I was down there last week. I ignored the kids who clearly wished to sell us on car watching or guiding or something. The upper entrance to the cave seemed pretty simple to me. No one mentioned charging for pictures, and everyone was friendly. It's a little awkward having to enter the cave from above, but I guess it makes some sense that the village that contains the cave also contains the entrance (not sure that's exactly what's going on).
Having to be put on a leashed to peek over the edge seemed a bit strange, though some non-cavers in the group appreciated the security it provided. I found it to be inconvenient because only one or two people could peek down at a time. And the guy who held your leash said at the end that there is no charge for security steps, which is code for "tips accepted." So we tipped him. The cave still very much pleases, and the platforms are well-away from the pit. We also visited Micos, Tamul, Tambaque, Cueva Linda, Las Pozas, Xilitla, Tamtoc (newly opened ruins--thanks for the idea, Walt), and La Pesca. While there was plenty of new development around most of these since the last time I was there, all seem to be intact and valued by the developers. Seeing change is hard, I know, but I felt pretty okay with the kinds of changes I saw at these tourist sites. Underneath the superficial developments, it's the same old Huasteca. Dale > From: Greg Passmore <[email protected]> > Subject: [Texascavers] Golondrinas update > To: [email protected] > Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 9:40 PM > Went to Golondrinas a couple times > this week and there is a lot of new commercial > activity. Three local communities are in a dispute > about who controls access to the cave. The older, > lower entrance is now closed and the upper entrance is very > commercial (think US border crossing). Fees are > charged for looking in the pit, rappelling, etc. We > were told our photography would cost us $500 US per person. > We have visited many caves in the Xilitla area over the last > two weeks and have had to pay fees for parking, rappelling > and looking. Nothing necessarily bad about financially > helping the locals, but all the caution tape, wooden > platforms and scores of kids asking for money to watch your > car have dramatically changed the personality of the local > experience. Just a FYI for anyone coming down here. > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit our website: http://texascavers.com > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
