Zacualpan is a tiny town north of Las Varas, Nayarit. The only reason we stopped there last March 21 — on our way to wonderful Dolphin Beach was to investigate its famed cave. We had already acquired the following information
1.- The cave is called LA CUEVA DE LA TIGRA (The Cave of the tiger).
2.- There’s a 20 meter drop at the entrance.
3.- The cave is “hundreds al meter long” and those who have entered it had to give up long before finding the end.
A very friendly lady living near the cave offered to lead to the entrance and patiently waited while we donned harnesses, crolls, jumars, dozens of carabiners aid bagsfull of rope.
Staggering under our loads, we proceeded along a faint, dusty trail under the blazing mid-day sun of this semi—tropical area. Our non-caving friends followed along, scratching their hands over our instance on submitting ourselves (and them) to such torture instead of heading directly for the beach.
Of the three pieces of information we had received about the cave, only the first (its name) turned on factual. The “20 meter drop” was an easy two—meter downclimb and the endless passages added up to about 120 meter of beastly hot cave. The only movement of air inside there was caused by batwings. Several holes indicated past efforts at guano mining. Drenched with sweat, we made a quick sketch of the cave and exited into the sunshine.Now, at last, we had a real excuse to going to the beach!
