I have been in caves before. Even explored them in from a field and crawling through tiny holes on muddy hands and knees. But this cavern is on a phenomenal scale. We didn’t enter the natural entrance, we had limited time and to enter there was an extra 1-½ hours. The elevator drops quickly the 850 feet and we are instantly in a main chamber that back when the cave was discovered by modern man, would have taken a full day to get to. It will be impossible to describe the alien beauty that one is surrounded by down there. The shear massive size is awe-inspiring. Some of the main rooms are 200 feet wide and 75 feet tall. Everywhere you look is evidence of limestone drippings. Stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies, soda straws, etc, etc, etc. Some areas there are thousands of tiny tubes of rock, covering the ceiling, others there is a 10 foot trunk of a column with weird patterns woven all down its side. I tried to capture the beauty with camera, but it is either not enough light or the flash washes everything out. Don’t imagine that you can see any tiny bit of the amazing wonders we saw down below.
At one point we were doing a tour and all sitting in a particularly amazing room and the guide turned off the lights. There we got another aspect of this unique place. The blackness was profound. It is impossible in our modern world that we can get away from any and all light. I was glad he turned them on in 5 minutes. The 4 hours we spent underground was magical and I am sure very unique for our journey.
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