{"id":2927,"date":"2013-07-23T09:11:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-23T17:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mixhart.ca\/blog\/?p=2927"},"modified":"2013-11-23T07:01:38","modified_gmt":"2013-11-23T15:01:38","slug":"onward-to-the-bat-cave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/onward-to-the-bat-cave\/","title":{"rendered":"Onward to the Bat Cave! Cueve de Ambrosio, Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cueve de Ambrosio and Cueve de Musalmanes<\/h2>\n
\"CubaSpider\"<\/a>
*picture credit: birdspiders.com
Cuban Bird Tarantula. This is the spider variety I nearly stepped on while hiking to the first cave. She disappeared inside a hole in the rocky path before I could snap her pic. She’s about the size of a human hand–her legs as long as fingers.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

On our last day in Cuba, I decided to check out some pre-Columbian caves once inhabited by various indigenous cultures of Cuba.<\/strong> The caves were frequented by both the hunter\/gatherers– Guanhatabey<\/strong>\u00a0and later the fishing\/agricultural aboriginals–Taino<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Cueve de Musalmanes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The first cave (Cueve de Musalmanes) was a short hike through a coastal forest to a cave containing 2500 year old bones (discovered \u00a0in the 1980s). Peter found the hike a challenge as he was eaten alive by mosquitos.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wasn’t touched–we didn’t have on repellant but for some reason mosquitos don’t like my smell and stay away. Also, I am one of the \u00a0rare humans who is not allergic to mosquito bites so their bite is completely unnoticeable on my skin<\/strong> (no redness, no swelling). I could be bitten by 100 mosquitos at once and no one would be able to tell (its a genetic thing I inherited from my dad–our ancestors must have evolved in pretty intense mosquito country for us to develop immunity).<\/p>\n

\"termites\"<\/a>
Termite home in forest near Varadero.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"LizBlk\"<\/a>
One of 4 unique lizard species we spotted on our Cuban coastal hike.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"meVine\"<\/a>
One of the caves on the way to the pre-Columbian human remains. Yes, I stupidly wore flip flops on the hike and regretted it right after this pic was taken as I nearly stepped on a giant purple tarantula on the path ahead of me.<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"CubaLizard\"<\/a>
Lizard spotted on hike. Note the rock–this hole riddled rock made up most of the pathway through the jungle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The small section of coastal jungle seemed to hold no exotic dangers ( I assumed) as it is nestled in a narrow strip of forest between the Caribbean coast and a major roadway. But what that small section of jungle has, is an unbelievable amount of floral and fauna.<\/strong> We spotted a minimum of four different lizard species<\/strong>, so many cactus, flowers, swamp plants, many birds and, of course, the bee colony in the rock face that we carefully had to run past.<\/p>\n

Most surprisingly was the bird tarantula.<\/strong> While walking naively along in my flip-flops, I suddenly came toe to hairy-toe with a giant purple tarantula! I was so surprised, I screamed and she quickly scuttled into a hole in the rocks and disappeared from view. I couldn’t believe my eyes; when does one share a wilderness path with a tarantula in one’s life time?<\/strong> It was such a thrill, I only wish I could have captured my tarantula on camera. I’ll never forget her glossy black body and hairy indigo legs. I talked with a local naturalist about my discovery and he was impressed–the tarantula is uncommon in the area.<\/p>\n

\"bees\"<\/a>
To reach the cave we had to walk right beside this rock face with a bee colony. They were buzzing in and out of their little cave and there was no way to avoid running through them: on one side rock wall, on the other swampy jungle. We were fortunate to run by without annoying the colony.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"peterBones\"<\/a>
Peter standing near the 2500 year old human remains and wondering why he’d ever followed me into the mosquito infested forest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The 2500 year old human bones.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cueve de Ambrosio<\/h3>\n

We walked out of the jungle on to the roadway and headed west toward the largest and deepest cave (3oo meters)<\/strong> Cueve de Ambrosio<\/strong><\/em> to check out the pre-Columbian cave drawings<\/strong>. By the time we reached the cave Peter was hot and tired of being bitten by mosquitos; thus, he decided to sit outside and wait as I explored the cave.<\/p>\n

\"draw6\"<\/a>
One of the cave drawings in Cueve de Ambrosio. The cave was used by many pre-Columbian Cuban aboriginal peoples for religious ceremonies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"draw5\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"draw4\"<\/a>
This drawing is said to be the aboriginal’s depiction of the Spanish soldiers when they first arrived on Cuban shores.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"draw3\"<\/a>
This drawing is speculated to be a likeness of the first African slaves when they arrived off the ships onto Cuban soil for the first time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"draw2\"<\/a>
The four compass directions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A guide appeared to take me inside Cueve de Ambrosio<\/em>\u00a0(with a flash light) to show me the drawings. The cave is big and dark and filled with five species of bats…I was happy<\/em> to have a guide.<\/strong> He carefully led me to all of the individual cave drawings. While we walked, bats continually swooped down and called out to us. I was a guest in their enormous home.\u00a0\"cavedraw1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In all truth, bats might just be one of the gentlest mammals on earth.<\/strong> What other mammals would allow a human being to walk into their home (cave) and snoop around without any aggressive actions? I cannot think of another mammal that would behave in such a gentle and unthreatening manner as bats.<\/p>\n

\"bats\"<\/a>
Note: some of the bats are tagged as the bats in this cave are being scientifically observed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Bat1\"<\/a>\"bat2\"<\/a>\"bat3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Once he’d illuminated the last of the cave drawings, the guide handed me a flashlight and told me that for the next half of the tour, I was to explore the cave alone. At first I was nervous for him to leave me inside the huge dark caverns alone–well, not alone; I had hundreds of bat friends everywhere!<\/strong> I took the dim (almost dead) flashlight and soldiered forth, exploring some narrow passage ways on my own. The bats were more plentiful the deeper I went into the cave.<\/p>\n

\"selfieCave\"<\/a>In the above selfie, there were many bats, very near by, along the darker coves on the cave, screeching to me<\/strong>. I suddenly became aware, once again, of my pathetic flip-flops as I squelched along the rough rock floor, over piles of bat poop. The guide had long disappeared–left the cave I suppose–just as I\u00a0realized how easily one becomes disoriented in a cave.<\/strong> What I thought was the passage that lead to the main cave drawings, was another passage. Luckily for me the cave wasn’t too huge and it took me only a few moments to retrace my steps and find the right cave corridor that would ultimately lead to the cave entrance.<\/p>\n

\"caveVines\"<\/a><\/p>\n

*Note for any eco-adventurists wanting to visit Cuba. Cueve de Ambrosio<\/strong> (Ambrosio Cave) and the bats are currently being scientifically studied and one can volunteer to be a part of the team.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cueve de Ambrosio and Cueve de Musalmanes   On our last day in Cuba, I decided to check out some pre-Columbian caves once inhabited by various indigenous cultures of Cuba. The caves were frequented by both the hunter\/gatherers– Guanhatabey\u00a0and later … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2208,1805],"tags":[1636,1613,1635,1638,1631,1634,1632,1633,1637,8,63,1614],"class_list":["post-2927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-caribbean","category-travelandadventure","tag-bat-cave","tag-cuba","tag-cuban-bats","tag-cuban-cave-drawings","tag-cuban-caves","tag-cuban-tarantula","tag-cueve-de-ambrosio","tag-cueve-de-musalmanes","tag-pre-columbian-cave-drawings","tag-recipes","tag-travel","tag-varadero"],"aioseo_notices":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2208,"label":"Caribbean"},{"value":1805,"label":"Travel"}],"post_tag":[{"value":1636,"label":"bat 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