Saturday, four of us BCA students went with Rob to an area about 30 minutes north of Xalapa called Volcancillo, which has made it onto my proverbial list of top ten coolest places I’ve been. A volcano erupted there once, and the magma created a bunch of caves and tunnels in the mountainside. It was really dry, making the gravel and volcanic rock prone to mini-avalanches, making my body prone to more scrapes and bruises than I’ve had at one time since I was seven. It was totally worth it, though.

Although we’d been warned to bring flashlights, Courtney was the only one who had done so. Rob brought candles, taller versions of what are used in Christmas Eve services. These are what guided us through the tunnels. Downsides to using candles while crawling through a mountain: 1) These little guys did not provide nearly enough light for me. I really like to see where I’m about to put my feet, especially when I’m descending a rocky tunnel. 2) It sometimes got windy down there, making it hard to keep a candle lit. 3) Almost the whole time we were tunneling I wanted both of my hands free. Not only for balance, but also because often this was underground rock-climbing. 4) The wax dripped. I love wax, but not so much on my camera or on my fingers while I’m concentrating on not twisting an ankle. Upside: It was SO COOL. Non-artificial lighting = such a good idea in the mountains.

We scooted through four tunnels within a few hours, with water dripping on us from the ceiling occasionally. Also on the ceiling were BATS! One of the tunnels was so narrow that I was afraid my hips were stuck, my feet pointing down in the direction I was supposed to be leading the group. I did some movement akin to an upside-down worm to get through. Between tunnels we hiked up a ways to a huge crater. I had fallen at the very end of the previous tunnel, which messed up my knee pretty good and made climbing the rest of the area more shaky. Besides the volcanic rock and visible dust in the air, it reminded me a bit of Colorado.