Chiquiliche is one of those very few caves in Jalisco which are easy to reach by ordinary car and unlikely to give visitors a case of histoplasmosis (which is caused by breathing in the spores of a fungus growing on bat guano). Getting into this cave does require a bit of derring-do but the reward is a chance to admire beautiful flowstone, explore winding passages leading off into total darkness and gaze up at the cave’s dramatic skylight entrance, 30 meters above your head.
According to Juan Blake in an old edition of the bilingual caving bulletin Subterráneo, members of Grupo Espeleolólico Zotz (Zotz Caving Club) first entered the cave on March 16, 1990 following the directions given by a hitchhiker they had picked up along the road to Chiquilistlán, which is located 65 kilometers southwest of Guadalajara. “Lucky us,” says Blake. “We walked 500 meters and came right to the cave entrance, where we sat down to eat our sandwiches, delighted to have avoided (for once) hours of searching among thorns, mala mujer (a skin-irritating plant) and rattlesnakes.”
Murphy’s Law, however, was operating in full force that day in 1990 and after their meal, the explorers discovered they had been sitting in front of a mini-cave only six meters long, necessitating the full-scale bush combing they thought they had avoided.
Today, with the help of a GPS you can walk from your car to the big cave entrance in a few minutes. The first thing you see is a giant slot-shaped channel 33 meters long and about 25 meters deep, which, of course, would suggest that the only way you could possibly get to the bottom would be by rappelling over the edge. However, at one end of the Slot, there’s a place where you can climb down four meters, with the help of a rope or cable ladder, to the top of a natural ramp which you can easily walk down.
On our most recent visit to la Cueva Chiquiliche, we enjoyed seeing the excitement in the eyes of several small children as they discovered the cave’s secrets. Most delightful of all were the cries of joy and giggles of four-year-old Rosana Boudey as she was lowered over the side of the four-meter drop, “like a piñata.”
What kind of equipment do you need for visiting a wild cave? At the very least, you will want to use a helmet (the kind used for cycling or construction will do) and carry three lights. Two of those lights are just for back up and many a caver has thanked his or her lucky stars for that third emergency light! It’s also wise to bring along water and an extra jacket when caving and, of course, if the cave is vertically challenging in any way, a lot more equipment – not to mention training – will be required.
When moving around inside a wild cave, as opposed to a Show Cave with a walkway and railings, you must be extremely careful to avoid breaking something, for example a delicate formation like a stalactite or helictite (which may have a corkscrew or other gravity-defying shape). Few people realize just how fragile is that dark world beneath the surface. To protect it, cavers follow three basic laws of conservation:
- Leave nothing but footprints
- Take nothing but pictures.
- Kill nothing but time.
Below you’ll find directions to the mini-caves mentioned above. To visit Chiquiliche Cave itself, you should go in the company of experienced cavers.
How to get there
Head south out of Guadalajara towards Colima. After 28 kilometers, be sure you get onto Highway 80, signposted Barra de Navidad, which will take you through the towns of Villa Corona and Cocula. Thirty kilometers past Cocula, look for a sign saying Ayotitlán. Turn left here and drive southwest on a well paved road to Chiquilistlán. Just after the plaza, turn left onto Reforma Street and head north for two kilometers. Turn right through a hopefully unlocked gate into a field and drive (or walk) northeast 265 meters. You’ll find entrances to several mini-caves at N20 06.319 W103 51.638. Driving time from Guadalajara’s Periferico: about two hours.