Tabasco, Mexico

Trip Protagonists - © 2009 Tone Garot

The weather was bitterly cold.  It was cold all the way to Austin, and the forecast did not improve.

The morning started cold.  I couldn't believe how cold.

I drove over to Vickie's place where Mike was already waiting.  We assembled and loaded gear into Vickie's Toyota pickup truck.  Our plan was to go through the border crossing at Matamoros, but at the aduana (customs) Vickie learned that we had to go to Reynosa to cancel her expired vehicle permit.  Apparently, Reynosa had computer capabilities that Matamoros did not.

At the Reynosa aduana, the paperwork was handled and were on our way.  Unfortunately, we had to then drive through the city of Reynosa to continue, and we were flagged down by a squirrelly traffic guy who told us that we missed stopping at a school crossing.  There was no sign, no other vehicles stopped.  In short, he was looking for a bribe.  This scenario isn't a speculation on my part.  He said it would be more expensive if he had to write out a ticket.  After some conversation with Vickie, he said, “Is it too much?”  She replied back with an emphatic affirmative.  So he lowered it from 300 pesos to 200 pesos.  He received this money low and quickly pocketed it.  This move was textbook extortion.  We felt quite certain that we were targeted because of the Texas license plate.  Both Vickie and I are reasonably sure that we did nothing wrong.  Considering that we didn't even want to go through Reynosa in the first place (issues with the vehicle permit), we were a little miffed about this violation.

Later in the trip (on a different day), we drove by two uniformed men.  One half-heartedly tried to flag us down with the same pointing gesture as the squirrelly guy in Reynosa.  There was no one around, no other traffic . . . just us.  We kept driving.  In a third town, an officer actually chased us on his motorcycle.  He said that we went through a crosswalk.  I remember the crosswalk distinctly, and I had just moments earlier mentioned that we should go really slowly here because of the confusing nature of the road.  I didn't understand all of the Spanish between him and Vickie, but his claim was that there was a man with a flag there— entirely untrue!  We think he only gave us a warning because he knew we would contest it.

Lesson: be very careful driving in Mexican towns.  If anyone flags you down—and you did nothing wrong—you might consider not stopping and letting them come to you.  It's probably better to accept a ticket rather than pay them off.  Insist upon their name and badge number, and if you feel comfortable, take their photo.  Of course, if you don't want the hassle, just pay them.  You can always offer them less.  In all of my travels to Mexico, this adventure was the first (second and third) time I have run across this kind of corruption.  Mexico is big. Don't miss a trip to Mexico just because of a little extortion.

Continuing with our story . . . Vickie stopped at a Pemex to get air in the tires, as one of them looked rather low.  Two vehicles—driven by ambitious Mexican women—came from opposing directions and nearly ran Vickie down in their attempt to get to the open gasoline pump.  Neither woman was backing down.

As frequently happens in traffic-filled border towns, some guy on the street selling wares came up to our vehicle at a stoplight and started up a conversation through the window.  His enthusiasm suggested that, again, we were targeted because of our Texas plates.  He tried to be extremely friendly, put forward his fist such that I might knock knuckles, but I had an allergic reaction on my hand from the previous week (it looked bad, but it was no big deal). I said, “Hey, look at this [contagious disease on my hand].”  My words got him to move along, and Vickie laughed and laughed at my ploy.

Note to self and readers, too: avoid Reynosa.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful and devoted to driving.  We at dinner at Taqueria El Paisa in San Fernando. Then, we crashed at the San Fernando Inn.

We started off the day with a fine breakfast in Aldama.  As we were driving along, we happened upon a building that looked interesting.  Not in any extreme hurry to get to Villahermosa, we decided to stop and check it out.  It was an old water treatment plant that was being refurbished into a fish hatchery and ecological tourist area.  People came out to talk to us and give us a brief tour.

Continuing our long drive, we eventually made it to the Gulf Coast.  We stopped for lunch at Restaurant Marysol  for seafood.  Vickie pointed out that any restaurant that has drawings of the food on the building is probably going to be good.  Apparently this venue was a touristy spot because a young man asked us for money, then walked around the vehicles in the lot.  We kept an eye on him.

Dinner was camaron (shrimp) soup for me.  Vickie ordered chicken soup, but didn't eat any.  In La Tinaja, we stayed at a No-Tell Motel.

After quite a bit of driving, we finally arrived in Villahermosa around 1:00p.m.  Our room was booked in advance by Laura at the Howard Johnson Hotel.  This hotel was fairly swank, with valet service (for the parking was not on site), and it was located in the historic heart of downtown Villahermosa.  Since Laura was still working upon her presentation, Mike, Vickie, and I explored a bit.  We stopped at a coffee shop, and soon after we ordered, it started to pour.  It wasn't really the rainy season, but try telling the clouds as much.  After waiting awhile, we decided to take our chances walking back to the hotel under canopies and building ledges.

Later, Vickie and Laura went to the opening presentation of Mexico's National Congress of Speleology.  I believe the opening presentation was given by Peter Lord, whom I later met.  Mike and I opted to skip the Congress since it would be in Spanish. Instead, we walked around Villahermosa taking photos of the cathedral, statues, architecture, and other such things.  Dinner was at a place where a mass of meat rotated on a vertical spindle.  Delicious!

We left Villahermosa in the morning. Vickie was okay to move on without seeing other presentations of the Congress.  Laura stayed behind to give two presentations.  Her plan was to meet up with us later, and she gave us some of her gear to take with us.

Along the way, we stopped at Cueva de Coconá—a show cave.  Mike and I went in while Vickie decided to remain at the vehicle.  The cave was interesting enough for 25 pesos (about $1.75) per person.

We made it to the town of Tapijulapa, which was a bit touristy, having buildings of similar design and color and nicely cobbled streets.  The town square was well kept: clean with pruned bushes.  There was a Tyrolean line across the river, which we vowed to try; however, we never did get around to it.  We decided to stay at a nicer hotel that Vickie knew from a previous trip.  The price per day was 468 pesos, which split three ways equated to about $11 per person, per night.  Although the room was small, the hotel hosted many attractive amenities.  486 pesos entitled us to a hot shower, air conditioning, and Sky TV.  Sky TV is digital satellite television.  You see the dishes everywhere in Mexico these days, even in small towns off the beaten path.  Satellite TV meant that we found movies in English, or, at a minimum, movies with English subtitles.  On our first night we happened upon "The Scorpion King" starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.  Another night, we happened upon the "Mummy 2," also with Dwayne Johnson.  Later in the trip while surveying, I was heard to say "I'm really hoping for another Rock movie tonight."  "The Rock" became a common theme, and we even named a room or passage in his honor.  Look on the included maps to see if you can find it.

There was an upper area to the hotel in which we did some work on laptops.  Also, there was a porch with an amazing view where we sometimes cooked our dinners.  Since the weather was clement most of the days we were in Tabasco, the porch got much use.  The last amenity of the hotel worth mention was locked parking.  Although we didn't leave much gear in the truck (we kept the hammer drill in the bathroom!), this luxury added peace of mind.

 

One of the oddities of the hotel—perhaps a negative feature even—was this: most days when we returned from cave survey, the door was locked, and no one was there.  We would sit outside the entrance waiting, and generally the woman would come down from the upper part of town to let us in.  Our speculation was that someone would pass us along this common route then tell the woman that we were waiting.  One day a boy intent on making a few pesos sat near us while we waited.  He had that sort of español that was more mumble than information, and I couldn't understand a word he said.  Being resourceful, he made gestures indicating sleep. I nodded, and he went to the upper part of the town.  He soon returned with the hotel woman, and I gave him 2 pesos—he earned it.

Mike's nickname was soon established, which I won't mention here.  If you want to know, ask him.  Laura also got a nickname, but the same rules apply.

Mike and I split a whole chicken that evening.  It was 60 pesos (about $4.25), including side dishes.  Being a tourist town, there was much disparity in pricing.  Some tiendas (convenience stores) charged you tourist prices while others gave you good value.  One example in particular comes to mind where I bought two bananas and a good sized mango—price 13 pesos.  Two doors down, I bought an entire bunch of bananas, two mandarins, and several small mangoes for the same price.  

 

Speaking of fruit, the bananas and mangoes down south taste amazing!  Bananas in southern Mexico are nothing like the mealy, large, pasty bananas I get in Tucson.  Mexico also has some interesting fruits—like mandarins that are sort of like oranges, but easier to peel and more tasty.  There are also guanábanas, which make a sweet, tasty drink.  I don't buy apples in Mexico because, well, I don't particularly like apples; but also because they often import them from the USA.  My philosophy is that if I can buy it at home, then there's no reason to add it to my experience.

Around 4:30a.m., I heard a strange squeaking sound.  We later found that right below us was a machine that made tortillas.  It was more interesting than detrimental; that is, it never woke me up.  Later that morning, a local market formed in the street below us.

We headed to the small town of Oxolotán to meet with Eladio and Joel, two archaeologists with whom we were to spend some time in caves.  They didn't speak much English, and I didn't speak much Spanish, but our goals mostly overlapped; in short, we had fun.  Waiting for our guide, Mike, Vickie, and I walked around the town a bit.  The name "Oxolotán" comes from the native tribes prior to the Spanish language.  You see all kinds of interestingly named towns in southern Mexico.  I was told that the pronunciation of the 'x' in this word is like 'sh', so it's oh-sho-la-tan.

 

Today was our first real day of caving!

Our plan was to meet Peter Lord who would show us some cave leads he knew around Cueva de Villa Luz (Cave of the house of light).  Laura dropped by our hotel in the morning, then we met the Villa Luz expedition (a trip set up for persons attending the Congress) who were eating breakfast.  There were perhaps 12 to 15 of them.  Vickie, Mike, and I decided not to join them for breakfast;  rather, we started the hike to the cave where we would meet them.

Once in the park, we met a park official who had us wait until Laura showed up with the permit.  This didn't take too long, and soon the group arrived, got ready, and went into Cueva de Villa Luz.  Once they were underway, Peter showed Vickie, Mike, and me some cave leads.  Mike went into one such lead and was stung multiple times by fire ants.  He went into another lead that actually dropped down nicely, and because of the sulfur smell, we postulated that this lead might connect somehow to the main cave.


After looking at cave leads, Mike and I went into the main cave to check out the interesting formations known as snottites.  Vickie decided to stay behind.  We met some of the returning cavers, including Laura who said she would exit the cave then return shortly to show us around.  Laura had a gas meter that kept beeping, but indicated that we were okay as far as breathing was concerned.  Although Laura had some difficulties due to having broken her glasses, she gave us a first-rate tour of the cave showing us snottites, fishing spiders, selenite crystals, and half a dozen dead bats.

Cueva de Villa Luz requires walking through water, which meant that our socks and boots were soaked.  Mike, interestingly enough, had his cell phone charger in his leg pocket.  Why?  Well, that's something you should make a point to ask him.  After about a week, his charger dried out and seemed to work again.

Nothing dries quickly in southern Mexico because of the high humidity. I learned this truth on a previous trip to Oaxaca, a nearby state.  Therefore, the best bet for clothing was synthetic over cotton.  I had spent some time sifting through clothes at a Tucson Goodwill to find apparel suitable to this peculiar and particular requirement.  Note that although synthetics dry more quickly, they still take some time to dry, and you can find yourself wearing clothes with a musty smell.  Since we were staying in a rather comfortable hotel, I tried to use the air conditioner to effect a quicker drying time.  One night the air conditioner actually started leaking water down on my head!  My caving clothes smelled quite musty after the trip. When I returned home to Tucson, I needed to double wash my caving clothes.

After Cueva de Villa Luz, Laura, Vickie, Mike, and I surveyed Cueva de Las Albercas (Cave of the ponds).  This was of interest in Laura's research project.  There were many bottles at the entrance including broken glass.  There was one tight squeeze inside the cave that we dug a bit to get through to a largish room below.

Fun happens where you find it.  At a bridge over a white sulfur-enriched water, we had a lovely game of Pooh Sticks.  Don't know what Pooh Sticks is?  You had better re-read A.A. Milne.

We hiked up to a conglomerate rock area to a cave called Cueva Cerro San Antonio that needed survey.  The hike to the cave was through lush jungle terrain.  The weather was a bit ominous, but the sporadic rain didn't soak us too much.  The group consisted of Joel, Carlos (the guide), me, Vickie, Mike, and Laura.  The survey required only some 11 points.  The entrance spilled into a largish room, then continued northeast.  There was a second parallel passage back.  There were some nice formations in these tighter passages.  When we reached as far as we could go, we tried to dig our way further.  Laura was almost able to get through to what appeared to be another room, but we left that lead for another day.


On the way back to the truck, we stopped at an amazing cliff side that was all conglomerate rock: breakdown waiting to happen.  We poked around in some holes nearby.  I found one that twisted and turned some 5 or 6 meters, but it was only breakdown . . . not solutional.

That night we cooked out on the balcony at the hotel.  Laura and I cooked up macaroni then mixed tomato sauce and salsa into it.  It was pretty good, although Laura got a bunch of noodles without sauce.  Although there was plenty, she refused to toss it and take a fresh batch!  Vickie made beans and onions on tostadas.  Quite delicious.  Tostadas are one of my staples while in Mexico

After dinner, Joel dropped by to exchange digital images.  Mike and I arranged the picture transfer to laptops using my SanDisk Sansa Fuze (w/ Mike's 8G micro SD chip).  The transfer worked really well.

Laura awoke early to pack her gear and get a start on her trek back home.  Such is the life of the Ph.D. student.  We dropped her off at a Pemex laden with all her equipment.

Joel joined our entourage, and we met the comisario of the area, Fidensio.  We found him on his bicycle in the fields.  The first cave we were shown, Cueva de Don Tilo, took only a few survey shots.  Joel found interest in some pottery shards.  The cave also had a few vampire bats and an abundance of mosquitoes; I was actually bitten three times, although I don't recall getting the bites.  Vickie mentioned that she was bitten quite a bit.

Heading back, Fidensio showed us another cave entrance from which he said fish exited.  That entrance was too wet to check out that day.  Fidensio was extremely gracious.  He pointed out many interesting fruits and trees.  He also pointed up to black forms in a tree, which turned out to be howler monkeys!  We later heard their eerie cries.  Sometimes you forget that you are in another world until you hear something so strange, singularly unique, so different to what you are accustomed.


The comisario then brought us to another cave, Cueva de José Hernández, named after the land owner I believe.  This cave was amazing!  First, we saw some cool formations and a room with vampire bats.  Then Mike and I scouted one section that seemed to be a dry, sandy riverbed for maybe 150m.  This particular day (for we returned other days), the water level was high enough to see a little catfish and snails.  There were also many fish heads three to four inches in size.  In my mind, I was calling this cave Cueva de Los Pescados Muertos; and I think Mike was calling it Jose Cueva, a variant on the real name and the famous tequila brand.

Survey was really sloppy muddy survey.

We headed to Tacotalpa, which is a larger city, because Vickie and Mike were running out of cash.  After an infusion of pesos from an ATM, Vickie led us to a restaurant she knew that was off the town square.  The food was delicious, and we realized that horchata  (a sweet rice based drink with cinnamon and vanilla) can be bought in a pitcher.  Mmm!

Peter Lord met us in the morning at an agreed upon place, the same Pemex where we dropped Laura.  After Vickie and Peter got permission, we headed on a hike along a creek. 

As a side note, it is supremely important to obtain permission to be on someone's property.  This practice is not only good form, but also it may keep you out of jail.

We checked out some sinks where we felt the water from the creek was going downward, but there was too much water to delve deeper.  We continued onward, checked a few other leads, then came upon Cueva de Don Cosmè that Peter had known about before . . . a big cave.  There were interesting formations, fossils, insects, bats, crawly areas, etc. 

There was an upper section with some interesting formations that Peter and I scouted.  Then Vickie, Mike, and I did some survey while Peter scouted another lead in a crawly area that very much reminded Mike and me of Airmans Cave in Austin, TX.  We eventually caught up with Peter to survey to that crawly section.  Being able to get into crawls that Peter and I could not, Mike scouted further and found an alternate way out of the cave.  Through trip!

On the way back to the truck, we saw a rather largish obvious cave entrance that we hadn’t seen on the way to Cueva de Don Cosmè.  Apparently, we were all looking at the vines to the left instead of the hill face on the right. Therefore,  Peter and I—soon followed by Mike—popped inside to take a look.  It definitely needed survey (so much survey, so little time), and it had the unique feature of a "bat catcher" snake.  Fantastic!

I don't know why the human bones were in piles like this one pictured.  I suspect that this was a ceremonial burial ground for the native tribes of Mexico before the Spanish invasion.  I have seen piles of bones with a pot on top in Oaxaca, a Mexican state further south; but those bones were from a single human under the pot.  Perhaps the larger piles suggest the bones were collected and deposited after-the-fact.

Vickie, Mike, and I finished up survey rather quickly, but Joel needed much more time to photograph and categorize the piles of bones.  There were also a few pottery shards.  Since the three of us cavers were done, we left Joel and the guides to finish up their detail work.  That was our mistake.

Heading down the mountain and back toward the town, we picked up a shadow.  At first I thought that he simply wished to pass us, but when we moved out of his way and beckoned him to pass, he said no, but he continued to follow us.  I guess his curiosity was strong.  Eventually we reached the town again where we left our shadow behind.
 
As mentioned before, I find it strange, and not necessarily comfortable, to be in a town that sees few outsiders.  The people were too curious about us and stared at us as we walked through the town -- due, in part, to Vickie's blond hair.  We stopped at a little store to get a cold drink then sat outside while children came near to look at us.  After a while, we went to sit near the truck to wait for Joel and the guides to finish their work.  As luck would have it, we didn't have the keys to the vehicle; so we sat outside the truck while more children gathered around.

As time progressed, a group of adults also gathered around us, and a few of the town's leaders began to ask questions.  There seemed to be two leaders who were doing the talking, sometimes at the same time.  Vickie, who knew the most Spanish, handled the conversation.  Between phrases, she said "I think we're in trouble."  I wasn't too worried because the conversation seemed to be more discussion than argument.  A young man brought us a pitcher of something made from ground corn called pozol with three glasses.  After further discussion, Vickie told us that we were going to give a little presentation.  She started to empty her cave pack while explaining what each of the items were: kneepads, helmet, compass, clinometer, etc.  When she was done, Mike and I followed suit.  The townspeople were, I feel, more interested than angry.

Fish Cave survey, day 2.  I don't remember a lot about this day.

On this Sunday, we were supposed to join Joel and Eladio to investigate another cave lead.  We had been getting up early several days in a row to meet guides to take us to caves.  The mood of our group (Mike, Vickie, and me) was such that we just . . . well . . . didn't want to.  I lobbied for waking up late, having breakfast at a restaurant, then a leisurely day of survey at Cueva de José Hernández (AKA Jose Cueva).  Vickie and Mike were okay with this idea.

We had breakfast at a restaurant near the town square.  We all got the same thing, a sort of breakfast pizza made from a huge tostada covered with beans, vegetables, tomatoes, etc.  It was pretty good, albeit pricey.

We had a good day of survey finishing up the cave.  There was a lot of sand and a lot of fish heads.  The water level was much lower.  Mike took some professional photos in the fish passage.

Returning to the hotel, and after dinner, we relaxed by watching the tail end of Gladiator followed by the Chronicles of Riddick.  Sometimes the best way to relax is not to think, and any Vin Diesel movie will grant you this boon.

Since we had a higher goal than just "driving home," we took an alternate route from the one we took down.  The route meant some deviation from paved roads.  This yielded a bumpy ride, but we went through some visually stimulating country.  Along the way to Aquismon, we happened upon a vehicle ferry to cross the river.  A ferry is just the sort of random thing you find in Mexico that makes it fun to be there.  This particular one was powered by an old tractor engine.  I hadn't been on a ferry in years, I think 1998 on a trip to Brazil; but that is another story.  For a cost of 10 pesos and 10 minutes of our time, we floated the truck and ourselves to the other side of the river.

Eventually we arrived at the largest cave shaft in the world.  It is the second deepest pit in Mexico and the 11th deepest in the world.  We parked the vehicle and agreed to have two young boys watch it for 10 pesos each.  The price of admission was 10 pesos, and we "hired" a guide who walked with us the 15 minutes to the entrance.  Once there, we met another man who donned a harness, attached it to a nearby rock with webbing, and bid us to look over the edge after tying a rope around our respective waists.  Thus adorning myself with a rope, I looked down the shaft and snapped some pictures.  So this was the famous pit.  It would be more fun to rappel than to simply look over the edge, but now I can say that I have been there.

Mike getting ready to photograph Sótano de las Golondrinas - © 2009 Tone Garot

Conclusion

Two weeks seems about the right amount of time for a caving trip to Mexico. Any longer and the trappings of work, money, and relationships can no longer be ignored.  It becomes time to go home to handle all of the post trip details, like labeling images, handling GPS points, writing trip reports, drafting maps, and other data related activities.  I'd say that it takes me a good three to five days to feel "caught up" from a trip, and maybe a month before I have finished all post-trip tasks.  The days after a trip bring a time of contemplation—travel does indeed broaden the mind, but it takes some time for this broadening to sink in.

All in all, it was a good time.  I saw some great caves, hung out with great people, had a lot of laughs, and got Vickie to laugh hysterically.  What more could you want from a trip?