Mexico 10; Taxco; Panda Suits and Jesus

Once I had confirmed my new flight I fled Mexico City to Taxco, quite possibly my favorite city in Mexico. This city is picturesque in a very traditional Mexican way—white stucco buildings with red-roof tiles placed on a steep hill of winding cobbled streets, antique churches and romantic little plazas overlooked by bougainvillea-laced balconies. It was once a silver mining town but is now known for its silver crafts. Bonus: I was able to stock up on avocados, strawberries, mangos, and sandals (only one pair) at the market. My first night a crowd of male cross dressers, zombies, dinosaurs, drummers, horn players and a giant panda danced through the streets for reasons unknown to me so obviously I joined them. It was nothing short of awesome. I then headed to a taqueria only to have an older Mexican man serenade me and then buy my tacos. It was already off to a great start.

The next day I walked up the steep hill to the statue of Jesus that overlooks the entire city. It was so beautiful that I couldn't help but to run up to it the next 2 nights in town. I had flashbacks of nights in Grand Junction (my hometown), watching life signs of the city from the monument.

Grutas de Cacahuamilpa is one of the largest cave systems in the world, and the reason why SC was able to convince me to go to Taxco (he met me there 1 day later ). Although the high ceilings and diverse formations were impressive, I mostly felt sad. A sidewalk for tourists ran through the interior of the cave, rocks were removed to give it a cleaner look, and the multicolored lights made the formations look like pop celebrities at a concert. For one, I felt like the integrity of the cave was lost, like it got plastic surgery for all the wrong reasons. Secondly, for me the best part of caving is the thrill of discovery (I'm not talking about discovering that your tour guide thinks that that rock looks like Santa Claus) and this cave clearly couldn't offer that.

I had my last tacos with SC and the other girl in our hostel in Mexico City and finally caught my flight (37 hours of travel time) to Argentina!!!

Mexico 9; Mexico City; Verdad?

I arrived in Mexico City late, the night before my flight. Correction: I arrived in Mexico City late, the night before my arrival date. You'd think after being experienced in traveling and basic common sense I wouldn't have mixed up the arrival and departure dates. The next week was spent calling and e-mailing back and forth between my travel agency and airline to find some way for me to get to Argentina; they weren't too fond of my idea of sitting in the captain's lap. In the end I bought a completely new ticket. Lesson learned. I hope.

I didn't want to waste a perfectly good week in an amazing country so I pampered myself. I brought my backpack (my home) to the laundromat in hopes of not smelling like India (curry, feces and sweat), got a haircut from a bald man that didn't understand why I was showing him a picture of what I wanted him to do (note to self: it's okay to walk away), painted my toenails to cover the dirt, watched movies and chatted with friends in my hostel. I was a princess.

This princess wasn't above pyramids, churches and museums (including the museum of popular art). I should first mention that I had contracted some sort of infection in my knee that made it painful to sleep or walk horizontally, let alone walk up hundreds of stairs. It was about the size of a large apple and formed an inch high puss pyramid inconveniently on my knee. Any sort of movement caused even more stress to the tender spot. The day I went to Teotihuacan, an archaeological site established around 100 BC, my lump was at its prime. Perhaps even more painful than the throbbing in my leg was the fact that I was unable to climb to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun or Pyramid of the Moon. I did, however, pep-talk and high- five several others into summiting, my duty was done.

I caved. I went to Walmart. They knew what they were doing when they put calamine lotion, non-perfumed lotion, vegetables, fruit and band aids all under one roof. Don't judge.

The city was nothing short of impressive. It gets ten points for all the taco, tortas, and quesadilla stands. It was actually a great city (for a city), a city that I didn't want to be in, but a great city nonetheless.

Mexico 8; Orizaba; No Way Jose

Three things that bring me to life are mountains, food, and good music; in that order. It didn't take much for SC to convince me to join him on his journey to Mt.Orizaba, the tallest mtn. in Mexico and the 3rd tallest in N. America (not to mention he has excellent taste and food ordering skills and the fact thet he listens to the Red Hot Chili Peppers every morning). Another thing about SC is he makes friends wherever he goes. This social butterfly makes a point of asking and remembering every waitress and bus drivers name; he genuinely likes their company and wants them to feel valued. We left every place with new friends and a lot of pictures. My sidekick wasn't half bad.

We spent a few days walking around, lazing about and going on important missions to find someone to take the layers of mud out of my clothes (aka a laundromat) and coco horchata. I didn't realize how much I operate on Japanese time until we were on Latin time. My patience had been tested AND tested but when we missed the bus going to the mountain (my last chance to go...I thought), I lost it. By lost it I mean I walked off and told him I'd meet him later. Take that! One thing about SC is it is nearly impossible to stay mad at him. All was well and good with team Ranaren by the time dinner rolled around (besides him being very confused).
The next day, we made yet another attempt to see this legacy of a mountain. Along the way, we realized it wasn't possible due to time constraints (I needed to go to Mexico City that day) and visibility limitations so we decided to make the best of our day and walk around the small town we were dropped off at before we headed back. As we were taking in the scenery, I started playing with a couple of kids blowing bubbles with tubes on the side of the road. One thing led to another and before we knew it we were sitting on their family's couch as they served us horchata, fruit and tamales. As we left the kids gave us each hand made art. One even tried to give me their egg with hair on it....oh the small treasures in life. In the end, even Everest couldn't compare with the love that family showed us.

Mexico 7; Oaxaca-Sierra Norte; Ranaren and Ranatoe

I arrived in Oaxaca, the city everyone and their madre had been raving about since I arrived in Mexico, late at night. A bed! A real bed free of bugs and old snoring men! Glorious!

In the morning I explored as much of the town (the typical Mexican beauty: churches, dancing, parks, cafes, etc.) as I could on foot and then returned to my hostel. I started talking to a "Southern Charm," a guy that stayed in my room the night before, on his way out. He was wearing a tattered straw hat and carrying a backpack that could have held 14 penguins, a ninja, and 2 kilos of oranges...he seemed like a winner. Thirty minutes later I was freshly showered, packed and on my way to Sierra Norte with him and his 2 amigos, Z Dawg (from Belgium) and E Tank (from California).

Southern Charm is originally from Ecuador but currently resides in Oklahoma; he carries a wink and a bit of that southern charm with him wherever he goes. He is confident, packed to the brim with adventure (perhaps that's why his straw hat is coming apart) and loves to inspire. Z dawg is one of the most positive people I've come across and always reminded us to appreciate the little things. E Tank is a disgruntled teacher who has deep sense of ethics (mostly rooted in the values of defensive martial arts). Our crew was quality.

The hike from Latuvi to Amatlan was a beautiful walk mostly along the river through trees and cactus. When we arrived at Amatlan, we found out that it wasn't Amatlan; we were in a village just before it. We had made ourselves comfy in the grass outside the church (i.e. passed out from exhaustion) after the 13 km hike so there was no debate about staying put. We were able to find a family to host us for the night and shared laughs over hot chocolate and tortillas. My favorite woman had to be the grandma who, every few minutes, would point to the bowl of salsa and say "saaaltsaah" and nod in agreement. I agreed. The old ladies giggled as they taught us how to say "big butt" and "small butt" in Zapotec (ranaren and ranatoe). I wonder what I will teach strangers when I'm their age. The next day we took our time walking back to Latuvi on the same trail, dipped our feet in the creek and then drove back to Oaxaca to eat tortas and sleep in beds with a Ninja Turtle and star sheets.

Mexico 6; Piedra Ancha; Playing By the Rules

There's more to caving than crawling through mud; there is bureaucratic mud to crawl through as well. In order to get permission to explore caves one has to first make their case to the commissrio, the head honcho of the town. In the past, the town has denied access to cavers that didn't respect the community and local laws in place so we were especially cautious in our interactions. After several meetings, a fee, a free optometry clinic and the promise of a calendar of local caves (no pressure haha), all was well. Success!

All in all, it was a great adventure and a treat to see my dad in his element. Not only to seeing his eyes light up in the cave (not just because I shined my headlamp on him) but he was a true leader. He didn't dictate, he listened and made decisions that took into consideration each person's strengths and desires. It was clear that everyone trusted his judgement and had a deep-found respect for him (I mean, they even tolerated his jokes ;) ). Instead of nagging me about every little thing he led by example and trusted me to figure out things in my own. I don't think I could have been prouder to call him my dad nor spent those 2 weeks doing anything more rewarding.

Mexico 5, Piedra Ancha; Lil' Buggers

I've never been a fan of mosquitos and ants but this trip brought my hate to a whole new level. Our humble housing consisted of a concrete floor, 4 walls, an obnoxiously squeaky door, a bucket flushing outhouse, a hose (aka shower) and bugs, lots and lots of bugs. The constant itching made me disassociate myself from my own skin; I wanted my skin off. My legs were covered with raw polka dots by the end of the 2 weeks and I even got the pleasure of contracting an apple sized infection on my knee (I'll talk more about that treat later). And if that wasn't enough, then came the snoring. 5 snoring men composed a symphony every night and I had VIP seating. Besides the bugs and the nostril music, the freeze dried food/malt-o-meal meals, pad and sleeping bag bed and hose shower weren't half bad.

At night, we'd all gather on the porch and eat our freeze dried supper while recounting old and new cave stories and promising leads. Cerveza was mandatory.

Mexico 4, Piedra Ancha; Wicked Good Caving

So much happened in the 2 week expedition I don't know how to do it justice. We entered around 25 caves, surveyed over 7 km and had the time of our lives. I was obviously the rookie of the group and it wasn't hard to believe the experienced cavers when they told me that this trip spoiled me rotten. Some cavers wait their entire lives to explore the amount of virgin borehole that I got to on my first real spelunking trip. I wasn't quite sure how I would react to being in a cave for as long as 12 hours at a time but the experiment had excellent results. I don't know if it is possible to convey the feeling of walking on land that most likely no one has ever walked on before in words. To discover something new in this day and age is truly remarkable. There is a common misconception that all caves are cold and consist of nothing but tight crawl spaces. This theory was debunked when I felt rivers of sweat run down my face mere minutes after moving through the spacious passage upon entering the first cave. I was sweaty and anything but petty. However, bats, bugs, mud, and some tight squeezes are right on the money. If you have any reservations about getting dirty, caving is not the activity for you. Some people vacation to Mexico to get a tan; I got a dark tan every single day, the problem was that it would always wash off in my hose and bucket shower (my number 1 priority).

The most notable cave (where we spend 4 days) is temporarily named "roadside" because it's on the side ...of....the ....road. Clever, I know. This spacious underground novelty was full of surprises. From the wide open "sand room", to the tiring climb up the "breakdown pile" and all the way to the "pretty room," this cave was quite the find. It was in this cave that my dad and I dabbled into cave photography. These were, by far, the most challenging photo shoots of my novice career. The harsh, lightless environment made it so I only saw a black screen when composing a shot. We used a combination of my dad's headlamp and handheld flashes fired during time exposed shots. Trial and error, trial and error. Although, they don't do the cave justice, they are a step up from what a point and shoot could do.

The other memorable cave was "Rio Cave." From the name, it comes as no surprise that a river flowed through nearly the entire cave. This was no pansy creek, it was a full on swim against the current...while surveying. We would swim to a station (hoping to find a ledge to sit on), shiver, swim to another station, shiver and then swim to another station. It reveled as my favorite cave because it was anything but easy. Our helmets, shoes and gear would weigh us down as we paddled with all our might. When we finished we couldn't have been more exhausted and satisfied.

We filled the rest of the days exploring caves like jet cave (it was described to us as sounding like a jet engine), wild goose chases of hiking in sticky mud through thick forests, scoping out other towns in the area, crawling through bat feces and snakes in Raphael's "enorme" cave, manatial cave, 2 more optometry clinics (one in Piedra Ancha and one in Tuxtepec), and a short hike to a cave with an ancient wall.

There was no way we would be able to find so many cave entrances in the limited time we had there so we trusted 3 locals to guide us to caves in the area to explore. Many caves ended up not being worth entering but you win some and you lose some. The guides were part of the team, they were in there getting dirty and cracking jokes like everyone else.

The people in the village couldn't have treated us better. I say village because there couldn't have been more than 400 residents (the closest thing to a restaurant or grocery store was a store in a woman's front yard that sold chips, pop and beer). Several families hosted us for dinner and one woman decided to be an entrepreneur and have delicious food ready for us by the time we came home a couple of times. I made a habit of embarrassing myself with my lack of Spanish and basketball skills with the neighborhood kids every night. Beyond that the local teacher, who spoke minimal English, would awkwardly make passes at me any chance he got. On Dia De Amor, the children gathered in my front yard to invite me to their school Valentine's party. Unfortunately, I had to decline because I had plans to hike to a cave, but it wasn't easy.