Outside of Miyagi--Caves in Iwate

This was a weekend of cars and caves. On Saturday, a group of 15 drove to Iwate, which is the prefecture directly north of Miyagi. It was quite a long drive, especially since we avoided the expressway, opting for the scenic route (because Japanese tolls are quite pricey). It was already dark by the time we got to the place we were staying. That's not to say it was late—it gets dark around 4:30.

We stayed in a surprisingly nice cabin. It was big and warm. The second bit was the really exciting part. We also had kitchen facilities so we made nabe, a type of Japanese stew. One person made a cake in honor of two others' birthdays. And we generally had a good evening of chatting, singing along to music, hanging out, and being easily amused by balloons. In the morning we had pancakes for breakfast.

After our delicious pancake breakfast, we headed toward Ryusendo caves. These caves are famous for having underwater lakes with incredibly clear water. The transparency of the lakes water is a world-record depth of over 40 meters (if you don't understand metric, that converts to 'very deep'). Because its Japan, and this is a famous spot, the caves had catwalks, stairs, and light fixtures. But they were pretty nonetheless. Outside, there was a spout of drinking water from the springs in the cave. Drinking this water is supposed to add three years to your life. It reminded me of when I went camping in Spain and drank real mountain spring water.

After the walk through Ryusendo, (and after stopping for lunch at a gem of an Italian restaurant), we went off the beaten track to another cave. This was the real deal. We were outfitted with helmets that had headlamps, galoshes, and matching jumpsuits. (The helmets were the same ones we used at high ropes at camp). A spry middle-aged woman was our guide. We jogged (in the rain) to the cave—probably the funniest part of the trip.

As I said, this cave was the real deal. Small spaces, scrambling up rocks, sloshing through water, somewhat challenging descents, bats and complete utter darkness except for out headlamps. We turned off the headlamps at one point to experience pitch darkness. This was not the kind of darkness your eyes adjust to—ever. Also a bat flew in my face. But there were amazing stalactites, stalagmites, and other cave-rock structures. Also, we learned that galoshes are not the most stable footwear for rock climbing or for running. But despite this, we all managed to make it back out of that cave (and back to Miyagi) alive.