Our first caving adventure in Zatyzine, Ukraine

We planned to go hiking on the Ukraine Independence Holiday weekend with our CS host, Andrii in Ivano Frankivsk, however, as a mountain guide, he suddenly got a job appointment for a 3 days trip in the Carpathian mountain.  

To our pleasant surprise, Andrii introduced and arranged us to spend our weekend with his friends, a couple who moved to the mountain in Zatyzine, some 2 hours drive away.

 

We were accompanied by another CS-er from Hong Kong, who was staying with Andrii on the same night. And Chin Wang is the first Hong Kong couchsurfer we met on our trip.

Jeremy waited for us at the bus stop and we were led into the mountain, among bushes and forest. After walking for about 20 minutes, we finally arrived their cozy little house among the forest, with only one or two neighbors afar.

Jeremy and Svitlana are excited to have guests and are very happy to meet us. 

They believed in the benefit of eating food uncooked and preferred eating everything raw including meat and vegetables. Hence, our first lunch together was salad and bread.

We had some exchange and learnt that  the couple are speleologist, serious cavers who had spent as long as one week continuously underground! They took almost a whole year making maps of their cave, discovering virgin passages and naming them with their team. They moved to the mountain for the love of caves and nature. 

In fact, there are many caves in Ukraine, especially in that area. We are told that when there is a patch of trees in the middle of the farm field, it means there is a cave underground! As they cannot harvest in a hole. 

After lunch, they took us out to explore some gypsum caves nearby. 

We are advised to wear enough warm clothes and something that can get dirty, with hiking boots ideally, plus head lamp. 

Svitlana is the one who led her husband into caving and she is also a cave guide, who take amateur spelunkers to caving adventure. She is very educational in teaching us about the structure of caves, how to move our body inside the cave safely, how to use equipments for cave diving and how to preserve the minerals, by not touching them. 

We hiked around the mountain after a short drive from their home and there are more than five caves at least. Unfortunately, they were covered by mud and trash, until we found a clean entrance that is more deserted.  Svitlana is an adventurer, she is always the first one trying to get in and explore how it is like.  After a few attempt, she eventually  found one in a good condition for beginners, like us, to try. 

The entrance of the cave was small and the path that followed was even smaller.  We have to squeeze ourselves in.  There were some 10cm big spiders inside the cave, near the entrance, then some baby bats. But further inside, there were only rocks, crystals without insects nor animals.   Moving further in, there was a really difficult part that need to crawl like a worm, then we have to climb down by 1.5m to find a wide open area. We climbed one by one slowly, while Adley came last.  We were all standing in the cave looking, but he suddenly fell down among us! Luckily, there was no injury! Just cramp.

It was a wonderful experience to try caving, the cave was dark, cool and quiet. In fact, it was the same cool temperature all through the year, somewhere around 15 degree Celsius I suppose. But I can't imagine living inside the cave for a whole week!  I appreciate the calmness inside the cave but I can't wait coming outside to see the sun.  

We tried a second one with a huge entrance and not very deep inside. That's quite enough for me for my first time and all I can think of are: hot shower, laundry and a warm dinner!

百玩不厭的Huascaran國家公園 (下) - 雪山與藍湖@Santa Cruz Trek

 第二天導遊把Coca茶送進營並叫我們走床，果然是豪華團的待遇。吃過麵包夾煎蛋加熱朱古力(後者對我更重要)作早餐，我們出發了。小事一樁: 早上辦大事，原來四周的牛會對米田共虎視眈眈，還好我挖洞埋了再放大石壓住厠紙帶走，它們沒發掘寶，但是沿途的營地我看到不少行山客如厠後的厠紙，其實導遊也不大教育怎樣Leave No Trace. 廚師也在河邊倒食物渣滓。這大自然很容易被旅遊業破壞。

第 二天行程是上山至Punta Union Pass，是這旅程最辛苦的一天。來自挪威的一對隊友可能不適應高原空氣，覺得不太舒服和以色列女隊友走在最後，相對之下老婆走得不慢在中間位置 (經過玻利維亞的訓練，應付高原容易多了，老婆好嘢)。沿途看着美麗的雪山及可供攀爬的石面，還有羣山中的藍湖，特別是走到行程最高點的Punta Union Pass，雪山下的那個藍湖美得目不暇給，我們在這裏留了大半小時看得發呆。 下山到Arhuaycocha附近的營地 (當然這難不到我倆，很快我們便走到最頭)，剛好是日落時候，看着四周的雪山頂被染成金色。這天行程感覺滿足，加上quinoa湯和蔬菜煮雞(我們可以放 心吃所有東西)，我們感到很享受，晚上還有狗女睡在營幕門口當暖爐呢。她已經從出發的小村跟着，看來我們有餘吃給她，這是她覓食的方法。

第三天我們鑽上Arhuaycocha河谷看著名雪山Alamayo及冰川形成的冰湖，這是近觀的美。同行的捷克仔除哂衫跳進冰湖。眼見湖面的冰還在浮着，水大寒冷，我也沒有替換的衣物，而且還有大半天的路要走(這天的路程最長的，踓然是下山路)，我還是不想下水了。跟着我們沿路下山，看着對面Artesonraju雪山，導遊說這是Paramount Picture電影公司標誌的那個雪山；我估這只是傳聞罷了，但看上去也很像。途中經過一塊大石很適合bouldering, 喜歡攀石的導遊很快就爬上頂，我也試試爬，但石面太多青苔，而且我的行山鞋也快支離破碎，無謂辛苦它們了。

走着走着，我們一行四個(包括芝加哥女和捷克仔)抛離從的一班團友太久，我們停下來等他們，又派人往回走找也找不着，一等就等四十五分鐘，我們覺得不妥，只有繼續行在前面的湖等他們。下山就看到有些怨氣的導遊走上來，問我們為何不知要繼續走，原來他們一行人走捷徑，在我們等他們時已過了我們。一行人重新匯合，我們沿像沙漠般的河谷底往 湖進發。導遊說在雨季會有冰川氾濫至此，可以淹及兩岸，現在只有一遍乾地及中間的一條河。

到達湖，看見廚師從營地走回來準備午餐，是麵包(?!)及呑拿魚沙律，我們太肚餓了，相信甚麼細菌也可以被消化了，所以不理衛生情況照吃如是。之後的行程是漫長的緩緩下山路，中間經過Llamacora營地，還在等後面的團友時, 我拿起口琴吃。有兩個來自意大利的年長男士拿著剛買的威士忌走過來，其中一個於廿年前在香港工作，問及現在香港的情況，我當然告訴他壞的: 港共走狗及儡侶治港、自由空間萎縮、大部份港人繼續政治冷、作繭自縳，及法治精神被蠶食。他問為何我不離開，我便告訴他們這就是我們開始這個旅程的其中一個原因，他還竪起拇指讚表示支持呢。

到了營地已經是六時，天也快黑，但我們仍看到右邊山壁像Machu Picchu和很高的瀑布。本以為最後一天離開營地之前可以走去瀑布看看。但第四天早上我們被急叫起床。因為芝加哥女整夜也不舒服，早上很虛脫，要在參扶下早些離開及快到車路連接的地方Cashapampa。我們各人輪流扶她下山，約三小時後到了Santa Cruz trek的終點Cashapampa。我們才發覺這條行山線要順時針走的話，是一開始的不斷上山至Punta Union Pass，比我們的逆時針走辛苦很多。

Santa Cruz Trek Map: 這裏是否不是終點,而是起點?

離開時看到一遍quinua 田

四日三夜的旅程很舒服，不要負重，有人服侍周到，但不太是我杯茶。下次重遊舊地我會選擇自己背包露營，自由自在得多，況且營地附近有小賣店賣食物，慳磅之餘又可以促進小村經濟(雖然一定會貴些)。景色而言，我們所看到的是絶頂美景。但這只是一小部份，我真的有想搬來這兒的衝動，好好享受這裏的山。