Around Tena: Cavernas de Jumandy

Tena, which I wrote about in my last post, is a small city whose primary attraction is river rafting. Seriously, every time you turn around you run into another rafting company. If rafting isn't your thing, however, the list of other activity options is pretty short. We took it upon ourselves to investigate a couple of the other options for our fellow non-rafting-types.

Cavernas de Jumandy

On our first day, we went on an excursion to the Cavernas de Jumandy (not to be confused with Robin Williams in "jungle" garb), which turned out to be a bit more adventure than we had bargained on. But let's start from the beginning.

We were getting a late start so we decided to investigate taxi possibilities before trying our hand at the local bus system. We were glad we did because it only ended up being $6 for a 20 minute ride outside of Tena; past Archidona, a small town to the north; and through a jungle thundershower to arrive at an elaborate swimming complex at the mouth of the caves. We had to enter the complex to get to the caves ($2 entrance fee), before dropping off our clothes at the locker area--don't get too excited, we had worn our swimsuits underneath-- and then go rent rubber boot for trekking through the caves ($1).  Then we approached the entrance to the caves (a separate $2 fee to enter) and the fun really started. A young woman from the local indigenous community dressed in athletic wear guided us and a group of Ecuadorian tourists down the slippery steps and into the mouth of the cave. There she explained to us in rapid Spanish to follow her closely and not wander off the path lest we find ourselves in deep and unforgiving cave water. She then gave us each a headlamp and tromped off into the dark of the cave. We exchanged startled looks, took a deep breath, and went off after her. 

We walked and scrambled for about 5 minutes on surprisingly unslippery rocks before we got to our first challenge. The rocks dropped away and a deep pool loomed in the darkness. The guide instructed us to pull ourselves across to the other side on a thick rubber rope with our legs dangling in the water. Thankfully, I felt pretty adept at doing this due to my great affinity for all things swimming-related. It was at this point, however, that I decided to never bring guests with me to the caves. After traversing the pool, we had to clamber up steep, wet rocks in the dark and try to keep up with the Ecuadorian contingent of our group, all in all quite a feat. We continued like this for a while, some stretches requiring more clambering than others, and peered at the stalactites and stalagmites growing from the floor and ceiling. It was really quite remarkable, because we were able to touch some of them and we often had to duck to avoid smacking our heads on them. We felt a bit bad about trampling all over the geological formations, but we were reassured when the guide said that there were great expanses of the caves closed off to the public. One particularly striking stalagmites coming up from the floor (yes, I had to look up which was which) was shaped rather -- ehem -- phallically and according to the guide it used to be used by shamans to perform rituals meant to improve fertility and get rid of bad energy. We were instructed to pat it for good luck on our way by.

How I figured out whether it was a -gite or a -mite. From wikipedia.

The guide also gave us a mini history lesson on Jumandy, the indigenous leader who led an uprising against the Spaniards from the caves, and was subsequently killed. She told us, with a touch of bitterness that the caves are owned and operated by the local indigenous people but that the swimming complex is now owned by the province, and that is why the charge entrance separately. I won't give away all the secrets of the cave, but suffice it to say, it was a nutso adventure of the top order. I think the best and most terrifying part of the experience is that you really would never be allowed to do it in the U.S.