Rico actually had a train that ran through the whole Island, until some politician had the smart idea that it wasn’t necessary anymore. Oh the number of times me and my friend fantasize about the conveniences of having a running train in our island. If we wanted to hang out in metro we would just take the train, party, and take the train back. All the hazels of driving and gas money would become a thing of the past. This moment was no exception with Ingris quickly complaining about the fact we didn’t had a running train.
The train was behind a wooden fence, but that didn’t face us as we jumped it and got on the train, to closely examine it.
“Let’s just sneak into the cave” I suddenly offered
Ingris didn’t give a clear responds, but I saw no sign of protest in her, so we moved on. There was a kid’s playground and we mess around on it for a while, but then we started walking toward the road.
“No peatones” Ingris read the sign “Road exclusively for trolley.”
“Whatever, let’s go” I said, nonchalantly
The road was densely populated with an array of plants, trees and ferns, everywhere you could see green moss growing, on the bark of trees, rocks, scattered spot in the road, even on the ground itself. We joked that it felt like Jurassic Park. We soon saw a sign telling us which direction the cave was, but we also heard the sound of what we assume to be a trolley. We stopped in our tracks and listened carefully.
“Is that what I think it is?” And we heard it again “Run hide in there” I shouted as we scramble to the trees looking for a decent spot to lie down and hide. We lay low and waited.
“Maybe is not coming this way?” I wondered, but we heard it again “OK, if it passes this way, bellies to the ground” And it did pass and we lay down on the ground watching it drive pass us, it’s driver oblivious of our presence. After the coast was clear we got up and started to make our way.
“Hey.. let’s go this other way” Ingris murmured weakly, behind me.
“Don’t tell me you want to quit; c’mon we can do this if another one passes by we just hide again.”
“I dunno, I don’t want to get in trouble”
“What are they going to do, throw us in jail?”
So, we continued and along the way I could sense Ingris uneasiness and I tried to ease her by being carefree. We soon heard the voices up ahead, and we hasten ourselves to assert the situation and how to approach it.
We reached a small concrete hut and the entrance of the cave was in sigh, a huge hole with stalagmites hanging from its ceiling, a mouth in the earth. There were stairs inside the hut the led underground, so we took em and saw the sign that said introduction below, so we assume this is where the tour must start. At this point it felt like we were at some spy movie, deep in enemy territory. We considered how to explore the cave, if either by blending in with one of the tours or on ur own accord. I was usually ahead making sure the coast was clear while Ingris stayed in the previous corner waiting for my signal to advance. I would whisper loudly “Clear” and signaled her to move to my position. At one point I slipped and fell on my butt, the floor was deadly wet; I look back and see Ingris covering her mouth with her hand trying to suppress laughter. At that point we decided to hide somewhere and wait for the next tour, to properly blend in. We walked up into the hut and hid behind it; in a little corner we sat and waited.
In the distance we could still hear the voices of the tour, from within the cave. Our backs were pressed against the wall and in front of us, vegetation of the greenest kind, the place was terribly humid and sweat started to pour out of our skin. When the trolley passes we would see it above us, hopefully nobody will bother looking down. Soon we would hear the motorize sound of their engines and we clenched closer waiting for it, both with dread and excitement. I would whisper that we were deep in enemy territory and Ingris would make some sounds of excitement.
“This is crazy” I would exclaimed
“Craziest thing I have ever done” Ingris agreed
We watched stunned as the trolley pass above us, then soon after, a second one passed. Two trolley wasn’t part of the plan and we hope everything would turn out alright. We felt and heard the trolley come to a stop right behind us and the people chattering excitedly, we would have to blend in with this party once the coast is clear. The next trolley came to a stop and again we felt the people poured out of it, directly behind us. Ingris and I cuddle up together in fear that they would get a peak of us, we hold hands momentarily for reassurance. We heard the tour guide shouting the instructions and then the footstep descending down the steps. Our party was getting farther and farther away and we still couldn’t join them, until the previous party got back and the trolley left. It was taking longer than expected and Ingris asked me to check if the coast was clear, I used one of the pillars as cover to get up and peak out. I saw the two trolleys parked in front of the hut and its drivers facing each other, talking while they waited for the tour to get back.
“Is there any chance we could sneak by?” Ingris asked.
“No, they have a clear view of the stairs” I said dejected “We have to wait.”
“My legs are hurting already” she complained.
Ingris wasn’t sitting; she was squatting to avoid getting her pants dirty and for over 20 minutes we’ve been waiting, her endurance is commendable. I kept telling her to hang in there, the trolley would leave soon, and finally the tour got back and slowly cradle into the trolleys. We cuddle up once more and waited anxiously. We saw them pass overhead us and watched in silence. One trolley …. Two trolleys, alright all clear let’s go!
We tried to moved fast to catch up with the tour and attempt to blend in. Ingris kept complaining about her legs, she couldn’t feel them due to the excess squatting. I held her hand and helped her get through the slippery parts. Entering the cave we started to notice the stalagmites and that peculiar texture that cave rocks have. There was a little piece of smooth out rock, due to the water that continuously flowed down from above and accumulated in a small puddle below, looked clean enough to drink. Once in the mouth of the cave we saw the party up ahead.
“Okay, quickly start taking pictures” Ingris suggested I pulled out the camera and took picture of the big gaping entrance overhead us, the stalagmite been silhouette by the outside brightness. We proceeded inside, the cave was vast, artificial light were littered everywhere and you could see green moss and small plants growing near it, a source of life in an otherwise dead place. When we mention cave we think of dark, claustrophobic places, but this one had a sense of openness the ceiling was at least 60 feet up, an open field inside the earth. We catch up with the group, nobody bent an eye.
“I wish I could walk around freely and not follow this concrete path, I want to take pictures.” I complained
“Yeah, but if you did you would harm the cave”
“Me harm the cave? Look at what they are doing spraying concrete and making paths, they harmed the cave.”
We had to stand around waiting for the guide to give out speeches in both English and Spanish, plus everyone was hooked on some recorder giving out explanations of cave, we have to wait till people were done listening as well so we could move one to the next spot. Me? I much prefer to listen to the music of the cave. Everything was extremely controlled and timed; it took away some wonder from the cave. Luckily there are many caves you can still traverse without these hassles.
We reached the end of the designated path; the rest was closed off and looked ruined. Overhead us a big gaping hole through the earth and a clear view of the skies. Vines hanged from the edges and water constantly trickled down as raindrops, it was beautiful. The guide told us that the ceiling had crumble in this part and pointed out the river below the crevice, considered one of the biggest underground rivers in the world.
“So, how much of the cave is this actually? I asked the guide “ 20%?”
“No, much less actually” she answered.
“So, has the whole cave actually been explored?”
“No, there are still parts of the cave that remain unexplored”
“So, for all we know there could be some undiscovered species in there”
We kept moving in a slow steady pace. “Integration complete” I whispered to Ingris
“shhh” she was still being careful, not wanting to expose ourselves, but stealthily offered me a high-five, I accepted.
On the way back we took an adjacent path. We walk through a small bridge and you could hear the rushing water below and the occasional bat. I used my cellphone to light it up and saw the murky cave water, one of the biggest underground rivers in the world and I can’t explore it, my adventurist spirit was aching, I wanted to go down there and traverse the whole river, but alas I will never have the chance.
While we sat on the trolley I feared the guide would notice two extra people if everyone didn’t fit, luckily that wasn’t the case.
“Objective Complete” I declared, and sang the Jurassic Park theme song throughout the ride.
