The
first thing we learned on this adventure is that before you go down, you have to go up!
Leaving Manzanillo, and driving on the old road through Armeria, you'll see many beautiful
sights, such as a 200-year-old shade tree, trimmed to allow traffic to pass.
You'll pass the salt flats and see the ovens where bricks are made. Make sure
you stop and explore. These processes go back 450 years.
Heading north to the city of Colima, take the turn off to the
ancient Nahuatl Indian village of Ixtlahuacán. At an elevation of about 500 feet above
sea level, Ixtlahuacán is slightly cooler, and one of the most primitive villages in the
state of Colima, hosting only a few hundred inhabitants. Most of the houses are
constructed of sticks and rough-cut wood slats with thatched-palm roofs. The Indians'
principal livelihood in Ixtlahuacán is the pre-Columbian craft of hammock making, and
you'll often see them selling their colorful "beds" on the beaches and streets
of Manzanillo.
The Grotto of San
Gabriel is actually located south of town, on a twisting, winding road that climbs up the
mountain, and gets more narrow all the time. It's easy to find, however, because there are
signs at each turn. We encountered a few beasts along the way, but it
was okay; we couldn't drive very fast anyway. As the road goes higher into the mountains,
it turns into cobblestones, and we enjoyed seeing the rural farming communities. A burro
came out on the road to greet us with a lazy "hee-aw-hee-aw-hawww"! (Donkey talk
for "hello!")
Overlooking the
fertile valley below, once inhabited by the Nahuatls, one gets a sense that after only a
few rainy seasons, Mother Nature could easily reclaim her land, erasing the last few
remnants of human civilization.
Eventually the cobblestones ended and we began driving on a good graded
gravel road, and still climbed higher. The road got a little rougher, but not terribly so.
Topping out at about 1,000 feet, we overlooked the fertile valleys below, and couldn't
help but become entranced by the legends of Indian kings and Spanish conquerors roaming
this land more than 450 years ago.
Finally (it's been about
2½ hours since we left Manzanillo), we reached the little pueblo of San Gabriel. At the
last sign for the grotto, we turned right only to come to a dead end under a huge tree.
There was a farmhouse nearby but it was deserted. I called out "hola," several
times but was met with silence. Hmmm.
Not ready to give up
after driving all this way, we went back into "town," which consisted of a few
houses, a couple pick-up trucks and lots of farm animals roaming free. I asked the first
person I saw where the grottoes were. (¿Donde estan las grutas de San Gabriel?)
Now this is where it helps to speak a little Spanish, because he answered,
"My mother has the key; I'll take you to her house." He then went on to explain
that he was the caretaker and he'd be happy to give us a tour. His name was Ignacio Denis,
and as he hopped into our van, we offered him a coke from our cooler, which he accepted
gratefully. It was only a few blocks to his mother's little grocery store, which didn't
have a name, but offered ice cold RC colas. No beer was available; the beer truck hadn't
delivered there yet that month.
After an introduction to his family, we were off to the grottoes (there are
two but only one is open to the public). Ignacio took us to where we were before, opened a
gate, and we drove down the road a few hundred yards. Since it was rainy season, the road
was very muddy, so we parked the van and decided to hike through the forest. After a short
walk (I wished I'd worn my tennis shoes instead of sandals), we arrived at the mouth of
the cave.
Ignacio explained that the state of Colima built the
metal spiral staircase that descended almost 100 feet to the bottom of the hole. At the
bottom was the opening to the grotto. Before we could make the trek, Ignacio had to start
the gasoline-powered generator that operated the lights in the cave. The key that he got
from his mother opened the lock on the door of the little 3 x 3-foot cubicle that housed
the generator.
Looking down into the blackness, I wondered, "Do
I really want to do this?" But my poodle Sunny was game, and so was Vernon, so down
we went. Sunny and Vernon bravely went first. The entrance was only 21 feet in diameter,
and going down and around in circles was dizzying, so I followed much more slowly,
clutching both the camera and hand rail in death grips, wondering what I had gotten myself into! At the
bottom of the staircase I saw a small hole with a rickety wooden ladder leading still
further down. "Ladies first," my gallant male escorts said, so I carefully
lowered myself into the cool space of the grotto, still managing to bump by head and get
my butt covered in mud. Vernon, Sunny and Ignacio followed without incident.
Once inside, the floor-to-ceiling show of stalagmites
and stalactites was beautiful, and our photographs really didn't do them justice. Ignacio
entertained us with stories of King Ix making a temple in the grotto and stashing his gold
and silver there. During the Spanish Conquest, Cortes' minions reportedly stole this
treasure, and they used this cave as a hiding place for their plundered cache.
Most of us, when visiting a cave are used to a cattle boat-style guided tour,
with hand rails, paved walkways, and mindless prattle about how one formation looks like a
waterfall and another resembles an angel. Here, in this grotto, there were just the three
of us and we were left to explore and use our imagination.
Our trek back to the
surface seemed to take forever, and I was a little woozy and out of breath. Sunny was
fine, however, probably because I carried her up the steps. At the mouth of the cave once
again, Ignacio asked us to sign a guest book, containing the names and addresses of
visitors to the site from all over the world. With muddy hands (which I unsuccessfully
attempted to clean on my shorts and T-shirt), I scrawled my name, joining hundreds of
others. He also asked for a little donation, in Mexico known as "cooperación"
to help pay for gas for the generator. We searched through our pockets and came up with 40
pesos.
On the way out of town, we stopped again at his mother's store for some cold
RCs, and to listen to a few legends about buried treasure in the hills near the grottoes of San Gabriel. Ignacio
told us of another way back to the town of Tecoman, which he said was shorter and faster
than the way we came. And believe it or not, it really was, and we were treated to even
more fantastic scenery, including a view of the Laguna de Alcuzahue and Laguna La
Colorada.
Although this might seem
like too much of an adventure for some, we enjoyed seeing a part of Colima that is rarely
visited by foreigners. For further details, or to arrange a personally guided tour,
e-mail: susan@gomanzanillo.com.
There are
many more adventures in the state of Colima, close to Manzanillo. For more information,
find out more in the 150-page tourist guidebook,
"Manzanillo and the state of Colima, Facts, Tips and Day Trips." |