Krishna Bus Tour

Part 23-Carlsbad Caverns

Our tour was almost over. I would be home in a week and I'd have to find work, maybe drive a freight truck. It was starting to weigh on me.

"Today we get to see Carlsbad Caverns." Manu said, "One more item to check off your list. Bring warm clothes. It's fifty-seven degrees down there." We were sweating in the black asphalt parking area surrounded by cactus and the bus with no air.

Inside the visitor center Manu announced, "We'll take the elevator 750 feet down. Read the signs and stay on the trail. Any sounds carry a long way in the cave, so don't shout—you're supposed to w-h-i-s-p-e-r."

***

Deep underground was respectful silence, like an air conditioned church. We came around a bend and the great room opened up,"Oh my Krishna!" one of the girls whispered.

"Wow!"

"How did this happen?"

Manu quietly repeated what the park ranger had said, "These grow about a half inch every eighty years."

"So that thing's really old."

We stayed on the path.

"If you touch the rocks, the ranger said they stop growing."

Blobs of stone looked like giant people meeting under chandeliers. Signs on the walkway gave creative names and explained how they were formed. A thousand feet underground we saw the Chinese Theater, Soda Straws, and Drapery.

"This stuff is so weird," I whispered. "How do they design this stuff?"

Pranaya Keli said, "Krishna is an amazing artist."

"Do you really think Krishna designed this? It's just water dripping in a dark cave. Why would he give it so much attention? Who's going to see it?"

She shrugged. "It's no big deal for him."

"OK. You talked me into it. Now it's even more amazing."

Krishna Prema tapped my shoulder. "We're supposed to meet by the elevator in about ten minutes."

"Oh dang. It will take us that long to get there."

"Yeah, we'd better turn back."

"We're never going to know what's around that bend." I pointed ahead.

"It's tempting."

"I think we can do it."

"If we walk fast."

***

In the daylight, we thawed quickly. It was ninety degrees on the shady side of the bus.

We ate dinner on the blue tarp. Manu had an announcement. "We can leave right after dinner or watch the bats come out of the cave after dark. Is that something you'd like to see?"

"Bats! Yeah! Bats!"

Even the girls were into it, "Bats are cute. I love bats!"

***

Tourists found their seats in the bat arena.

The ranger asked, "Does anyone know anything about bats? Anything at all? ... yes, you over there." He passed a microphone to a five-year-old boy. The audience applauded his speech and the ranger encouraged him to continue.

More tourists found their seats in the amphitheater, the sky darkened and the ranger spoke about bats, their history, their challenges, how they fly, how they eat. He took off his hat, "How many do you think would fit in this hat?"

People suggested. "Ten? OK, that's a good guess. Anyone else? Twenty? That's a good guess; keep going. Actually, it's seventy. They're not very big, and they're delicate. Little things affect their population: diseases, weather, loss of habitat. This is one of the biggest swarms of bats in the US. You get to see something not available to many, so please," he whispered, "complete silence." Then he went back to his normal voice, "The bats have been flying out of this cave for centuries. We don't want to do anything to make them change their minds."

A couple bats fluttered like butterflies, the ranger turned off his microphone and sat with two hundred silent tourists watching the swarm. The ranger had said if you're lucky, they'll fly close and you'll feel their wings beat the air over your head.

Bats circled, climbed, gaining altitude to divebomb insects at high speed.

Girls sighed, in love with three hundred thousand cute little bats.

***

Walking back to the bus I said, "I had a question for the ranger, but he ran out of time."

"He knew a lot," Krishna Prema said. "What did you want to ask him?"

"I was going to ask him why Batman took off his cape."

"Is there an answer?"

"Of course. He had to go to the Bat room."