Before
our Maniuaya Island spree, we had this short spelunking course to a lesser popular
destination in Marinduque called Bagumbungan Cave located at Brgy. San Isidro,
Sta. Cruz. And by less popular, I simply mean it’s not yet fully known to
public as a tourist destination. According to the local guides, the cave was discovered
five years ago, and since then the local government has been doing efforts to protect
it and at the same time promote it as a tourist attraction.
Out of stress and
tiredness from the long overnight bus-and-boat-ride from Los Banos to
Marinduque, we hopped to our first destination few ticks after the
much-needed brunch. The sun was radiating sultrily matching the excitement we
feel while going through that long bumpy, arid, and dusty ride. It took us at
least an hour before finally greeted by the cave’s welcome sign.
The
cave is under the protection of DENR and the local government’s tourism office,
thus environmental and guide fees (totaling 150 PhP per pax) were collected
prior, with a considerable discount for students, and inclusive of
the much needed protective hard hat with built-in headlamps.
There was also another option to do a longer cave course which will lead to the
other end of the cave (sort of traverse), however, we opted to avail the
shorter trail due to time constraint. After all, there will always be another
chance for next time.
Eight
of us converged on the orientee’s seats for instructions and cave rules. After
the quick and informative laying of directions, we eagerly geared up and walked
a few meters before reaching the cave’s opening. I knew
the course is not for faint-hearted, I would admit I have claustrophobic
tendencies, plus I ignorantly associate caves with ghouls and goblins, so I needed
to set those fears aside for that mean time.
The
sight and feel was a sinister mix of dark and cold and filth the moment we sat
our feet down the steep ravine of laddered entrance pitch. The pungent smells
of the stinky trogloxenes and troglobites guano aka bat poop were all over
the place. Add up their annoying screeches but eventually turn into music to my
ears. For the next few moments, we were just some tiny creatures of the earth spending
the day on some holes beneath the ground with dilating pupils. Few more walks and we’re greeted by such famously amazing caving things
called stalactites and stalagmites.
And
the journey continues with those body-wrecking stunts and long dry crawls
needed to fit ourselves on those unbelievably narrow and scrotty passages made
of stockpiled large stones. There were parts of the trail where every step
should be as careful as the other not to miss the right one or else something
untoward will happen. There were pointy rocks as well as slippery ones, thus,
it’s best to be in the best shoes. In my case I only had a pair of slippers
with me so things went a little bit harder than I expected. Mea culpa, on
that account.
Crossing
the cold, waist-deep frosty water was the next obstacle. Within seconds, my
toes and knees were but numb zombified flesh. To add more, there was that
tingly sensation of what seems to be dump mud underfeet as we walked our way
across it due to coconut husks allegedly from the residential areas. Though, that
was not terrifying as it sounds. We barely made it through anyway. There were
also moments when the trails were sandy and grainy. Talk about diversity.
A
few cracks towards our protracted endpoint, the rocks started to become very
slippery with ceilings that are relatively low characterized by pointy vertical
ridges, quite looking weird for me. After further cascades with moments of
flat-out crawlings and awkward letterbox climbs – we finally reached our
turning point they markedly call as falls.
Sadly I forgot the exact name for it.
And
then we were there. Just before we finally decided to return, we rested for a
while, admired the eerily-shaped rocks in front of us, and fondly did a
surprise activity (courtesy of our dear tour guides), which I refuse to share
details here. You have to experience it yourself. Their goal was to let us
appreciate little things around us – which was the cherry on top of this cake. It's one of the many perks of travelling, being educated beyond the
four corners of our classrooms, and the limits of what our textbooks have to
offer.
We then started walking back to where we have entered; eventually giving us a view of that
much coveted light once more, as we finally reached the mouth of the cave, and
generously gave a final sight of such sarcophagus we just came out from.
