"That was the coolest place ever!" said my mom as she watched me edit the photos for this blog post.
My family braved our fear of heights to explore caves while visiting family in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The first time we visited La Ventana (the window), a cave that ends with a huge opening overlooking a valley miles below, it was unguided. The second time we visited a couple of years later the cave was privatized, so we put on our silly hard-hats and enjoyed the guided tour. This time, we learned that the nearby cave we'd visited before was a "birthing cave", a spiritual place where women would go to produce the newest Taino tribe members. What a beautiful sentiment. We also learned the Tainos were matriarchal, respecting the women who brought lives into the world.
The caves themselves remind me of the "Part of your World" musical number in The Little Mermaid. It was once submerged under the ocean and has multiple portholes looking up just like the one in Ariel's secret grotto! For the second cave, you climb up on a cliff overlooking the gorgeous turquoise waters, then descend a terrifying, rickety latter into the birthing caves. Light shines like prisms everywhere, all glistening scintilla and beautiful. I can't wait to go back one day! Even though the cliff divers (!!!) diving from tall heights and narrowly avoiding rocks was scary as hell to watch!
/Comments Off I'm exploring Savannah Georgia today, in the spirit of Summer Adventures. I'll be back with informative content soon
