We went swimming under the ground

This morning, joined by a brother and sister from Florida we met at the hostel, we decided to see some cenotes.  All over the Yúcatan, the water seeps down and creates these large, deep waterholes.  Eventually the ground above them caves in, or at least enough for people to figure out a way to wander inside.  What you get are these marvellous caves filled with crystal clear water, perfect for swimming.

We took a bus out to the town of Cuzamá, then got in a pedicab to take us another 5 kilometers to an old Hacienda where the tour starts.  Using the train rails left over from the heyday of the Hacienda henequin plant, we got on a horse-pulled cart that took us to three different cenotes in the area.  Standing just feet away from the entrance, you would have overlooked them, the ground is as flat and dusty as everything around it.  But when you look down into the small hole in the ground, you see a unexpected blue world just beneath you.  Two of the cenotes we went to had small staircases to take us down, the other was just a ladder down through a small (and long) hole.  Down inside, the caves were enormous, with huge stalagtites and the roots from trees cascading down a good hundred feet from the ground above down into the water.  The water was clear as glass, with a few fish the only thing obscuring the view down to the bottom of the well, often a good 50 - 75 feet below.  But more amazing was the color, this crazy turquoise blue that would light up whenever the sun could find a small opening to shine through.  I was afraid the water would be cold, but while cool it was definitely refreshing from the hot day outside.

I tried to take some photos, but the light was pretty poor for photo-taking.  We came home exhausted from all the swimming, so we stopped at a food stall and got ten turkey tacos (with avocado and onion and tomato) plus two liter-sized juices for about $5.  Too much food, but it was so delicious I couldn´t stop eating. 


We haven´t made our final plans yet, but I think we will be heading to Campeche tomorrow morning, just to check it out for one night before making our first big travel, a seven hour bus ride down to Palenque. We have loved it here in Mérida though, if ever we decided to move to Mexico, this would probably be our first choice.