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[jewelswimmer59]

So, I haven't updated in a while. Oops. But now I have some time and I should really relate my first spelunking experience to the world. This past Wednesday the group went to Parrano, a small town somewhat north of Orvieto. It was a hazy, cold day, and we were all worried that it would rain, since that would mean that it would be too slippery to go down into the caves. Luckily, however, it remained dry, even if it was a bit chilly and overcast. We got to the center where we had a quick lecture about the history of the area, then we went to get geared up. It was pretty intense- we had a harness that went up around our legs and arms and hooked in the front, then helmets, and finally the ropes with the carabiners. I was really excited, but when we started to put the harnesses on, I started to get a bit scared. I am kind of afraid of heights AND small spaces, both of which we would be dealing with, and from Claudio's description, I could only imagine myself hanging over a great abyss, looking down into nothing but black. I'm pretty sure now that he was just trying to scare us, because it turned out to be mostly just scaling the walls of the canyon that the water had carved out, though there were moments were there was nothing holding me to the rock except the metal line my carabiner was attached to and the metal prongs under my feet, with nothing below me but sky and water, way down below. It was absolutely beautiful though- its amazing what water can do to something as solid as rock. Anyway, we finally made it to the cave that we were actually going into- The Den of the Devil. Appealing name, I know. We all had to shimmy up into this tiny crawl space type opening; I literally dragged myself on my stomach up into this cave. The passageway was really narrow, and not too high, which was hard for me- I'm not really sure how Matt, who is 6'3, made it. It was worth the closeness though, because we then came into a huge cavern. It was beautiful and filled with bats, something a few of the other girls were having problems with. We could hear them squeaking and flying up above us, which I thought was pretty cool. The cavern, as Claudio told us, had been used as a place for cult worship back in the day since it was filled with the reddish clay called ochre which early people associated with blood coming up out of the earth. Pretty cool. Anyway, we pressed on through more small passageways until we came upon another cavern, smaller than the first, but still big. It was filled with stalagmites and stalactites, which were so beautiful. We weren't allowed to touch anything so we wouldn't disturb their formation, since the cave was still "alive", though Claudio told us that it might be on its way out since there wasn't much water there any more thanks to the droughts this past summer. While in that cavern, Claudio had us all turn off our lights on our helmets (yeah, we had helmets with lights on them- it was awesome) so we could appreciate what it was like without any light. It was like being blind- there was no light anywhere. It was really amazing, and it blew me away that people 1,000 years ago had to courage to come into a place like that with only torches and their will.

So basically it was an amazing experience, and one that I will not forget soon. In other news, fall break has officially started and now I am alone in Orvieto, since Sara and Meghan left with Matt yesterday morning for Spain. Its nice to have some time here on my own, so I'm not too bummed out about being alone. Plus, I leave for Paris tomorrow evening, and I am so excited!! I get to see Spence and Boyd!! :-D It's going to be amazing, and I'll be better about updating so you all know how it goes!

~ciao