Grutas de Garcia and Xenpal

Preface: 
Had been to 18 km mountain running trail organized by MTY running trails in the paths of Grutas de garcia. It was across Picachous El Fraile mountain range and was amazing. But could not visit the caves in Garcia as my mobile battery had exhausted during the run. So, had the plan to visit it once again.

How to reach Grutas de Garcia? 

Entrance to Grutas de Garcia

 Grutas de Garcia is a cave which is located at a distance of approx 40 km from the City of Monterrey(exact distance varies based on the part of Monterrey where you are located) and can be covered in half day time using Uber. Uber takes around 40-45 mins to reach there and you may have to pay a charge from 260-310 pesos for an Uber X. Getting a return cab from there would be difficult. So, its better to ask the same guy to stay there and he would ask you for an waiting charge of 100 pesos per hour. If you are planning to see Xen pal park as well which is nearby, he might agree for waiting charge of 50 per hour. So, you can bargain accordingly and can finish whole trip within 800 pesos for 3-4 people. So, let us come to the details of Grutas de garcia


Grutas de Garcia:

Entry Fee at the Grutas de garcia: 
There are 2 ways to get to the top
1. Sidewalk/Vereda : 50 pesos per head
2. Ropeway/Teleferico: 80 pesos per head


Sidewalk:
is bit steep and you may need approx 1.5 hours to 2 hours to reach the top by walking across the zigzag cement path. Its quite good for adventurous people as you can enjoy the views
better

Zigzag sidewalks in Grutas de garcia

Ropeway in Garcia

Ropeway:
It is recommended for the people who want to go see the caves directly or don't have time/energy to walk for 2 hours. Waiting time for the cable car can be between 15-20 minutes. It's good to go in the morning as there are less queues in ticket counter or in ropeway

Working hours: 09 AM to 5 PM all days

Various shapes in Grutas de garcia

Exploring the Grutas de garcia: 
It has rocks of various shapes. With the colourful LED lamps and lightings they look amazing. They allow you in batches of approx 20-30 people and there would be a guide for each batch to explain about the rocks. All major structures have their names written in Spanish and you can translate that later to understand what they are. My Mexican friends were telling that the explanation given by the guide for our batch was rather hilarious and not at all related to the significance of the structure. So, don't worry if you don't understand what the guide says :-) Anyhow, you are not paying anything extra for the guide. I am putting the major structures in Grutas de garcia so that you can recognise them once you visit. 

Skeleton shape at the entrance

Rocks illuminated by colour lights. Must place for pics

You can see Eiffel tower and many such objects as per your imagination

in some places it gets steep

The Crucifier

They name it as Eighth wonder. Ever wondered, how many eighth wonders are there ? 

Amazing with light

Dead man's hand

Fossils of sea animals. but how did they came inside the caves ? !

Closer look at the hands

See some shapes ? so do I

El Gorilla/Monkey Head

La Cabeza Del burro/The donkey's head

El Camello/The Camel. 

The shape of Mummy/Budda or whatever you call like. The bottom of it is named as El capilia/The chapel

Chapel and hell are related ? 

If there is hell, there should be heaven as well. Yes. that is having a distance of 5-10 meters in Garica :-) 

Salon Del Aire/The Air chamber. Not the gas chamber guys :-) Place to get aerated as its the first point while entering the caves and last point during exit

Xenpal: 
it can be termed as some Private mini zoo with nice cafeteria and place to sit and eat. So, you can always come here after visiting Grutas de garcia and Enjoy the company of animals like Giraffe,Camel, Kangaroos Horse,Deer, Zibra, Sheep, lambs, some variety of birds and cows.

Fees
Entry fee: 80 pesos
Horse Ride:40 pesos Extra
Camel Ride: 40 pesos Extra
Unless you are very crazy about Horse ride or Camel ride, i don't recommend taking it. both of them are small and i did not like it personally. Instead you can take the 20 peso carrots they sell outside and enjoy feeding it to Kangaroo , Giraffe, Zebras inside
You can also take 1 peso Maize which is available inside and feed the chicken yourself. Be a bit care full with the Giraffe Rafa as he turns his head suddenly and might come near you in search of food
when you are in an attempt to take selfie and not noticing him standing beneath you.

Some pics from there as well for the people interested to visit there

View of the Grutas de garcia hills from Xenpal

Peacoks at Xenpal

See Rafa preparing for Surprise while Tito in the right is enjoying the show

Rafa in action :-) 

You wanna a pic ? 

Will come near you only when you give carrot ;-)

Some cutie pie at Xenpa

We started at 9 from Home and could come out of Garcia by 11:25. Could come complete Xenpal by 2:30 and had lunch over there. By 3 , we could leave from there and reach home by 4:45. It was a good trip indeed and looking forward for next explorations near Monterrey