Day 11: Underground River - the Real Bat Cave

We went to the Underground River - one of the new 7 Wonders of Nature. It is about 2 hours drive from our hotel along winding roads. If you are not used to long winding rides, take something to help you. The ride is worth it though.

We arrived at the dock and had to take another boat ride to the site. The boat ride was about 15-20 minutes.. Through it, you can see the beauty of the place. It is clean.The sea if very clean. The people here really take care of their environment.

One thing that also impressed me is the orderly way they handled registration. They limit the visitors to about 900 per day. Our guide did all the registration.

When it was time to go, we boarded our boat and went to the site.

On the way, I saw the shoreline. Indeed, this is one of God's paradise. I cannot post pictures because the internet connection is very slow.

When we arrive, there was a tall mountain. We walked through the park to the site. There were monkeys freely roaming around. We walked through the forest and there were trees that were so tall, you could not see the top.

When we arrived at the site, we had to wait because a boat can take up to 8 people. there's only a few boats that are authorized to go in.

What really ticks me off are foreigners, who just could not follow instructions. The instructions were simple: No swimming, no smoking, do not feed the animals and do not put your hand in the water. I saw someone who went swimming and after being told not to do that, still went to a farther place to swim. Then while in the cave, this same guy put his hand in the water! They can understand English.

Anyway, when our boat came, we went in and this idiot was the one at the front. He held the light and obviously, could not follow directions. The guide told him to point the light to the left, he pointed it to the right. The guide told him to point above, he pointed to the bottom. BUT, whatever, I was not going to let this guy ruin my vacation.

We went into the cave. At the mouth of the cave, you can hear squealing. I think it is from birds that fly into the cave. The guide said in the cave, something wet will drop. If it is cold, it is holy water. If it is warm, it is holy sh*t. These come from the numerous bats sleeping during the day. The guide said there's about 70,000 bats in the cave. You see this once you enter the cave. Bats hanging everywhere.

Once you enter the cave, the darkness became evident. The only light in the cave were lights from other boats. And as the guide was explaining the natural rock formations, I realize that in the darkness, God can still create these wonderful formations.

I remember what scripture says, even in darkness, there is still light. Nothing is too dark for God to create such wonderful formations. I tried taking pictures but my camera was not sophisticated enough to take good pictures.

Anyway, I realized, darkness is nothing to God. He can make great and awesome things  Sometimes, in one's life, God seems absent. And one of the things I learned is this sense of the absence of God is not necessarily God leaving us. one needs to discern if one is in mortal sin. If one is in mortal sin, one rejects God and God will honour that decision and leave.

But if one is not in mortal sin and one senses the abandonment of God, this sense is not the reality. It is just the sense of abandonment but God has not abandoned that person.  Mystics call this as the 'dark night of the soul', the 'cloud of unknowing'.

it is a time of spiritual growth where one clings to nothing else but God himself. When this darkness comes, we can only hold on and say, 'Lord, help'. But this trip to the cave has shown me that even in the dark, our God can create something awesome and wonderful. These rock formations took years to create and were formed by water dripping through the cracks.

God slowly forms us in the darkness of our sinfulness. He can make something beautiful in darkness. There is always hope that even if I do not see God, that even if I live in darkness or a sense of abandonment, God is always there and the most important thing is he is making something beautiful and awesome in me.

The darkness can also be sin. Many people think that they are sinful and there is no hope for redemption. But this trip to the dark cave shows that even in the darkness of sin, God can make something beautiful. There is redemption and hope when one is in sin. One just needs to surrender to the Lord and obey him.

After this trip, we had lunch and went to the souvenir shop. We bought some things to bring home. But the pearls were magnificent. I have never been into jewelry so I do not know how to look at pearls, but the sales ladies were wearing a set of earrings and they seem to glow from the inside.

This reminds me of the parable of Jesus where he compared the kingdom of God to a pearl of great price. A pearl is beautiful to see and no wonder when one sees it, one will want to sell everything just to possess it.