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Walking Under Mexican Land
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two years I spend some time exploring caves in Mexico. Here
I am going to talk about two that I think you may find interesting.
First we will talk about the Star Grottos or "las Grutas
de la Estrella." They were so named in 1934 from a formation
in shape of a star, a formation you can see at the entrance
of the cave.
 Las Grutas de la estrella are near
of Totatico in Mexico state. They came under the regulation
of the tourism department in 1971 and that's when they started
to prepare the facilities within the grottos, in 1975 they were
able to open their doors to the public.
Now you can appreciate the wonderful interior world of the caves
from safe concrete halls with handrails and beautiful colored
lights that enhance the cave's formations. The tour is about
one hour in small groups from 10 to 15 people; the cost to visit
the caves is no more than $15.00 pesos or about $ 1.70 U.S.
For those who
are really into caving or who just want a different experience,
some guides are available for speleology trips.
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Juxtlahuaca
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Juxtlahuaca Grottos are some of the most interesting
Grottos I have ever been to. They are not as well
known as the Star grotto because they are hard to
find, and it is even harder to find the town where
the guides live. Without a guide you won't be available
to enter the grottos.
 Juxtlahuaca
Grottos are in Guerrero state, Mexico (same state
as Acapulco). The capitol of Guerrero is Chilpancingo
and the route to Juxtlahuaca from Chilpancingo is
along the Acapulco-Chilpancingo Highway. At 11 km
is Petaquillas where you turn left to detour to
Tepechicotlán, Mochitlán, Quechultenango
and Colotlipa where the guides live.
Juxtlahuaca
Grottos is one of the most complete grottos of its
kind. It extends 5000 meters with eight branches.
You can find formations like columns, stalactites,
stalagmites, gourds, drippings, etc. In 1958 the
state government started the exploration of the
grottos under the direction of Andrés Ortega
Casarrubias (El Chivo) the official guide and the
one to whom we owe the preservation of these grottos.
The
tour in these grottos depends on how long you want
to stay in there. The touristic route takes about
two hours and thirty minutes. You will see many
wonderful galleries and visit the Olmec cemetery.
This section of the grottos is  very
important because this is one of the first traces
of the mother culture in America (Olmeca in their
nomad stage, period PRE-classic inferior 400 to
800 BC). You can see pottery shards, petrified human
bones and rupestrian paintings along the caves walls.
The
route continues through an underground lake so we
recommend that you wear tennis shoes and shorts
because this is the only way to get to the crystal
garden. The lake itself is not deep so if you want
you can swim. The crystal garden is aragonite formations
that cover the cave's walls like a carpet.
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  Talking
with the guide about the tourism that visit the grottos
mention something that made me think. Sometimes is
better that these kind of places just stay unknown.
- We rather have quality tourism than quantity - he
say. These grottos are precious treasures we most
respect and preserve for all the people that love
the wonders of our planet. The way you can help is
simple, do not destroy, when ever you visit a cave
take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but finger
prints.
Lecture
and slide show presented in
March of 2002 at the University of Anchorage Alaska
21 January of 2003 at the Museum of Modern Art of
Anchorage
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