Day 40 - Budapest

I had intended on leaving today to head to Vienna, but I decided to stay one more day because I really wanted to go caving. I had seen several fliers for it and everyone who had done it had recommended it highly. It was a rainy day and caving wasn't until 3pm, so I slept in and then went to a market for some food. Thank God they put pictures on the labels of what is actually inside the packaging.

I left the hostel with Anita from Sydney and when we got to the meeting spot we met Gavin and Paul from Liverpool, Bec from rural Australia, and Brendan from Sydney. Our guide was Szilard from Budapest.

This would turn out to be one of the cooler things I've ever done. The entrance to the caves is just outside Buda and they expand for miles in every direction. We were all pretty gung-ho about it so we decided to take the most difficult route allowed. We descended to about 50 meters at our deepest point, and when we turned off our headlamps there you literally could not see your hand in front of your face. It was the darkest dark I have ever seen. We all stayed as quiet as possible and found it to be the most quiet quiet we had ever (un)heard.

Another point of interest the Szillard had told us about was called the "Winnie the Pooh Hole," which was a small hole in the rock that people skinnier than me could crawl through. Szillard demostrated, I became stuck. I did try hard enough to get a pretty nasty bruise on my hip from trying to cram myself through, but the rocks are unforgiving.















Check out these other attractions inside the caves








a billion year old oyster












"the spirit of the caves"














a creepy face
























"the library"












"the elephant"












On our way out we went through the most difficult passage in the caves, a paper thin section appropriately named "the sandwhich." While Szilard was explaining how this crevace curved and some points on how to navigate it, I was looking for a way to go. I didn't see any way out of the spot we were in except the way we just came. Then Szilly pointed to a crack and the rock and told me to "give it a go." I scoffed, Bec giggled, and Szillard disappeared into the crack and we heard a muffled "Come on in now. You have to turn your head to the left." And he was right. When you begin to crawl, you only fit if you turn your head to the left. Once you are in, there isnt room to switch it for another 3 feet. Now, 3 feet may not sound like much, but the entire sandwich is only about 12 feet long and took me, the most skilled beside Szilly, about 15 minutes to crawl through. There was no room to bend an elbow or raise a leg. I was literally inching along using little more than my fingers and toes. Once I was through, I felt like I had just done 100 situps and sprinted a mile with my backpack on. It was exhausting and I was soaked in sweat. But it was thrilling and the sense of accomplishment was worth the entire struggle. Once all the way through, there is a hidden notebook and pen for the proud few who make it through to sign. I couldn't manage a pic inside the sandwhich but here is what it looked like from the outside: