Beneath the limestone hills of Vallemí

Vallemí, Agencia IP.- The north of Paraguay does not reveal itself immediately. You must arrive slowly, leave behind the hot asphalt, the towns that grow farther apart, and the white dust that gradually covers everything. In Vallemí, stone is not just landscape: it is work, economy, and routine. Limestone hills rise like silent giants while the smoke from the kilns sets the daily rhythm of the area. But beneath that hard, productive surface, there is another north, one that cannot be seen at first glance.

Reaching Vallemí and San Lázaro means entering a territory where rock defines not only the horizon but also everyday life. More than 20 lime-producing companies operate in the area, including the National Cement Industry (INC), established more than 77 years ago, as well as other private plants that employ a large portion of the local population. Agriculture is scarce and subsistence-based; livestock farming is concentrated near the Apa River. Everything seems to revolve around the quarry, controlled blasting, stone crushing, and the constant fire of the kilns.

Just a few kilometers away from this industrial intensity, another experience begins. There, we meet Cinthia Carolina Rivas, a speleologist and guide specialized in cave tourism, officially certified by the National Tourism Secretariat (Senatur). Owner of the agencies «Paseomi Cicloaventurate» and «Ikatu Turismo Aventura», she knows this underground world with the precision of someone who has explored it for years. Before entering, she explains that the region’s entire geological formation is composed of sedimentary limestone rocks. In the district of San Lázaro alone, there are at least thirteen hills made up of different types of limestone, dolomite, and marble. It is the same stone that sustains the local economy, but also the one that, over millions of years, was patiently sculpted by water.

Entering the Santa Caverna allows no improvisation. Under Cinthia’s guidance, the descent is done carefully: one foot first, then the other, finding the right angle, holding on firmly. From that moment on, haste is left behind. Entering means abandoning the logic of the surface. Silence becomes an unspoken rule, and every step demands attention.

Once inside, the landscape changes completely. Stalactites and stalagmites appear like natural sculptures that grew drop by drop in a process so slow it is difficult to grasp: a single centimeter can take between one hundred and one hundred fifty years to form. Some structures reach several meters in height, placing them on a timescale almost impossible to imagine. Science confirms what the eye intuits: these formations began to take shape some 65 million years ago.

At greater depths, we are told, the concentration of minerals increases. Iron in its natural state, calcite, and other compounds remain intact within this closed system. Seeing iron as a mineral before it becomes metal helps explain why this region is key to cement production and why its subsurface is so fragile.

Among all the formations, one stops the group. They call it «the Saint»: a stalagmite whose silhouette resembles a religious figure, giving the cave its name. In such an ancient and silent space, imagination finds fertile ground.

The route is demanding. There are narrow passages, sections where crawling is necessary, and damp galleries that force slow progress. During the rainy season, especially around Holy Week, some areas become completely flooded, and access is restricted. Inside the cave, nothing can be touched or removed. «The only footprints allowed are those left by human passage,» Cinthia warns. Photographs are permitted, but without flash: the underground biodiversity, home to bats, tarantulas, and other species adapted to darkness, demands respect.

As we move through the galleries, Cinthia reminds us that this is not the only underground system in the north. From Vallemí, visitors can also access routes such as Caverna 54, Kamba Hopo, aquatic ecotourism experiences, and other lesser-known caves, routes that today form part of an emerging offer of nature and adventure tourism, with costs varying according to difficulty and type of experience.

The site’s fragility is not merely a perception. In 2008, the Latin American Speleological Federation conducted scientific studies in the Santa Caverna with specialists from several countries. The conclusions were unequivocal: it is one of the caves with the greatest diversity of geological formations and biological life in the region, with structures dating back some 65 million years.

Beyond being a tourist attraction or an adventure experience, Santa Caverna is a gateway to a complex territory where the geological past, the industrial present, and the environmental future overlap. Descending into it means understanding that beneath the quarried stone lies a millennia-old memory that still endures.

This journey, however, does not end here. Because beyond the cave, the north holds other secrets: Kamba Hopo, with its historical and symbolic weight, and the Tagatiyá stream, where stone meets water once again, this time under the open sky.

Jazmín Romero

Fuente de esta noticia: https://www.ip.gov.py/ip/2025/12/27/beneath-the-limestone-hills-of-vallemi/

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