We had a great time touring Carlsbad Caverns. Last night we watched the bat exodus from the bat cave. It happens around dusk. The bats start swarming out of the cave, and they fly off to feed on insects. We went early to hear the ranger give his presentation, which told a lot of information about the Mexican free tailed bats. Only one percent of bats carry rabies. They are helpful for our environment because they pollenate, eat a lot of insects(half their weight), and spread seeds. They are migratory and spend winters in Mexico and summers in New Mexico. The females have one baby a year, which usually occurs in June. They are mammals and nurse their young, by hanging by their toes from the ceiling of the cave.
Today we went on the most popular self guiding tour of the caverns, the tour of the big room. It took us two hours to walk and see all of that section of the cave. We saw a lot of interesting formations, including some that looked like cones, straws, pillars, villages, temples, doll theaters and much more. At one time we were 750 feet underground. There are over110 caves in the Carlsbad system.
Today we traveled though west Texas and east New Mexico. We stopped at the Guadalupe Mountain National Park and took pictures.We went through El Paso and saw on the other side of the road the Mexican border and a Mexican village. We are staying in Las Cruces, New Mexico and are eating Mexican food tonight since all the towns here have a Mexican flair. Bubba can't wait!
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