lily@underthejungle.com
CONTACT LILY
lily@underthejungle.com
LILY QUICK STATS
• TDI Cave and Sidemount Instructor
• From Mexico City
• Lived in Playa del Carmen Since 2008
• Languages: English, Spanish
PHILOSOPHY
Don’t be fooled by the fact that I am a dreamy soul. I like to be methodical and demand the best of myself when diving. In the same way, I demand that my students give their best effort during their learning process. I know that each student’s way of learning is different and I do everything in my power so that my way of teaching fits in with them.
I know that I cannot demand perfection in the first execution, however, when you put all your effort into learning and perfecting your processes, it shows, and thus little by little we can achieve excellence in what we do.
Cave diving requires a lot of mental and physical control. It teaches us to restructure our learning processes, push our own limits, and grow. Each time we dive and train, we can see a wider horizon and try to reach it. Nothing is left to luck, every single movement is an informed and deliberate decision.
HOW DID YOU START DIVING?
I was born in Mexico City. My parents were divers long before I was born, but living in Mexico City, the possibility of becoming a diver never crossed my mind. Even so, my life had always involved water. I started swimming from a very young age, and every family vacation took me to places where I could swim, snorkel, and be in contact with nature. I was 25 when I first tried scuba diving, and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I was still living in Mexico City, but I managed to join a group of divers who did weekly practices, and who took trips every three months to paradisiacal places for scuba diving.
In 2008, in one of those trips took me to Playa del Carmen. I was in awe of this place. We did two dives in Cenote Dos Ojos and I thought I never wanted to get out of the water. That same day, I quit my job in Mexico City over the phone and looked for an apartment and a job in Playa. From there, the rest is history. I became an open water scuba instructor in 2009 and have worked in the Mexican Caribbean since then, either in Cozumel, Cancun, or Majahual. My love of scuba diving led me to get a job in Egypt, where I lived for almost two full years directing live-aboard boat trips in the Red Sea. It was such a wonderful experience that even when I returned to Mexico, I continued working seasonally for the same company in Egypt for five years, and divided my time between Playa del Carmen and the Red Sea.
OCEAN OR CENOTES?
I will never really be able to make a comparison between the two. The only thing they have in common is that I’m underwater, but everything else is completely different. Diving in the sea makes me feel relaxed and free. It feeds the dreamy part of me, and I am a bit of a dreamer. I like to contemplate nature and my mind wanders between the smallest details that I can perceive. The sea feeds this need for contemplation and wonder. It can be said that it is my dreamy fantasy state. In the cave, my mental state is completely different. I am focused, in control, I can shut out absolutely everything that disturbs my mind and just be me. It is almost like a meditative state of awareness, and it fascinates and amazes me.
Although I love to dive in the sea, my passion for caves grows every time I dive in them. It’s not just about what I see when I’m diving. I really enjoy each of the moments before entering the water and even going out and debriefing on the dive. I love that it is an activity that requires a methodical and structured process and at the same time, with experience and skills, grants great freedom.
Knowing that under my feet are immense cave systems also feeds my dreaming mind. Caves exist regardless of whether we dive in them or not. But at the moment we get in and light them up with our lights, it’s like waking them up and bringing them to life. All those colors, shapes, and shades watching us passing by and going back to sleep once we are gone. Sleeping but not dead, pitch black but alive. The caves give me a sense of permanence as they have been forming for millions of years, they have been there long before mankind existed and will remain long after our own extinction.
WHY UNDER THE JUNGLE?
In 2016 I wanted to take the Stage Cave and Deco Procedures courses. As you might imagine, during my research for instructor selection, I came across excellent instructors who turned out to be arrogant or display a macho attitude. Someone suggested me to speak to Vincent. At first, I had my doubts since my experiences with the French instructors in the area had been somewhat bad, however, I contacted him and was able to talk with him about my goals. Contrary to what I expected, I felt very confident with his personality. Since then, I have been orbiting Under the Jungle. I have been working as a freelancer for the store, and although I had wanted to work permanently, my constant trips to Egypt had prevented me from doing so.
I like everything about Under the Jungle. I consider Nat and Vince the best instructors I have ever met. They have vast experience and deep knowledge of caves, a great focus on detail and excellence, they are passionate about diving and teaching and their quality standards are the highest. But all this would mean nothing to me if they didn’t have something very important: HUMILITY.
