This is David and Frances, an Australian couple that I met on the cave experience, all ready to go in. They had both just finished a six month stint in Cairo, doing missionary work (business development and education, respectively). As a fellow volunteer and interested in going to Cairo, we all got on instantly. Frances' sister, Kathryn, was also on the tour. More of her later.
The start of the cave tour, before the decent. The thermal waters that made Budapest's baths so famous eroded away the limestone to create these hundreds of miles of caves in the hills. During WWII, the caves were used as bomb shelters.
More of Katheryn, as promised. As she was ahead of me on the tour, while crawling through a hole the remark "the view is tremendous" escaped my lips. Luckily, she shared my sense of humor and while crawling through a tight passage called The Birth Canal (from which you emerge upside down, head first), she said "this is what a sperm must feel like."
One cave had a face shaped rock, pronounced to be the god of the cave by our guide. To appease this god, we had to climb up to this depression in the wall, wedge yourself in and clap with your hands and feet three times simultaneously. It was harder that I thought, but I did do it! This is me wedging; photo taken by Frances.
In a route called "The Worm's Hole"
David, emerging from The Worm's Hole. We asked how they turned away larger customers who wouldn't fit. Our guide said that if there were larger people, we would have taken an easier route. Luckily, everyone on the tour was compact and we got to check out the tinier warrens of the caves.
Me, sliding out from a hole.
Katheryn, taking a break. I figured everyone should see her face as well.
The last obstacle, after hours of climbing and crawling, was called the sandwhich. An optional part of the tour, you got to sign a book if you finished. I elected to be the first in, which was a horizontal slit between two flat rocks which required you to pull yourself between them at an upwards angle with your fingertips. It was so tight once you got in it that it freaked my skinny self out, but I and many others did get through it.
The only problem was that my camera, in my side pocket, managed to role beneath my thigh while manuevering through an opening half way up and then most of my weight got put on it. The cover bent slightly and it would no longer open. Some surgery with a swiss army knife later that night, it works, but is currently held together with duct tape.
That thing has now been through caving, moutaineering, rock climbing, scuba diving, every manner of water, snow, sand and dust and is still working. Olympus Weatherproof Mini-D. I highly recommended it.
But, yeah. Caving was cool as hell. Apparently the deepest cave system in the world is in Ukraine (according to the guide) so I'm going to see about doing more when I get back.