Crystal cave in Chihuahua

 (text in ENG, HUN)

No, this is no photoshop! This is the true size of the crystals!

  The weather in these two weeks were not so good - cloudy, rainy - so we didn`t go anywhere. Went to Acapulco for a long weekend (on the 4,5,6th), but it`s not worth mentioning. (Except the 60 kms (!) long traffic jam we ran into on the way home. I don`t know if it was the timing (the first long weekend in the year) or the destination, but we`ve learned that we can`t despise the traffic of a metropolis of 25 million. Finally the usually 4 hours drive took us 8,5 hours.)

  So, this time I`d like to write not about a place we`ve been, but about a place we`d like to go. (Unfortunately, it is not open for visitors, so it is just a dream...for now...) This place is the Naica crystal cave in Chihuahua. This cave is not one of with stalagmites, but with transparent crystals - and not usual crystals: 11 meters (!) long and 1 meter of diameter crystals!!!

  The cave has been discovered incidentally in 2000. Two miners were working in 300 meters deep in the mountain, when they found a passage and got into a cave full with crystals!
  The crystal cave was filled with water - the caves were formed about 1-2 million years ago, filled with mineral rich water. As the magma below drew back (about 5-600,000 years ago), the water cooled down to 58C degrees, which gave the optimal condition to start the formation of the selenite crystals. Buried under 300 meters, the crystals were growing undisturbed and so grew to giant size.
  The cave was discovered when the ground level from the mountain at Naica were drawn for more mining (lead and silver are mined here), so the water were drawn from these crystal caves as well.

  There are 4 caves discovered so far - the Cave of Crystals, the Eye of the Queen, the Cave of Candles and the Cave of Swords.

  The Cave of Crystals is probably the most well-known. In this cave about 170 of giant crystals were formed over 100,000s of years. The biggest of it is 11 meters in length and 1 meter in diameter! (Just imagine the few cm-s of crystals you see in jewerly/stone shop and try to magnify it into 11 meters!)




  The Eye of the Queen was named by the explorers, the Delgado brothers. In this 8 diameter cave, the crystal they saw was almost glowing in the darkness and looked like an eye looking at them. Therefore the naming.

 The Cave of Candles is 80 meters long and contain the newest of the crystals. These crystals - on the contrary of the ones in the Cave of Crystals - are tiny and fragile. They are like frosts on candles, and it is believed that those formed in the past 20 years - after the ground water level was lowered and the caves were drained.

  The Cave of Swords got it name after the shapes of the crystals - the average 2 meter long crystals stick out of the walls like swords. This cave has been known by miners over a 100 years as it is the least deep one - "only" 120 meters deep from the ground.



  Unfortunately, these caves cannot be visited by tourists - one reason is that the mine operates 24/7 which wouldn`t allow tourists in the mines. The other (and more important) reason is the environment within the caves - the ave. temperature is 45C degrees, the humidity is 100%, not to mention the toxic gases by which within 30 minutes one would be dead. Therefore, the workers and scientists are wearing oxigen masks and a special cooler suit (made and designed in Italy) with ice pads and cooling system in it. Even so, due to the severe conditions, apparently only 30 minutes is allowed to one to spend in the cave.

  The crystals stopped growing after draining the cave, therefore it would be best to refill the cave and let them grow in the depths. However (only out my selfish desire) I wish the caves would be soon open to public - after all, who wouldn`t want to see such wonder of nature?

You can find the history and nice pictures on the Naica Project HP: www.naica.com.mx
As the site cannot be visited, I chose the pictures from the web and the HP above.

  Mivel az elmúlt két hétben állandóan lógott az eső lába, nem mentünk sehová. Bár január első hétvégéjén Acapulcoban voltunk, nem volt igazán emlitésre méltó. Hacsak azért nem, mert 60 km-es dugóba kerültünk hazafelé. Nem tudom, hogy az időzités miatt-e (ez volt az év első hosszú hétvégéje), vagy az úticél, Acapulco népszerűsége miatt volt ekkora sor, de egyet megtanultunk belőle: nem szabad egy 25 milliós város közlekedését lebecsülni... Végül, a normálisan 4 órás utat 8,5 óra alatt tettük meg, délután 3-kor indultunk és éjjel fél 12-kor értünk haza.

  Szóval, ezen a héten nem arról szeretnék irni, ahol voltunk, hanem ahová szeretnénk egyszer eljutni. (Bár ez egyelőre sajnos csak álom, mivel a helyet turisták nem látogathatják.) Ez a hely pedig a Naica kristály-barlang Chihuahuában.

  A barlangot csak 2000-ben fedezte fel két bányász, a Delgado testvérek. A Naica környékbeli hegyekben régóta bányásznak, főként ezüstöt és ólmot. Az 1980-as években kezdék meg a talajviz lecsapolását, hogy további területeket tárhassanak fel. Az újabb mélységekbe 2000-ben értek, amikoris a fenti bányász testvérpár 300 méteres mélységben véletlenül felfedezte ezt a hatalmas kristályokkal teli barlangot.

  A barlang körülbelül 1-2 millió évvel ezelőtt keletkezhetett, majd feltöltődött ásványi anyagokkal teli vizzel. Ezek utána, ahogy az alant lévő magma hatása csökkent, a viz is kezdett hűlni, mig kb. 500,000 évvel ezelőtt elérte az 58 fokos hőmérsékletet, ezzel ideális környezetet adva a kristályok képződésének. Az azutáni fél millió év alatt a kristályok zavartalanul nőttek a barlangban - ennek köszönhetően, a legnagyobb kristály eléri a 11 métert (!) hosszban és 1 métert átlóban.

  Eddig 4 barlangot fedeztek fel - a "Kristály Barlangot", a "Királynő Szemét", a "Gyertyák Barlangját" és a "Kardok Barlangját".

  A "Kristály Barlang" (Cave of Crystals) talán a leghiresebb a négy közül. Úgy tartják, a barlangban 170 óriás kristály található (eddig 150-et regisztráltak közülük), amelyek több százezer év alatt fejlődtek ki. Közülük is a legnagyobb a fenti, 11 méter hosszú kristály.

  A "Királynő Szeme" (Eye of the Queen) barlangot a felfedező testvérpár nevezte el igy, belépve ugyanis a 8 méter átmérőjű barlangba, a sötétségben ahogy szinte világitott a kristály, úgy tűnt, mintha egy hatalmas szem nézne rájuk.

  A "Gyertyák Barlangja" (Cave of Candles) 80 méter hosszú és a legújabb kristályok találhatók itt. Ezek a kristályok - "Kristály Barlangtól" eltérően - nem hatalmasok, hanem aprók és törékenyek. Ezek a kristályok az elmúlt 20 évben alakulhattak ki, miután lecsapolták a barlangból a talajvizet.

 A "Kardok Barlangja" (Cave of Swords) a kristályok alakja után kapta nevét - a kb. 2 méteres kristályok ugyanis kardokhoz hasonlóan állnak ki a barlang falából. Ezt a barlangot már kb. 100 éve ismerik a bányászok, ugyanis ez van a földszinhez legközelebb ("mindössze" 120 méter mélyen).

  Sajnos a barlagot turisták nem látogathatják. Ennek egyik oka, hogy az ezüstöt és ólmot termelő bánya 24 órában működik, ezért turisták nem léphetnek be oda. A másik (és sokkal nyomósabb) ok a barlangok környezetében rejlik - a barlangban az átlag hőmérséklet 45 fok, a páratartalom 100%, a levegő pedig tele van mérges gázokkal, ezért védőfelszerelés nélkül fél óra alatt meghalna ott az ember. Ezért a munkások és a tudósok oxigénmaszkkal és speciális hűtő-felszerelésben dolgoznak a barlangban, de igy is állitólag csak fél órás időkorlátozással léphetnek be.

  A kristályok növekedése megállt, ahogy lecsapolták a barlangokból a talajvizet, ezért a legjobb lenne, ha újra feltöltenék a barlangokat, hogy a kristályok újból elkezdhessék lassú növekedésüket.

Azonban (csakis saját önző vágyként) igazán örülnék, ha a naicai bányászvállalat találna egy módszert a barlangok általános és biztonságos látogatására, és megnyitnák a barlangokat a publikumnak. Hiszen ki ne lenne kiváncsi a természet eme csodájára?

  A barlangokról egyébként jó információt nyújt a Naica Project honlapja: www.naica.com.mx

 Mivel a barlangot nem lehet látogatni, a fenti képeket az internetről szereztem.

Taxco & Teotenango

 (text in ENG, JPN)

Taxco

  As we can`t stay still for a moment, we packed my homemade apple pie and headed to Taxco this weekend. Taxco was a pleasant surprise for me, as I did not expect much of this city - however, it turned out to be a charming city perfect for strolling and (window)shopping for silver accessories.

  Taxco is about two hours from Mexico City (depending on the traffic in the city of course) - we took route 55 from Toluca, instead of the highway, as we live in Santa Fe (in the western side of the city), so we could avoid the traffic of Mexico City. Route 55 was probably slower than the highway would be, but the beautiful view on the way compensated us.
  Taxco itself is/was a town surrounded and enriched by silver mines - the Spanish came here in the 16. century guided by the smell of the silver, and so the town became flourishing for over a hundred years. Even today, I would swear, the silver selling shops are more than any other shops all together in this city. It is said that the silver here is cheaper than in other cities - I don`t know if it is true, but it`s for sure that there`s more objects and accessories to choose than in any other. Not to mention that the craftsmen here are very good.
  The city itself is built in a hillside, which gives the little charm to the city - because of the ups and downs, the houses are not only built on each other, but there is no base line for the ground, which results that what is one house`s ground floor, that is the other`s 3rd floor. I felt like Alice in Wonderland, because of this "magic" houses. But what really gives charm to this city are the curly, cobble streets and the uniformity of the white walls and orange roofs of the houses.

The main altar

We parked our car in the beginning of the old town and walked around - I think the only particular place on has to see in Taxco is the main square (Plaza Borda) and its church, the Iglesia de Santa Prisca. I think this church is THE typical in Mexico: its style is called Churriguera (I would say "Mexican baroque". We could see in Guanajuato as well, that in the towns where silver mining was the main industry, the churches are particularly rich. (As there was always one person who gained fortunes on the silver.) In Taxco`s case, it was Jose de la Borda, who has this church built between 1751 and 1758. This church is the best example of the Churriguera style - not only the outside of the church is gaudy and rich in ornaments, but it continues in the inside as well. The main altar is over decorated with many, finely carved sculptures and ornaments. There are six other (similarly decorated but smaller) side-altars in the temple.




Taxco is very famous for the procession at Semana Santa (in April) - in this time, hooded people are carrying around piles of thorny branches on their backs or whipping their backs while proceeding around the city to the church, carrying on a hundreds of years old tradition to see and share the passion of Christ.

Sculptures of the procession

  Other than this church we just went where our legs took us. After a few hours of walking, we headed to Ixtapan de la Sal, where our hotel was booked. Ixtapan de la Sal is known of it`s thermal waters, which - unfortunately - we couldn`t experience in the hotel, but it seemed that the city must be a popular tourist spot as in the small town, there were swimming pool, aqua park and many 5 star hotels. It must be a good destination for summer...

  Next day, going back home, we were hesitating to see a stalagmite cave or an ancient ruins - finally, we chose the ruins at Tenango, because we would have to drive back towards Taxco for the caves, whereas Tenango was on our way home.

The ruins of Tenango

  Tenango (and the ruins, Teotenango) is 25kms from Toluca, and the ruins are from around a.C. 900. It is said that Teotenango was founded by migrants from Teotihuacan. Although it was snapping cold because of the wind on the hill, the ruins was very interesting - first of all, it`s huge although only a small part of it is renovated. There is a small museum on the site, which exhibits the objects found on the site. There are photos as well from the renovation (from the 1970`s) which shows that those pyramids were like small hills - worn off and overgrown by grass and small bushes. After the renovations, a part of the ancient city can be seen as it was - there are a few pyramids, base of houses, a soccer field and temazcals (Mexican steam bathes). Among the ruins, the place is sod with grass, which makes the place perfect for a picnic. (If the weather is good.) Despite of the cloudy, windy weather, there were local tourists and - what amazes me - even here, they were taking notes of the signs. I see it everywhere (in museums, at archeological sites, in the zoo(!)) that people (not only children, but adults as well) come with pen and paper and take notes of what is written. I don`t know if it is for a task (homework in shool?) or voluntary, but I think it is a very good idea to remember what you saw.

(For more pictures, click on the main title!)

View of Taxco

　今週末も出かけていました。今回はシティの近くにあるタスコへ行ってきました。旦那は2回目でしたが、私は初めてで、あまり期待しませんでしたが、可愛い街並みに驚きました。
　タスコはメキシコシティから約2時間離れている所にあるので、日帰りでも十分ですが、私達は気分転換のためと、周辺を探検するために、一泊二日で出かけました。メキシコシティの西側に住んでいるので、シティの中心から始まる高速には乗らず、西のトルーカ方面から55号に乗り、タスコへ行きました。 高速より「国道」のほうが時間はかかりましたが、途中の景色が美しく、迂回する価値があったと思います。
　タスコは銀山に囲まれ、16世紀からスペイン人もここへ銀に導かれ、町の何百年に渡る繁栄時代が始まりました。タスコの黄金時代は18世紀であり、この時期に大銀鉱脈が発見され、「シルバーラッシュ」が始まりました。この当時に現在の街並みも出来たことでしょう。
町は標高1800mの山の中腹に建てられからか、不思議な雰囲気です。起伏のある道が続くので、こっちから家の1階に見える所は、あっちから見たら3階に見えます。標準となる高さがないため、「不思議の国のアリス」のような感覚です。この不思議な雰囲気に石畳のデコボコの道や統一された白い壁にオレンジ色の屋根の家々が町の素敵な印象を増しています。

私達は中心（Old town）の近くに車を止めて、ぶらぶら歩いて回りました。（道のほとんどは狭すぎて、車で通れないので、歩くのが一番です。）タスコで必見！というのは、サンタ・プリスカ教会だと思います。銀鉱町の教会なので、とても立派な教会です。1751－1758にかけて建てられた教会はいわゆるチュッリゲラ式です。このチュッリゲラ式はメキシコ独特の建築方式で、簡単に言うと、「メキシカンバロック」です。バロック式のように、彫刻や飾りが豊富で、目が回るほど金が使われていることが特徴です。そして、私の意見では、タスコのこの教会はチュッリゲラ式の代表だと思います。外はもちろん、中の飾りにも唖然とします。メインの祭壇は天井まで金で覆われている多くの彫刻とオーナメントでいっぱいですが、その他も横の祭壇には（より小さいが、同じく立派な）壁飾りが見られます。
サンタプリスカ教会以外に見るべきなのはもちろん銀のショップです。買い物でも、見るだけでも楽しいので、アクセサリー好きな人には最高だと思います。

In a restaurant behind the church

何時間も店から店へぶらぶら歩き果てたら、昼ご飯を済まして、約60キロ離れているイスタパン・デ・ラ・サルという町にあるホテルに向かいました。イスタパン・デ・ラ・サルは温泉で有名な町だそうですが、残念ながら私達のホテルには温泉がなく、試すことができませんでした。しかし、町のなかにアクワ・ワールドやプールなどがあって、夏はきっといい所でしょう。（メキシコの温泉は日本のと違うので、湧いたお湯がどこで、どのように楽しめるか、まだはっきり分かっていません。例えば、この町にも温泉が有名と言いながらも、日本みたいに町中に「温泉」の看板がなく、ホテルで日帰り入浴できるどうかなど、まだ不明な点が多いです。）温泉には入れませんでしたが、ホテルがとても快適で、周りが静かで、イスタパン・デ・ラ・サルで気持ちよく休めました。

日曜日、帰る前に遺跡と洞窟のどちらを見ようか、迷いましたが、結局、洞窟はタスコ方面へ戻らないといけなかったので、帰り道にある遺跡にしました。

Teotenango

  その遺跡はテオテナンゴという、トルーカから約25キロ南にある所です。割とマイナー（？）な遺跡なので、訪問客も少なく、気持ちよく歩きまわれました。ガイドブックで数行しか書いてないにもかかわらず、巨大で立派な遺跡でした。テオテナンゴは900年ごろにテオティワカンの移住者に設立されたそうです。面積がとても広く、いくつかのピラミッドに住宅の遺跡、サッカー場や古代のサウナ（テマスカル）が発掘されています。遺跡は丘の上にあって、下に伸びているテナンゴという町へ続く景色が綺麗です。さらに、綺麗に手入れされている芝生も敷いてあるので、天気がいい時にはピクニックにも最適だと思いました。（当日は前年ながら冷たい風が吹いてかなり寒かったです。）




  　ちなみに、古代メキシコには腰でボールを蹴るサッカーのような遊びがあるのですが、これは生死をかけたゲームだったことをご存知でしょうか？古代メキシコではサッカーが太陽の神への捧げものでした。なぜなら、ボールが弧を描く姿は地球から見る太陽の道と同じようだと思われたからだそうです。そして、必ずしもどこでもそうではなかったようですが、負けたチームは神様へのいけにえとなったそうです。その意味で、サッカーは本当に生死のゲームでした。
サッカー場には石の真ん中に穴が開いた「ゴール」があって、そこにゴムでできたボールを入れると得点になったそうです。しかし、現在のサッカーのようににボールを足で蹴るのではなく、腰でボールを跳ね返すのはかなり難しそうですね…

Soccer field in the back

 （更に写真をご覧になりたい方は、メインタイトルにクリックしてください）