Another beautiful morning, and I wander off in search of breakfast. I'm disappointed (and astonished) that the first bakery I peak into doesn't have hot chocolate. By the time I make it to the bakery by the river, I realize I don't really have time to sit down and order breakfast. I get a buñuelo and a cold oatmeal drink to go and head back to the hotel.
8:30 am
We head over to the office and wait for our ride. We drive along the river again until we reach a small town where La Cueva del Indio (The Indian's cave) awaits us. We suit up- hard hats with headlamps and life jackets- and then walk across town to the cave's entrance. Our guide tells us a little bit about it's history on the way. Supposedly back in the 1600 when the Spanish Conquistadors were taking over the region, the local Indian tribe hid in the cave to escape slavery. The Spanish eventually found them there though.
It's a gorgeous sunny morning and I dash down the pathway to the caves entrance. "slow down!" the guide admonishes me. I laugh to the girls, in English, "some people like long walks on the beach. I like haphazardly running downhill in the woods. Preferably barefoot."
We duck into the cave (which, the guide tells us, is more accurately a cavern- caves have only one entrance, caverns have multiple entrances.) It's dark and smells bad. Lots of bats live here he informs us.
After navigating the first passageway easily- it's wide here and the ceilings aren't low- we come to a large open area. The guide instructs us to sit down and turn out our head lamps. As soon as we sit, we here the wings around us. Bats swoop low. Some people scream. It's a bit creepy, but I'm not scared; I went to too many state park service campfire talks growing up and read too many magic school bus books not to know that bats are good, mostly. They eat insects. They know where we are and aren't likely to fly into us by accident, and have no desire to fly into us on purpose. Finally, after our eyes have accustomed to the dark, the guide turns on his flashlight and shines it towards the roof of cave- there are hundreds of bats clinging to the walls. He whistles and some of them take off flying.
We head on to another section of the cave where there's an underground river. They have to close the cave when the weather is very wet or it's impassable. We wade through water up to our hips. We're cold and muddy. We pass an area where stalactites and stalagmites have joined, forming columns.
Farther on we reach a drop off, the water flows below us. "Now it's time to jump!" instructs our guide. We jump in, obediently, braced for the cold water. Then, he walks around to the other side, and we realize there was a way around jumping in. We should have figured that out when just moments later he has us army crawl through a tunnel, and then takes a different much wider passage to catch up to us.
The end of the cave tour is the scariest. The part of the path we are following ends at a 5 meter cliff. The river runs below us. There's a ladder down to the river, but the 8 or 10 year old boys we're with jump into the water. Then their parents do. Then Rae Ann and Ingrid do. It's just Jen and I left. I can't be outdone by a 10 year old, so I count to 3, and then freeze. The water looks so far away. I try it again. Finally, I jump. It takes forever to hit the water, and when I do, despite my life jacket, I sink beneath the surface. My back almost touches the bottom before my life jacket carries me back to the top.
We swim and wade, following the river back up to the light of day. We've covered about a kilometer and a half underground, down hill almost the whole way, and we have to climb back uphill through the woods, our wet, muddy clothes somewhat drying in the sun.
12:30 pm
Back in San Gil we're hungry and ready for lunch. It's Good Friday and all inter-city public transportation is closed for the day, so we decide to just relax and enjoy the city.
After a mediocre lunch, we each go our separate ways. I walk downtown in search of the perfect photo. I love the colonial architecture of the city.
One of the things I love the most are the balconies. In my mind, I design my dream house. It will be painted beautiful bold pastels, and have a balcony.
Children are playing in the fountain on this warm, sunny day and chasing pigeons in the park. There's a painting exhibition with local artists painting outside in the park. I pause to admire their work, wishing I were brave enough to ask to photograph them painting up close, but I don't.
I run into Rae Ann in the park and we head down to the river together. She decides to buy the specialty in this department of Colombia- hormigas culonas- a large deep fried ant. We buy the little packet, do some souvenir window shopping, meet up with the other girls, and then head back to the hotel to try our new "treat"
5:30 pm
We have to work up the nerve to actually eat the ants. One by one, taking pictures as we go, we pop the ants in our mouths. They're not as bad as you'd think a giant fried ant might be. They're crunchy and salty, and not so bad at first, but the oily aftertaste makes me want to wash it down with lots of water.
7:00 pm
We head off downtown to eat some street food. We buy corn on the cob and shish-kebabs. It starts to drizzle but we decide we need some ice cream. Once again, our adventures have tired us out and we all go to bed before it's too late.
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