Spelunking in Bayawan, Negros Oriental (2007)

[Andrea Lizares Si (HS'73,AB '78)]

In 2000,my husband and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary spelunking with 6 of our 7 children. We did not expect much from that cave- beautiful mineral formations maybe, but not danger, not challenge, not discomfort, not primal fear. Our youngest, an 8 year old boy, was with us. An older brother did not go because he thought that after a long drive, there would be nothing but a look-see and good-bye cave. Contrary to expectations, what began as fun could have turned into a nightmare. As the 20 of us went deeper into the earth, after four hours, lungs lacked for oxygen, the darkness became heavy and claustrophobic, flashlights ran out of batteries, a friend became almost catatonic, my eldest daughter just wanted to die. Desperate for the sun and the ocean of air outside, when our guides pointed to a low water channel that would get us out in 45 minutes, we scrambled like rats for the entrance. A flash flood at that time could have meant the end of us. It was as we crawled through the tunnel that I understood how escaping prisoners, people fleeing for their lives, can forget their fears and bear with anything.

Leonito Lopue, our spelunking mastermind for that first cave, the one who had the worst time there, promised us that we would enjoy this cave in Bayawan. The difficult spaces that he described did not quite sound like fun but this was his second time inside and we (myself, husband Manuel, daughters Josephine and Michelle) were not about to admit that he could do something that we couldn't do. Besides, the cave promised to be beautiful, the biggest treat, a waterfall said to be guarded by encantos(spirits)who'd carved their images in stone.

Bayawan is a 4 hour drive from our home in Bacolod. Our reward for the long, often bumpy ride, was a trek that made me wonder if I am still up to climbing our island's highest mountain next month. But at the end of the trek, a most beautiful waterfall greeted our eyes.

Going down was difficult so we tried a different route for the return trip. That way turned out to be almost upright but no one was about to turn around and go the longer way up.

Evening, we had dinner with the Bayawan tourism officers and the four guides who were to take us into the cave next day. The picture shows some of the cast of characters for the cave story: Joanne and Maryl (sisters) Kim, Diotay, Manuel, myself, Josephine, the tourism officers. Not in the picture are our guides: James, Pindol, Hazel, and Wacky.

Next day, we were finished with breakfast and ready for spelunking before 8:00 a.m. A 30 minute drive from our hotel followed by something like a 30 minute trek, some of this through a long and steep path and the mouth of the cave was before us. The photographer ordered a picture for posterity, also warned us that if we had anything dirty to do, this was our last chance for doing that. After all the stories Diotay had told us about the cave, I did not turn my back on the world without first taking a good look at the cloudless blue sky, thanking God that rain was not likely, praying for our safety, and wondering if this could be the last time I'd see the sun.

The initiation was an opening with an arch about 18 inches at its highest and about 2 meters wide. Through this hole, with the help of the headlights of those inside, we could see that the airspace/headroom between the surface of the water and the ceiling of the cave was just about enough for the spelunker to keep his/her mouth up to the top of the head out of the water. Maryl's picture below shows just what I mean. Sometimes, there wasn't even space for keeping the nose above water. These times, we had to turn our heads sideways.

Invariably, in our family group, Michelle was always the first to go through difficult spaces. Josephine admits that she is a coward. Manuel of course was the sweeper and followed me. I reserved the right to go last. I needed my daughters to test the waters for me, for them to tell me, "you can do this, Mom." I had never been in space where my breathing could be compromised; I was not sure how I'd react. Diotay had a snorkel and a swimming mask. Were we putting our lives at risk by going in without these? I am not claustrophobic but when we were imagining the various ways of making this passage - doing a dog crawl with our noses barely out of the water, or a semi-float on our back with our faces to the ceiling - the 2nd option made me think of lying in a coffin with the cover just a few inches from my face. How can anyone breathe in such a situation? I was holding a hardhat Diotay lent me. This promised protection for my head but a diminution of precious headroom for breathing. I passed the hardhat to Manuel.

For the entry, I got courage from a number of things. First, three of our guides had no trouble going back and forth to ferry camera equipment and supplies inside. Second, if Diotay Lopue (at 56 or so, one of the biggest and wealthiest businessmen in Bacolod City) and his son Kim (Martin's age but not exactly an outdoors person) could do this, more so we. Diotay was actually taking his time there, shooting pictures of the brave souls coming in. My biggest comfort came from his assurance that we'd enjoy the cave. All in the mind, enjoyment. I enjoyed giving birth because I'd read a book entitled "The Joy of Childbirth."

The first test turned out to be fun, the kind of fun you get from doing something that allows you to say, "hey, I can do this!" The clear water was some 18 inches deep. The bottom was sand, really nice because it wasn't messy mud (as in the cave of 7 years ago) or painful stone. A rope laid out by our guides led us through the maze of calcite fingers and protrusions that were an ever present danger to our skulls. Sometimes I had to turn my head to the side so I could breathe. So I wouldn't be bobbing up and down, I pulled myself forward with the help of the rope. Not bad, and with my view widened by the headlamps of the guides who were in this space with me, after a while, I actually began to enjoy what I was going through.

Too quickly, we were done with this challenge and walking inside a hall with all kinds of amazing rock formations. A treasure, this cave, and nowhere was the floor of the cave muddy. Manuel, Josephine, Michelle, and I explored with two guides while Diotay remained with his team to take pictures.

The going was easy, the sights great until the next big obstacle, the salmon swim up the entrance to the cavern leading to the waterful.

First we had to wait for Diotay's group to catch up with us. Where we stopped, running water had created terraces and little pools. Some sunlight filtered through a distance away. When we tried to explore, we saw bats flying above us. Manuel complained about guano on the rocks. Josephine and I decided to relax where we were. Michelle, who is small and has a fondness for all things small, explored what little openings and crawl spaces she could find. To conserve batteries, except for one or two headlamps, the rest of us switched off our lights. Most of the time, to my right, the blackness was as solid as rock.

Diotay arrived and called for a snack break. It was about 11:20 and we'd been inside for about 2 hours and a half. After a cheese roll each, he and his team left to take photographs of the bat's cave. When they returned, it was time for lunch, the chicken and tuna sandwiches that the kids and I made the night before. Imagine picniking inside a dark cave with the fluttering of bat wings and the stink of guano not far away. The sun's ray brightening up a little corner of the cave was a gift from heaven.

After lunch, the salmon swim. There was a small opening about 15 inches high and 2 meters across. Through this, over white limestone that itself looked like a waterfall, flowed a waterfall. The rock had something like a 75 degree slope (90 degrees being upright) and it went about 4 feet high with no footholds that I could see. I ended up trying to wriggle through on my stomach with some help from my elbows and hands (there wasn't enough space to crawl), all the while needing to keep from breathing in the water that was splashing all around me. I'm no salmon so my efforts didn't get me anywhere until someone below gave my feet a helpful shove upward. Big relief but this wasn't the end of it.

As soon as I got to the top of the stone waterfall, I had to negotiate a rocky waterway that wasn't even high enough for a duckwalk (at least the waterlevel was low in this area). I wasn't about to do a duckwalk, anyway. I began by crawling in on my hands and knees. The uneven rocks were not sharp but they were absolute torture on the knees. My backside has better padding so I forgot my head, turned around and made my way across by doing a butt crawl. Extend feet, use hands to lift butt and push butt forward, rest butt on ground, rest hands beside butt, extend feet, use hands to lift butt and push butt forward, rest butt on ground, etc. Great going but no one followed suit. Hmmmm. The pictures give an idea of how low we had to go sometimes.

The waterfall and all the rock formations inside its cavern were amazing and well worth the difficulty. Many of the rocks were pure white and transluscent. Marble? Unfortunately, Diotay was obsessed with taking a perfect picture of the waterfall so we don't have pictures of the rest of the cave. The photo with the rock encanto is also from an earlier trip and I don't have a copy.

Before we knew it, it was time to retrace our steps. The way back was quicker and easier although sometimes I had to figure out again how best to do difficult passages. Where I had tried the salmon swim, for instance, I made the descent as a half-slide with my butt. Butts can be the most useful thing. And just to show you how I was getting to feel at home in this watery world, here's a picture of me after the salmon run. Behind me you see the stone waterfall that we had to deal with.

Diotay was with us this time so we had a chance to pose with some of the weird formations inside the cave. I'm glad we didn't have time to make our imaginations run wild.
You can bet it was good to see the sun again but in a way, Josephine, Michelle, and I were sorry that we were done. It was past 3:00 when we left the cave. We had been inside for 6 hours but at least we were psychologically prepared to spend all this time there.

After the cave, Manuel and I rested a little, bathed, put on fresh clothes, and walked around the town. Nice, peaceful little City. We walked from the hotel, through the downtown area, past the market, some stores, then rows of houses, before we emerged in the boulevard along the long stretch of sandy beach. Beautiful place. The boulevard has a 4 lane road with an island in the middle and lampposts lining the sides.

On the side nearest the sea was a low wall, useful for sitting on. The squatters had been transferred from the beach to a Gawad Kalinga Village at the end of the boulevard. Where their shanties had been were make shift tents of food vendors and a number of colorful bancas. Manuel and I made ourselves a part of the afternoon's scene. A family was flying a kite. People were strolling around. Life was slow and untroubled. People didn't know the meaning of haste.

After a while, we walked down the boulevard, past a small day care center and another office being used by the barangay, past houses. Manuel could see a day when the place would boom. These days, it takes more than 4 hours to go from Bacolod to Bayawan. A new highway that should be finished before summer next year should shorten travel time to 3 hours.

We tried a new street, the name of which was familiar. Manuel did not remember the name but he recognized the bakery from which we'd purchased bread for our sandwiches. The bread had been good and the bakery was highly recommended. We tried the pork siopao and purchased drinks as well. I insisted on taking a seat by the lone table outside the bakeshop. I wanted time for sitting and being part of life as it happened in Bayawan. The P12.00 siopao was good, so was a chocolate cupcake that Manuel got for P2.50.
From the bakeshop, we explored what looked like the biggest store in Bayawan. It had 2 floors, a grocery and a department store. No good chocolates but there was ice cream. I got myself a popsicle and we walked back to the hotel as I ate it.

The kids were asleep when we arrived. For them, Bayawan is nothing but a sleepy, uninteresting little town.