Hitchhiking To Guatamala Part 8
Stalactites hang tight to the ceiling and stalagmites hope they might make it up there
The world around us had gotten increasingly green as we’d traveled south and inland. No part of Cayo that we visited didn’t feel like it might be reclaimed by the jungle at any moment. With the perfect white light of the spring sun making everything sharp and vibrant it was gorgeous, a feast for our eyes. We stared out the windows as we bounced along a rough road with two boats tied up top. A young American couple on their honeymoon were in the van already when we climbed in.
Our guides were a perfect comedy duo. Felix was tall and lanky with long thinning hair and an impressive beak on his unshaven face. He pulled the van over to pick up his partner Pedro who was short and squat with thick black hair clipped close to his scalp. Pedro’s son, an exact miniature of him, carried his dad’s lunch box to the van before hugging Pedro and running back to their small square house. Felix was energetic and talked nonstop all the way to the boat launch along the river that we’d float down on our way into the cave. Pedro fell asleep in the passenger seat.
Laughing heartily at his companion, Felix woke Predo up to get the boats down and into the water. “You’re asleep! Wake up. You’re sleeping!” he yelled cheerfully, shaking Pedro. He paused teasing his mate to pass out a strange fig he spotted and picked from trees nearby. The insides were pink and creamy and reminded me of yogurt. I meant to make a note of what I’d just eaten but I did not and I’ve never been able to figure out what kind of fig it was. It was delicious.
Felix set the newlyweds up in one of the kayaks, and he walked in front of it, pulling it and them along the river. Pedro climbed into the other kayak himself and instructed Windy and I to grab the rope at the front and follow Felix, explaining that he needed to stay in the boat to steer.
When Felix looked back and saw us pulling Pedro his laughter echoed all around us. We reached a spot where the water was deep enough for us all to climb in the kayaks. We used a fallen tree as a step. Windy and I handled the oars on our boat and followed Felix toward the cave. A young american woman in a bathing suit and cut off jeans was in the water just outside the entrance to the cavern.
We stopped to ask her if she needed help, surprised to see her out in the middle of nowhere. “No, I’m great. Just enjoying a day off. You’re going into the cave?”
I tried to lay back and let Windy do the talking. He looked at me, expecting me to take the lead and I raised my eyebrows. “Uh, yeah; did ya want to check it out with us?” he blurted.
“Oh, I’m really broke. I couldn’t afford to pay.”
“That’s fine, we’re doing all the rowing ourselves. I think we can bring a guest along.” This brought a look from Pedro that was either mildly hurt or mad or a bit of each, but he didn’t correct Windy’s assumption and we helped her into the boat.
Maryam was our age, 23, and was staying with the Mennonites who lived and farmed nearby. “I had no idea there were Mennonites down here.” I told her.
“They’re almost all American or children and grandchildren of Americans. They speak of America as a wicked place. I’m living with them and writing a paper on their community and its history. They’re wonderful people but also really reserved and guarded. I’m very much an outsider no longer how long I’m here. No matter how hard I work. It’s actually really nice to be chatting with people my own age and… well, more like myself I’m guessing.”
“We’re actually Satanists.” I answered.
“We’re not!” Windy inserted, quickly. This wasn’t necessary, she laughed understanding that I was joking but it was now clear that Windy was concerned that I not queer the deal. I resisted the urge to ask her how she’d been shitting while staying with the Mennonites.
The two boats drifted slowly into the cavern through a jagged opening in the side of the mountain. Our guides used headlights wired haphazardly to car batteries to illuminate the path ahead. Felix explained that the Mayans had a bush that when bundled and lit on fire then extinguished would glow brightly for hours. They would come deep into the caverns to bury their dead. He then shone the light on skulls embedded high up on the cavern walls. As the ceiling above came lower he suggested we get our flashlights out and look up. There were holes in the ceiling and bats looked groggily back at us, their faces just a few feet from our own.
I felt like I was at Disneyland, and then I laughed at myself. What a time I lived in, where the most sincere compliment I could give a scene of dramatic natural beauty was that it reminded me of the fake nature accessed by freeway, parking lot, and shuttle bus in Anaheim, California. Old Walt Disney had really done a number on me. I felt like I felt as a kid at Disneyland and it was my favorite feeling.
As the floor came up to meet us we docked the kayaks and climbed up onto a large rock plateau. Felix had us sit in a circle.
“We’re going to turn off the lights. Please, turn off your headlamps and flashlights. Experience total darkness.” Felix instructed us. We turned off all the lights and it was a strange sensation. I wouldn't have objected to spending the next hour sitting in the dark letting the very few sounds around me grow louder in the absence of competition. After a minute or two I could hear the light trickle of water, and then my own breathing, and then the breathing of those around me. Just as I was starting to think I could hear my own heartbeat, Felix switched his light back on and prepared us for the next leg of our journey.
“I will take you to a beautiful smaller cavern. To get there we will have to get past a spot where you will have to go underwater and swim through an arch. When you come up there will only be a foot of space between the water and the ceiling of the cave. Then you will have to go underwater again and swim through another arch. If you’re claustrophobic you may want to stay here and wait for us.”
I was not claustrophobic but I was absolutely terrified at the thought of this. Going through an arch underwater, blind, sounded like the worst thing I could imagine.
“Can you do it?” Windy asked, knowing of my fear of water.
“Well, I’m gonna find out.” I answered.
“I’m gonna stay here, I think, and sit in the darkness for a while.”
“Do you mind if I stay with you?” Maryam asked.
“No, no, that would be great.” Windy answered without hesitation.
I followed the group towards my impending trial. I watched as Felix took a deep breath and disappeared under the water. Pedro followed. Then the woman from the newlywed couple. I tapped the man on the shoulder. “Hey man, I’m gonna count to ten, and then follow you. When you get to the end, if you don’t see me come out within ten seconds, could you let someone know?” I asked.
I felt like I was speaking in a calm, measured and confident manner but the look he gave me told me that I actually sounded like I might be about to cry. “Oh, yeah man. Hey, it’s gonna be great. I’ll watch for you on each step of the way.” He patted me on the shoulder and I felt reassured. I wondered how this guy could seem like so much more of an adult man than me when we were close to the same age. Here he was comforting me like a father figure or a coach. “Let’s do it.” he said as he disappeared under the water. I counted to ten. I dropped down below the surface of the water.
I was on autopilot, forcing myself to move against all instincts. I could go back up where I knew there was open space and air above me, or I could move forward through the arch where I would have only rock above me, between me and the surface, between me and air. How big of an arch was it? How long would I be swimming underwater? I wished I had asked this. I forced myself to go. I had to, the reassuring new friend was waiting for me. The arch was only a few feet. I came up. My head was in the small bit of space between the water’s surface and the roof of the cave just as Felix had described. “Ha, yeah! I’m here, man. You’re doing great.” I heard the man say. “Okay, I’m going under through the next arch. I’ll see you on the other side. You’re killing it, man.”
Tears ran from my eyes as laughter came from my mouth. The worst was over, I was pretty sure I could do this. I had to, I couldn’t stay in this small space. How was the oxygen replenished in this small space? I wondered before dropping under the water again, terrified that I wouldn’t find the arch, that I’d find the wrong arch, that the arch would be longer than the last one. I came up on the other side and found my fellow travelers had their lights focused on me. They gave a cheer having noticed the man watching for me, and seeing my elated, relieved, and still terrified face. I was both embarrassed and appreciative of the support.
The cavern we were in was worth confronting one’s fears to reach. It was beautiful, at least I remember thinking it was beautiful. I remember doing my best to take it in, but I don’t actually remember it. Did it have crystals? Did it resemble the inside of a geode?
My brain was too pre-occupied with the knowledge that everything I’d just done, I would soon have to do again to record it properly.
I was relieved when Felix announced it was time to go back. I wanted to be present, to enjoy the once in a lifetime beauty around me, but what I wanted more, what I needed, was to have the underwater part of this journey behind me. I went back through much easier; knowing where everything was helped. The new husband continued to encourage and keep an eye out for me. When we got back to where Windy and Maryam were sitting in pitch blackness I felt great. I felt strong and energized having confronted something that I was so afraid of.
“How was sitting in the dark?” I asked.
“It was delightful.” Windy’s answer let me know he’d experienced more than darkness and silence. I noticed his and Maryam’s fingers touching where they rested against the rock. We climbed back into the kayaks and started the long trek back to the cave opening.
Shining our flashlights in the water we saw that it was crystal clear and full of eyeless pink fish. “Blind Cave Fish.” Pedro told us. I reached my hand in and grabbed a few, a trick nobody else was able to duplicate.
“How do you do that?” they asked.
“My years working in the aquarium business have granted me several mostly useless skills like this; party tricks for very unusual parties.”
“You can use those fish to catch bigger fish.” Pedro said, as I set my little blind friends back in the water.
Felix continued focusing the light on the impressive structures in the cave, stalactites, and stalagmites. “Stalactites hang tight to the ceiling, and stalagmite, might make it up there.” I said to myself.
“What’s that?” Maryam asked.
“Just something a teacher said to me when I was a kid, one of those silly things that you remember forever.”
“I like it.” she said, repeating it out loud.
“You need to come next time for the full tour.” Felix announced.
“Full tour? How much further does the cave go?” Windy asked.
“All the way. You go in on one side of the mountain, and you come out on the other side.”
“How long does that take?” I asked.
“A full day and night. You sleep deep in the cave in blackness. You can hear the bats exiting and coming back. Then you wake up and have breakfast, and finish going through the mountain.”
“Do you guide that tour?”
“No. We have a special permit to do this tour. You need another permit to do that tour. William can take you through the mountain. They are very careful about guides because early on people stole bones and pottery to sell on the black market. People carved on the walls and touched things we should not touch. If you touch a stalactite you can cause it to stop growing.” We were approaching a bend in the cave, and Felix turned off his light, signaling for Pedro to do the same. “This is a magical beautiful thing.” Felix said softly.
“FUCK!” Pedro yelped loudly as we crashed into a rock. Felix’s booming laugh filled the cave again as he turned his light on and helped Pedro get back on the right track. “Now… the magic.” he said, turning the light off once again.
We floated in the blackness and then a singly tiny ray of intense light pierced the dark. We continued floating toward it and it slowly grew, treating us to a sunrise powered by the forward movement of our boats as we went from total darkness to bright daylight. He hadn’t exaggerated, it was indeed magical. Felix announcing, “I love it!” was a delightful touch as I imagined how many times he’d seen this and yet still found great joy in sharing it with others.
We said goodbye to Maryam, as she hopped back into the river right where we’d found her. We invited her to join us in town but she had writing to do. We dozed off in the van on the way back. The beautiful surroundings outside the van windows were becoming commonplace, something we knew there would be much more of. When we reached Cosmos William Michael Warrior was there with a Hot Air Balloon.
“Oh wow, you gettin’ ready to go up?” I asked, hoping I could ride along.
“No, just getting it packed up. I went up alone, but I am hoping to give tours in it soon, once I get the hang of it.”
“Very cool.”
“You boys enjoy your tour? Felix and Pedro do right by you?”
“Oh man, it was amazing, and they were great.” Windy answered while I nodded in agreement.
“Good to hear. Good to hear. Why don’t we go grab a beer and you can tell me all about it?”
“Yeah man. Do you need help getting this done first?”
“No, not at all. I got it.” Michael got his balloon into a good holding position and we walked up to the nearest bar and sat and had a beer and traded life stories.
“I went to school in America, studying business and leisure studies. Then I came back here and built up my tour business. I have a handful of employees and a couple of vans. I’m looking to add balloon tours and zip lines this year. It’s not a bad way to make a living. You know, I could use a couple of young Americans to work as tour guides.”
“Really? Why would people want to come all the way to the southern tip of Belize just to hang out with other Americans?” I asked.
“Because they’re surrounded by Belize and Belizeans. They trust you, and they relate to you. They’re fascinated that you’re like them but you live here. You’re very interesting to them. You’re a bridge between worlds. If you’d like to stay, I’ll help you find a place to live, and you’ll make decent money, really good tips, and you’ll spend every day exploring the rain forest, the caverns, and I’ll even teach you how to balloon. Do it for a year or two. What an adventure, eh?”
“This is the second time we’ve been offered to stay and work here.” Windy said.
“It’s not surprising. Tourism is on the rise here. Our fishing economy is less but people want to come here to see our coral reef, our caverns, to see the jungle. And we can use American guides to help us with the American tourists.”
“Oh man, you’re killing me. That is such a tempting offer.” Windy took a big pull off his bottle.
“Yeah, and good of you to send us on that amazing all day trip and then put a couple beers in us first. Ha. You’re a good salesman, Michael.” I added.
“I told you I studied business.” He said, laughing as he leaned back and sipped his beer.
“I’ve got a girlfriend waiting for me at home, and a job. But I’m going to live dangerously and ask if I can get a card to contact you later if I change my mind.”
“Yeah, I have to finish school, but I’ll take a card too.” Michael handed us each a card. We finished our beers and walked back down the little trail to Cosmos where he finished loading up his balloon and drove off into the sunset.