CAVING IN SAGADA, PHILIPPINES IN THE MOUNTAIN PROVINCE.
This was an amazing experience and something that scared me when crawling into the little whole to head underground. This was something that was on my “Life Experience to do list” for life experiences as well, so when the opportunity presented itself I knew I had to do it.
Walking down the hill to where we would be crawling into a little whole into the earth led me to having my heart beating quicker than normal and I honestly felt a little nervous. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be claustrophobic or whether I would be able to handle it.
You see, when I was a freshman in college I did an indoor spelunking cave at a rock climbing place I went with a few friends… and didn’t have the greatest experience.
We crawled into those caves and it was pitch black inside them.
One second you are crawling forward and then all of a sudden you can’t go left, right or straight and you know that you’re not supposed to go backwards… and then you realize you have to crawl UPWARDS and over to the right side. That scared the crap out of me because movements like that happened more than I would have liked them to..
anyways, my mind immediately took me back to that day and had my heart beating pretty quickly…
So instead of freaking out completely, I told my friends I was a little nervous so they wouldn’t be shocked at me doing some of my breathing techniques I learned in yoga to calm myself down.
After about 30 seconds of this breathing I ended up feeling a lot better about the whole concept of climbing underground for the next few hours.
and then we crawled into the cave to something that is almost impossible to put into words.
You’d squeeze through these huge rock structures thinking that you were going to be crawling through these rock formations for the next 5-10 minutes and then about 5 seconds later you were in a room that seemed like there was no ceiling. Hundreds of feet above you there were bats flying around in the cave and there was a cold chill in the air.
It literally felt like a completely different world.
The crazy thing about it was that the little torch that our guide had with us lit the way the whole trip.
Yes, there were other guides in the cave with us, but from time to time our guide would get ahead of us and we would be sitting in a small little corner in pure darkness. No sign of light anywhere until you turned your flashlight on or the guide propped his light up to where the hole was to crawl through.
It was truly an amazing experience and I highly recommend it to everyone who has the opportunity.
Inside the cave I met some awesome friends who I still talk to and will continue to talk to. It’s an adventure that really bonds people together. Addressing fear head on with complete strangers can be somewhat comforting.
I also met a family who was in there and the father was 50 years old and crawling through all of these caves to show his daughters that “the old man still had it!”according to him.
If you are ever presented with the opportunity I highly recommend you take advantage of it, address your fear head on and go caving.
It truly is an amazing experience and if you’re scared of it, it’s just another reason to do it!