Back to Mexico

The Pyramids and Real de Catorce

sarah_crowder — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:08:00 GMT

The last few days were devoted to tourist destinations including the pyramids of Teotihuacan and Real de Catorce. It took us a bit longer to get to the pyramids than we had hoped, but the trip south was definitely worth it. The pyramids are enormous and very impressive. Several of the are decorated with intricate carvings representing the different gods. The largest pyramid is called the Pyramid of the Sun and is thought to have been a monument to the god of the Sun. However, recent findings suggest the pyramid may have been intended for the god of water. The Pyramid of the Moon is smaller, but still beautiful. Tourists are allowed to climb to the tops of the pyramids on steep stone steps, and the view is magnificant. People try to sell you stuff the entire time you are there. Mostly it's the exact same stuff you can find in the shops around the site, just a bit more expensive. Rob, Alex, and I had lunch in a nearby restaurant that was really large a cave entrance with some tables and a stage. The cactus and mushroom soup was surprisingly good. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to push any leads to see if the cave actually goes or not. The picture below was taken by Alex on top of the Pyramid of the Moon.

Once we left the pyramids, we drove directly to Real de Catorce. It took us about 10 hours to get there, but it was also a destination worth the drive. Real de Catorce is considered a tourist destination, and some of the hotels and restaurants were run by Europeans. The somewhat Americanized food was a welcome change. There were street vendors and shops to explore, and the group took horses up the mountain to see the abandonned silver mining town. The ride was pleasant, but the narrow mountain trails were precarious at times. We were allowed to explore the old mines a bit, and I was surprised by how in tact some of the buildings were.

We got home safely. The drive took 40 hours, including stops. Thanks for reading!

The Past Several Days

sarah_crowder — Tue, 8 Jan 2013 23:16:00 GMT

It's been a while since I last posted and quite a bit has happened, but I'll try to keep it fairly short. We dropped Cepillo, Huahuas, and Golondrinas. Most of the group did Cepillo and Huahuas, but only six of us did Golondrinas. The rest were either too inexperienced (myself included) or too tired to complete three big climbs in three days. It was either rainy or foggy from the 1st until the 7th, so being underground, or at least at the bottom of a pit, was a welcome change. We were also planning on dropping Borbollon, but several members of the group got sick and the rest of us didn't feel like dragging a 900ft rope through the tight pinches before the pit. We entertained ourselves at the ranch by exploring the horizontal caves in the area. For those of you who haven't seen the caves I've referenced, I'll give a brief description of each one:

Cepillo -- Cepillo is a 400ft drop with some really fantastic formations at the bottom. The entrance is fairly small, but the cave bells out and the floor of the pit is wide. The rig point is a tree close to the lip, so it was really just a matter of gently swinging over the edge to get vertical. The bottom consists of a pool, some really cool popcorn-like formations, and massive pieces of sparkly flowstone.

Huahuas -- Huahuas is a 700ft drop on one side of the pit, and about a 500ft drop on the other side. The high side has a difficult, undercut lip, but once you are vertical the view is fantastic. The bottom is covered in moss and plants, and erosion creates a marbled pattern in the soil when seen on rope. We rigged the drop on both sides so we were able to repel the high side and climb the short side. Before anyone comments, no, there weren't any injuries and yes, I repelled from the high side. Just quite a bit slower this time.

Golondrinas -- Golondrinas is a 1200ft pit. I didn't do it, but the pictures looked cool.

I'm still waiting on pictures. Rob and I are planning on doing that tomorrow.

Las Pozas and Zulema's

sarah_crowder — Wed, 2 Jan 2013 11:41:00 GMT

Deighan had some car trouble yesterday, so we took yesterday to just explore the area around Xilitla. The group went up to Las Pozas, a tourist attraction full of strange architecture built by Edward James sometime around the 1970s. The site is full of spiral staircases, some not leading anywhere, and buildings with open walls, columns, and arches. Apparently some of the buildings were designed for human habitation, while others were built to house zoo animals. A stream runs through the site with several waterfalls, and the outdoor footpaths between the buildings are closely surrounded by the Mexican jungle. Some of the stairs and pathways are narrow and high off the ground, and of course there are no handrails. Something like Los Pozas would never be legal in the United States. After visiting Las Pozas, Alex and I split off from the group for a bit to get some food. We visited a restaurant we went to last year that has some really fantastic pina coladas and tostadas con pollo. Next time you make a pina colada, try putting some cinnamon in it.

Around dinner time, we met Zulema in Xilitla and drove up to her house in the mountains. She prepared a wonderful meal of chicken salad and guacamole, and she made homemade fruit punch which contained a mixture of sugar cane, grapes, pineapple, and other fruits that I could not identify. It started raining soon after we got there, and the power went on and off several times. We had a good time swapping caving stories with Frank, Bob, and Jared, who we met in Huichihuayan, around a fire while Zulema’s son roasted us marshmellows. Zulema was kind enough to offer us a room in her house so we wouldn’t have to camp in the rain. When we woke up, she made a breakfast of huevos, jambon, chorizo, avocado, cueso fresca, tortillas, freshly squeezed orange juice, and coffee. Needless to say, we were well taken care of.

Today it’s still raining and Deighan’s car is still in the shop. We’re still a bit unsure of what we’re going to do today. Adios!

Rio Choy and New Year's Eve

sarah_crowder — Wed, 2 Jan 2013 11:34:00 GMT

Written January 1, 2013

The first caving excursion we took was to Rio Choy, a 210 foot vertical cave near Cuidad Valles. We woke up fairly early on the morning of New Year’s Eve, had breakfast, and made the short drive from Hotel Taninul to the parking area. The cave entrance is about a mile and a half from the road, though the hike is made easy by some train tracks. The cave itself is considered sacred because of a column that apparently looks like the Virgin Mary (I couldn’t see it), but the cavernous entrance is littered with trash. Frank, Bob, and Deighan rigged the mainline to another rope to make the length more easily adjusted, and the group began the repel. Though the drop is short in comparison to the other pits we’ll bounce on the trip, it is made exciting by the pool of water at the bottom. This allowed us to short-rig the rope and repel off the end of it into the water beneath. This year, we only short-rigged by about 6 feet, which is much shorter than in years past. However, the amazing views of the bright blue water illuminated by a skylight and the opportunity to swim in warm cave water in December made the cave well worth the walk. Many of us used the large rock protruding from the water as a highdive, and the rapids at the exit added some excitement. Overall, nine of us did the drop and some did it multiple times.

After we hiked out of Rio Choy, we drove to Huichihuayan (Wi-chi-y-in) for the annual New Year’s Eve celebration. We began the night with a trip to the usual taco stand and had wonderful beef, lamb, and pork tacos for five pesos apiece ($1.00 = 12.5 pesos after exchange fees). After we went back to the hotel to shower, we went to the town square for the celebration. The New Year’s Eve party in Huichihuayan comes complete with a dancing transvestite and a coffin filled with fireworks with the old year painted on it. Every hour up until midnight, the coffin and a live band are paraded around the town until all the townspeople are in the square. The transvestite dances with the village men, and many couples dance to the live music. Food is sold by vendors in the square, and it’s generally just a good time. At midnight, the coffin is lit on fire, and the fireworks within eventually explode. The music and dancing continues through the night, but most of our group was exhausted from Rio Choy and went to bed soon after midnight.

So far, I've been posting these entries in internet cafes, and I don't want to bring in everyone's electronics to add pictures. I'll add pictures of everything you've read about next time we're in a hotel.

As a side note, if you have access to our itinerary, know that it now very inaccurate. The confusion with the border crossing delayed us by a day, and we are considering changing the order of the drops in light of the recent restriction on Golandrinas. Whether or not we will be allowed to drop Golandrinas at all is still up in the air, but we will if we can. For those of you who are depending on internet access to keep in touch with someone on the trip, don’t worry too much if you don’t hear from us when you expected to. That’s all for now. Happy New Year!!

First Few Days

sarah_crowder — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:55:00 GMT

It was a long drive, but it went fairly well all things considered. We did have a slight change of who actually came. Rebecca dropped and David joined, putting our number to 11 with Bob and Frank. We stopped in New Orleans for a late dinner, and Bourbon Street was a lot of fun. We had a bit of trouble at the border when the border patrol entered a wrong number on one of the vehicle permits, and the error wasn't noticed until the first police checkpoint. Some of the group was forced to turn back to fix the permit, while others went ahead to get hotel rooms in Cuidad Victoria. The group that turned back got to the hotel fairly late, so we took today to relax and slowly get to our next destination. This will alter our itinerary somewhat, but I don't think we'll have to miss any of the pits. Other than that, nothing too eventful has happened so far. The real action should start tomorrow.

For those of you who have never been to Mexico, I'll give a couple of the differences I've noticed so far. The food good, and none of us have gotten sick so far, but the menu is often inaccurate and you never really know what you can actually order. The driving is pretty crazy. People rarely stay in the lanes. There are checkpoints along the roads, but they mostly just stand there and look intimidating.

More to come soon! We're relaxing in a hotel tonight and we're all looking forward to hot sulfur pools and good Mexican beer. Cheers!

P.S. Deighan wanted me to mention that it's really warm hear. Have fun in Blacksburg :)

Mexico Take Two

sarah_crowder — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 11:34:00 GMT

It's that time of year again! In a few days, several Southwest Virginia cavers are loading up the cars and heading down to Mexico. Deighan is leading the trip again this year, and other participants include Alex, Rob, Rebecca, Alice, JG, Katrina, and Andrew. I think a couple of Deighan's friends are planning on meeting us at the border as well. While in Mexico, we are planning on repelling several pits including Rio Choy (~210ft), Cepillo (~400ft?), Huahuas (~700ft), Borbollon (~700ft), and Golandrinas (~1200ft), and we will also visit some places unrelated to caving such as the pyramids near Mexico City and the Cascadas de Tamul (a really big waterfall for those of you who don't speak Spanish). Stories to come once the action starts! Happy Holidays!