Cenotes Of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsular: Livelihood Of The Mayans And Travelers Pleasure

When you think of Eastern Mexico, you probably think of the warm waters of the turquoise Caribbean sea. Cancun, Puerto Morelos, Tulum, ... and without doubt it's one of the finest stretches of white-sanded beaches in the world. But there is more to it. The Yucatan Peninsular sits on a giant limestone shelf and is flat like a pancake. The world's largest freshwater reservoir is hidden beneath. The consequence of this unique geology is the existence of thousands of sinkholes called 'Cenotes' where the limestone ceiling collapsed giving access to a giant aquifer.      

So let me give you an impression first. This one is Cenote Manati and has an underground connection to the ocean, thus you have freshwater mixed with saltwater complemented by mangrove forest with tons of fish ready to be discovered. Snorkel gear is always your number one accessory when visiting a Cenote.  

Most of these Cenotes are connected underground and bold divers may dive from one Cenote to the next. To give you a rough idea what such an underground system looks like take a look at this map (Source)  

You can see how these systems weave through the Yucatan underworld. Cenotes were the reason the Mayan civilization thrived. As there are no rivers in the Northern part of the peninsular, the only source of water is this underground aquifer. The Mayans used it for irrigation purposes and even carried out sacrifice rituals seeing Cenotes as a 'threshold to the spiritual world'.  

Cenotes are not evenly distributed throughout the peninsular, but show a distinct pattern indicating that an asteroid was responsible for collapse of these sinkholes. (Source). Blue dots represent Cenotes. 

So now let me show you some I visited last year. Let's start with Cenote Azul near Playa Del Carmen which is surrounded by beautiful jungle.  

Just a short hike away is Cenote Cristalino. Extremely shallow with an amazing variety of fish and big lizards. They will start to eat your skin if you stop moving. Free body care.  

In stark contrast is a Cenote near Valladolid which basically is an underground cave.  

Not far away you have another one with 'window' where roots try to reach the water surface from the outside. There are also black blind scary fish :-)  

And finally one of the most popular ones. Gran Cenote - we just caught a turtle laying eggs. It really seems like hard work.  

Hope you liked it. In case you're planning to visit the Yucatan Peninsular anytime soon and want to know how to find all these amazing places, feel free to ask me in the comment section.  

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