Merida, Mexico …. out to the country to see some Cenotes

December 9th

Another outing today, this time we are headed to the town of Homun, which is about 50 km south of Merida.  Once again there was sparse information as to bus schedules so we opted for the collectivo route >  147 MXN (12 CAD). Arrived at 09:00 and by 09:18 with 9 of us aboard, we left. Merida has a traffic issue and it was gridlock pretty well to the outskirts of the city, after which we were fine arriving at the Santa Barbara Cenotes by 10:40 > we had told the driver we were headed there before departing so got deposited right in front of the site.

 

Double-click the rectangle on the black banner on the map for full full-sized map…

There are over 7,000 cenotes in the Yucatan peninsula, these sites were sacred to the ancient Mayans and revered as the entrance to the underworld and sources of life that provided water to sustain life. The science behind the formation of cenotes is complex and beyond the scope of this post. In a nutshell, due to the Yucatan Peninsula being made up of very porous limestone, rainwater was able to seep into these underground chambers, particularly in the radius where the meteorite fell a mere 66 million years ago. Over time, the ceilings of some of these chambers collapsed to reveal these sources of water. Even today some cenotes are yet to be discovered.

The water of many of the cenotes is perfectly clean as it has been filtered through passage through the strata. It is also refreshingly cool with an average temperature of 24 Celsius (75 Fahrenheit). One would say chilly but we found it quite comfortable after the heat and humidity outside.

Homun has quite a few cenotes one can visit but it is a bit of a chore without a car. To save time/energy we are visiting the Santa Barbara Cenotes because we could see 3 of them in one place.

We were surprised to find this to be a full-on, well-organized operation with proper changing rooms, lockers, bathrooms, etc., you have the option to purchase a meal (8 Yucatanean choices) as part of the entry fee, which we did > the fee for us both including the meal plan was 940 MX (74 CAD).

Once changed into our bathing suits,  you don life jackets and take a shower (you are not allowed deodorants, suntan lotion, etc. as they wreak havoc with the water chemistry of the cenotes) then you have the choice of using bicycles or a horse-drawn cart on a railroad to visit the three cenotes (these can be open, semi-open and cavern cenotes)…

We opted for the horse-drawn cart, were instructed to grab hold of a rope over our head, and with a solid jerk, we were off…

Some folks opted for the bicycle route:

To get into this Cenote Chacksikin which is a cavern cenote you descend a wooden staircase to platforms by which you can enter the water, lighting is from the hole above…

 

Then onwards to the next one …Cenote Xoch where you descend via a stone staircase and tunnel, it is considered a semi-open cenote: 

 

Last, there was the open Cenote Cocom:

Then a late lunch which was quite decent after which we asked the front desk to call the collectivo station in Homun and ask them to stop at Santa Barbara…it worked like a charm and 20 minutes later we piled into the van and were on our way, arriving in the Centro Historico around 16:00. Then a quick stop at the Soriana Supermarket, much better than the Super Aki, but a 30-minute walk from the casa and our day was done!

Dinner tonight was Chez Nous as we felt a bottle of wine was in order after another successful outing which we then followed with a dose of  Netflix…