Lower St. Michael's Cave

One of the benefits of staying with our hosts is that they are native to Gibraltar. J  our landlord has a friend named Tito who guides tours through some of the most intriguing spots of Gibraltar. Tito, who is a military veteran, has all of the inside scoop on Gib's military history and its most important historical monuments. J had mentioned that Tito could give us a much-more indepth tour of the Rock of Gibraltar, and were we interested. He said something to the affect of "It's a bit of a hike, and you're not supposed to be on the tour if you're under the age of 12" so we had to decide right then and there that our youngest was suddenly 12.

We drove up to the top of Gib, using J's LandRover, which is de rigeur for those interested in reaching the top. At the start of the tour we discovered that we were going to be joined by an I-Tv news team to document a group of British students taking the tour along with us. It was larger tour, about 15 of us, and I think both Tito and Jinson were nervous that there were so many to help along.

It was a tough hike. Probably one of the hardest things i have ever done. We traversed about 8-10 ropes 'courses', some of which involved descending down slick rock faces and finding foot holds in spots that would save you from sliding completely down into a crevasse or worse. We also had to walk along vertical walls using only ropes...(I jerked awake numerous times last night reliving certain points on that journey---in other words in a cold sweat). I was so beyond terrified that I could not think of my children anymore than if I had their faces right in front of me, only that I needed to keep one foot in front of the other. There were two points during the trip that I literally started to shake...one was at a small indoor lake that was ringed with a very narrow edge of rincon, which was not wide enough for you to put your foot onto, only your toes. You hung on the side of the slick rock facing trying to find finger holds and stood on your tiptoes sliding your foot along the edge, because the ridge below you was not wide enough to hold a coffee cup, at some points. Of course, looking back now, the worst thing that would have happened would you have fallen back into a lake of calcium-carbonated water, which okay was not terribly clean. And if you submerged your head you would have ended up with an ear infection or diarrhea from swallowing it. Tito recommended not touching the 'white' stuff with our hands, but if we did, we were not to rub our eyes or touch our mouths later. Bad stuff, that limestone :P.  Some of the teenagers in our group jumped in anyway, and froze their butts off on the remaining hour back to the exit. But they were all shaking as they crossed the wooden foot bridge that traversed 18 ft depths of the lake. Thank you children for taking those swim lessons every summer!
The second most frightening thing was there was a point on the return where your foothold consisted of a metal peg. No handholds, and nothing to balance yourself on. You were to walk along these pegs (about 1.5 ins wide) which suspended a network of thick rope netting that covered a large crevasse. You could not see the bottom, and we did not ask. You were to walk along these pegs and then pull yourself up onto a rim of rock, and I missed a peg and was literally scrambling to find a place to hold myself on the rock rim. Poor Doe (my oldest) was pulling me up with my left hand and Beloved was shoving my butt up precariously balancing on the peg behind me. I felt like an old white cow and felt bad because in my terror I grasped onto the foot of Doe's shoe and could not remove my clench---you would have had to cut my fingers off. That kind of fear just seems to paralyze.
But in the end we ended up with only a few deep scratches and lots of bruises. As we were traveling around the lake, Bump (my youngest), who was behind me between Doe and Beloved, slipped off and all I heard was a large splash (I could not see anything). I started crying her name, and they replied that she had landed in about 3 ft of water and although was wet to her waist, she was fine. She did get a rather impressive gash in the process on her shin, but we made it out alive.

J's intrepid LandCruiser. Note the exhaust manifold off the side there. Each  October they drive into the Saharan desert about 600 km in and deliver supplies and goods to tribespeople living in the bush. They really are that good of people. 

Ready girls? 

crawling through at the beginning

One of the easier climbs. J is helping Bump out. We didn't get much of the other serious climbs because we were too busy focusing on each other and not getting hurt! 

Tito our fearless leader. Doesn't he look like a malevolent dictator ? ;) 

Rubbing certain rocks for good luck. 

Put your hand in the pool. Does it feel sticky? 

"Good because it's full o' piss!" Ha haaaaa

cooler smaller rincons

crazy lake we hiked around...

where the light is off to the right is the wooden bridge it got quite deep over there. 

My helmet was askew the entire trip. Kind of typified how I felt ;) 

one of the tougher rope climbs down. On the descent you  grab rope with both arms and take left leg and basically hop over to the left side with your left. Then immediately find a hole for your right foot to catch. 

climbing through that gap there 

Climbing up the slickrock. We slid down it going in ;). You had to climb and then change ropes from horizontal to vertical ropes and then jam your right foot into a slot along the right side. It had to be accomplished very quickly, before you slipped down the rock :P 

Tito and J were fantastic. Tito would flash his flashlight on a spot and say "put your foot heah" or "grab that rock theah" and was very boisterous and funny. He is a big guy and made you feel much more at ease when you'd have him on the other end of the rope ;). Tito grabbed me bum a few times to give a quick shove up the rope, and I kept saying "Sorry". And he said "Believe me. I've touched a lot of bum in my day. Small ones, flat ones, hard ones, big ones, some I put my hand on and me hand disappearahd. ;)"

Here are all of the pictures we took. Yes it's a lot. But if you click on the picture you can go into Slideshow mode and you can skim through them faster. It was truly an exquisite experience and the pictures, and my words, can't fully express the sheer magnitude and beauty of the unspoiled cave. There is talk amongst some to make Lower St Michael's more palatable and pave it, adding stairs and pathways to make it more hospitable for all travelers. The downside is you would lose all of the spectacular colors of the stone (due to so much more artificial light and air exposure) and they fragile ecosystem of the subterranean landmark would quickly deteriorate.

Now that I am on the outside I wish I could have relaxed and enjoyed it more. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience though. Watching Tito and J clamber around on the rocks like billygoats, and watching my own children scamper to and fro made me wish  I was more aware of my surroundings. Sometimes the ropes were there to only help you get up, not to save yourself from danger. It was truly breathtaking...