Della in Jogja: Cave Tubing

Early this morning Misato, Katarina, Bara, and I decided to go cave tubing! Some of the girls who teach and have Friday's off had tried it the day before and love it, so we decided to give it a shot. We drove an hour outside of Jogja into the countryside and pulled off into a parking lot. Then we were ushered for thirty more minutes to the cave tubing location by a man on a motorcycle for a small fee. Winding through the country roads, we were truly in the middle of no where.

At the main office we each paid a mere $7 for three hours of tubing with a guide. After getting fitted for lifejackets and rubber water shoes, we hopped on the back of a truck with two guides that took us to the caves. We actually got to stand up in the back of the truck bed, which is very common in the countryside. It was a little bit bumpy ride, but fun to experience! Once we arrived at the entrance to the cave, the guide explained that the cave is considered sacred and we had a moment of silence to pray before getting in the water. Sitting in our tubes, we all held on to each other and formed a chain with one guide on either side. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about being in a dark cave and feeling claustrophobic. But, I was quickly so distracted by the beauty of the cave that luckily I forgot all about being scared.

Moving through the cave, our guides explained some of the legends and myths. For instance, if a man touches a certain rock he will be filled with manliness. There was also a place where if the water drips from the ceiling onto a woman she will become more beautiful. Naturally we were all eager to get dripped on and took turns one-by-one. There were also tons and tons of bats on the ceilings. It was a little eerie, but cool to see so many in one place hanging upside down. Some were small and eat insects, while others were large and eat fruit. Towards the end of the cave, there is a spot with an opening in the ceiling creating a sort of skylight. In this area we were allowed to get out and swim around and also jump off some rocks into the water.

After the cave part of the tubing, we hopped back in the flatbed truck and headed to the river. There we tubed down 1.5 kilometers of the river. The water was filled with sediment due to recent rain, but it was such a nice temperature! There were a few really fun rapids, but for the most part it was kind of like a lazy river ride at a water park. Very relaxing! We were also given the opportunity to get out and walk under waterfalls and jump off some rocks, which was a blast! Bara and Katarina were brave enough to jump off the 7 meter platform, but I was way too scared. I stuck to the 4 or 5 meter jump from a rock.

All in all it was a very relaxing day, which was exactly what I needed after a long week of work. Not sure if there's cave tubing in the US, but if there is I'd love to go again!