Our guide was one of the first men to really explore, and document/map it out. He is also known as the man who coined the words Adventure Caving. They have found 2 new species of spiders, and a new form of rock, that scientists still have not gotten back to them on the names or scientific classifications. Our guide explained that we would be "hiking" through 4% of the 5% of the cave that has actually been touched by human hands. They expect that the other 95% of the cave is half under water, or unreachable because of the under ground river flowing through it. They have theorized that the cave formed when one of the mountains grew faster than the other, which created the gaps between the rocks. He said that native people have used the caves to hide from enemies in the past during wars, but now it is only used for tours. Here is our group before entering the cave. 
Notice how white all of our jumpsuits are. We entered the cave by sliding into a hole in the ground that was about 3x4 ft. We entered a big room, that had tall ceilings, and multiple ways to explore more into the cave. Our guides split us into the "gun-ho" group, for people who wanted to move quickly/confidently, and the leisurely group, which I joined and went at a slower/more explained pace. Throughout the cave, we actually caught up to the gun-ho group multiple times, so we were going about the same pace. The first half of the cave was very exciting, and we only had to squeeze through a few spots. I enjoyed climbing up different sets of rocks, and sliding down slabs to get to the next check point. When we got to the halfway point, also the lowest part of the 5% of the cave, we were 80 m under ground. The way back to the surface was definitely more challenging to maneuver. We had to lay on our bellies to pull ourselves through little cracks with our hands & toes, and had to be pulled up onto rock levels above us. We discovered that girls with curves really are not meant to adventure cave after those experiences. After having to squeeze through the small area on my stomach, I had wished I worn 6 sports bras to really minimize the space I took up. It was very cool to see all the little bats in hibernation while we climbed through the cave, and see the unknown species of spiders. The spiders looked like daddy long legs, but were almost see through. Their legs are double jointed, so they can climb almost anywhere they need to, and bend them in any direction. I would have been extremely creeped out, if they weren't so skidish and small.
After about 2 hours underground, we finally reached the surface. Our guides congratulated us on and awesome hike, and rewarded us with candy bars and water. I would also like to give a shout out to Emilly for facing her fears of closed spaces and the dark! (She really faced every one of her fears on this trip, she's a champ) We took a little rest as a group before heading back down the mountain to the van. Then the guides took us to the natural hot springs, only 20 minutes away from the cave.
The hot springs we tucked away on a different mountain, but the water is actually just dumped into a man made pool. The air temperature was probably around 45 degrees at this point, so we were very excited to jump in. The water felt amazing, especially after pushing ourselves through the cave. We ordered pizza, which was absolutely amazing, and was the perfect meal that all of us were craving. We spent about 2 hours in the hot springs, and then had to make our way back to the bee hive huts.
Today was an awesome day, and I'm very glad that I participated in all of the activities. Personally, I have no need to ever adventure cave again in my life, but I'll definitely go on walking tours of them! 
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