Diablos Cave Ecuador

OP
OP
Alaskan Adventurer

Alaskan Adventurer

Full Member
Dec 20, 2009
156
49
Ecuador
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All Treasure Hunting
Re: Diablo's Cave Ecuador

So we set camp the night of our second full day in. My night is amazingly restful considering the anxiety of the next day. Our young guides felt that we would be approaching the cliff in about 2 more hours of hiking. The night was pretty much uneventful besides the usual thunderstorm in the middle of the night as well as the still crazy howl of the howler monkeys. It is obvious they don't enjoy finding interlopers on their land. At around 7am our young guides proceed to awaken us for this scarey, but exciting day. Our day started out with good vibes, so I wasn't too worried about the rappel after sleeping on it. Tony agreed with my feelings and we proceeded towards our fate. At about 9:30 am, the older of the two brothers stopped us and pointed ahead. Apparently we had reached the cliff. The older brother and I headed on down the trail and we were headed at a slight decline. Eventually we ended up at an impressive cliff and it was a LONG WAY DOWN! The weather seemed okay, with just a few medium sized clouds in the area. No danger of a major thunderstorm like my Belize trip. What a relief! The older brother quickly ran back and grabbed the other two guys along with the rope. After about 15 minutes of prepping, our ropes were secure on a decent sized tree. The night before we spent an hour or so tying knots at about every 3 feet to give us some handholds. I was still extremely nervous and then it hit me....how the heck do we climb back up? I had never even really though about it until then. I mentioned it to Tony and we both agreed....uh oh. It turns out that the two young men knew a way back up, but they didn't know how to reach the trail. Basically, it is not a problem. I knew that if my life depended on it, I could climb back up if it was absolutely necessary. A long rope ladder would have worked best. :P After a chat with Tony, we decided to go ahead and trust the two brothers. They could have easily killed us in our sleep, after all.

Now we get to the point on the decision of who is going to start. After awhile, I decided to hell with it. The decision was made for the older brother to head on down first, followed by myself. This is when the two young men pull out some leaves of some kind of plant. It turned out to be Coca, the plant that cocaine is made from. Simply by chewing on the leaves, it will give you a great burst of energy and it is really effective dealing with altitude sickness. The Incas pretty much worshipped this tree, and this is one of their secrets in being superior on the battlefield.

After about 5 minutes, we hear the yell from down below of OKAY!!! He safely made it down. The hardest part of this whole process is the beginning and of trusting the strength of the rope. It took us about 20 minutes for all three of us to make it down. Besides a couple burns from the rope, we had no other problems. What a relief! My faith in the Shuar is now quite high and it was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. Until you are at the bottom of the cliff, looking up, it doesn't really hit you on the distance you just free hand climbed. We weren't using rappeling gear for securety. What a rush! So we decide to have a little break and eat some cold yucca. Mmmm, not really. The root is quite filling though and when it is hot, it basically tastes like potatoes. Good thing I love potatoes!!! After a nice little snack of yucca, we commence our hike. It took us about 4 hours before we were approaching the cave. For the most part, we were in a small valley and the cave happened to be in this valley. The mouth of this cave was quite large, about 10 feet in height. The only way to see it though, is if you are looking for it at the right angle due to all the vegetation.

Approaching the cave I noticed it was for the most part, under water. After a lot of hand signals and much wasted time(AGGGGH, must learn Spanish!) we learnt that the cave is unusually high. We are towards the end of the rainy season and just got a bit unlucky. As part of our supplies, we did bring a snorkle, and small mask, just in case. (cont...)
 

Cubfan64

Silver Member
Feb 13, 2006
2,982
2,775
New Hampshire - USA
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Fisher CZ21, Teknetics T2 & Minelab Sovereign GT
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Re: Diablo's Cave Ecuador

Thanks for continuing the story - keep it up :)
 

hamiddetecting

Gold Member
Feb 22, 2012
6,398
2,510
North Pole
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Sovereign GT and Excalibur II, Whites, Garrett, Fisher, Alert, MD,Cscope,Tesoro, Compas, XP, Long Rs
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All Treasure Hunting
No pictures!
 

doc-d

Bronze Member
May 19, 2013
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Pacific Northwest
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AA has posted updates elsewhere on the forum a while back……..
Seems he changed his focus……his experience is lesson enough to be aware and it is better to be with another person(s)…….
 

morbiusandneo

Sr. Member
Jun 16, 2007
392
50
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Dowsing rods
Yea, some locals tried killing him in the jungle,leaving him for dead, after throwing him from a 150' cliff....
 

OP
OP
Alaskan Adventurer

Alaskan Adventurer

Full Member
Dec 20, 2009
156
49
Ecuador
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hey guys,

Yes, my direction has changed. I am wrapping up a 3 month trip in South America and can happily say that we found our land for our jungle community here in Puerto Maldonado, SE Peru. 3 springs and 70 hectares with 60 hectares being old growth jungle. We hope to break ground in December, or possibly January.

My book will be out in Oct, or possibly November and will hopefully assist in spreading the word on what Amazon Sustainability and Awareness Project(A.S.A.P.) is all about. I had a recent amazing Ayahuasca ceremony that has helped convince me that I am on the right track.

I will try to wrap up the story, but can't make promises. I kind of wish you could delete older threads on this forum, as some simply don't make since anymore.

It's ironic how I am settling in an area that is being brutalized by gold mining, but that's how it is. At least I understand how mining works, and might be able to offer some guidance to how to fix the issue. Besides specific areas of mining, the area is still pristine and beautiful.
Amazing how a single event in your life can change your viewpoints completely; in which I am referring to my attack/survival situation.

The true treasure and gold is nature itself; especially the green gold that is the Amazon. 11411900_10203278819931136_2346060227822672000_o.jpg 11402405_10203278820211143_1472469583609690605_o.jpg

Take care.

P.S. The explorer is still in and will forever be inside me, so that will never change.
 

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