The other day, chance led Sarah and I to join a caving expedition here in Sagada. I’ve been meaning to visit the local caves for a while now. They are one of the main attractions of the area– but I keep putting it off– they are a serious spelunk that require a guide and a professional lanttern. I have been patiently waiting for the right moment.
And then a guide and two mexicans walked by us and invited us to join them. This was the moment! I am so glad to have had Sarah with me. What a beautiful moment and adventure.
The two hour voyage takes you 250 meters below ground into the dazzling sculpture studio of Mother Earth. There, for the last hundred of thousand of years, she has been diligently at work. Here her water has had it’s way with the limestone– hewing it into the must surreal shapes– smooth, curved, bulbuos, undulating forms that would inspire the most abstract sculptor. Curtains, elephants, and crocodiles emerge in the curvaceous stone formations. Water trickles everywhere, forming endless streams, pools and cascades of water over the subterranean playground. My limited and flashless iPhone photos doesn’t do it an iota of justice.
You’ll just have to take my words and imagine. All I can say is that it was very, very, very cool.
The sheer monstrosity of the time involved in the making of these wonders is deeply humbling. One drop of water at time made all this. It is a grand testimony to the inevitable creativity and beauty of persistence, consistency and determination.
Thanks Mother Earth.
