It’s 7 a.m. at Rancho El Zapote. The air is full of early morning sounds. Loudest of all are the roosters, just meters from my tent, who have been trying to wake me up since 4 a.m.
Then come the chickens, a very large pig, and dozens of loudly mooing cows, one of which wears a clanking bell, indicating she’s the leader of the herd. Suddenly, I hear the distant sputter of a car engine refusing to start, accompanied by the incomprehensible shouts of men who, I’m sure, are gathered around an uncooperative truck. Finally: varoom, varoom, va-ROOOOOM! The deafening attempts to start the engine seem to go on forever, so I decide it’s time to crawl out of my sleeping bag and into my caving pants.
Today, we’re visiting La Cueva de los Monos (Cave of the Figurines), a cave that can only be reached after a long, hard climb up a steep mountainside above the little town of Toxin, 37 kilometers northwest of Colima City. The cave got its name, I understand, because locals claim to have found artifacts inside.
Our group clearly believes a good breakfast is essential for caving, so it’s not until 10:20 a.m. that we finally set out on a north-trending trail. At first, the path seems quite friendly, which surprises me after hearing all the stories about previous trips to the cave. “That climb was brutal,” says Mario Guerrero, leader of this expedition and the last one, “because it was the hottest week of May, the hottest month of the year, and we didn’t bring nearly enough water.”
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