Cenotes of the Yucatan

After the Independence Day celebrations my friend Suzie left for Brazil and I stayed back meeting other travelers and seeing more of the Merida area. With a group from the hostel I took a tour of the gorgeous cenotes in the area. Cenotes are underground caves that are partially open and partially submerged in the water table. They are all over the Yucatan peninsula and the ones we saw were a beautiful sight and refreshing break from the heat.

To get there eight of us took a van from the hostel in Merida about a hour outside of town passing several Mayan villages and a few ruins along the way. In the small village where the cenotes were we saw plenty of bike taxis. To get to the three cenotes on our trip we used a horse drawn cart that ran along narrow gauge tracks. Around a hundred years ago the tracks were installed to carry a fibrous plant from nearby fields to a factory that turned them into rope and fabric. A hurricane had destroyed the factory some time ago and the crop was no longer used to produce ropes and fabrics so the carts were converted into carriages to ferry tourists down the tracks to the various cenotes in the area. Tourism is now the main source of income from the community. Before we started on our trip we also had a look at a guy making hammocks. In the Yucatan area hammock sleeping is as common as using a mattress and you can find some of the best hammocks made here.

















Our trip was about 2 and a half to three hours with about a half hour visit at each cenote. The first cenote we made it to had a large opening with stairs down to the crystal clear water. The top of the cavern had stalactites hanging down with birds flying in and out. The water was 30-40 feet deep and where there was sun light you could see all the way down with goggles or a mask.



























The second cenote had a narrow entrance and couple of small openings with one of them letting a mangled mess of roots trail down to the water. There was a set of stairs the led down to a platform that we all jumped off of into the deep, crystal clear water.






















The last cenote that we visited by climbing down a ladder into a narrow hole in the ground that led the water level. It was the dark but there were several openings that shed small amounts of sunlight into the cavern. In this cenote it was dark enough that there were bats flying around.



















After leaving the cenotes we stopped off to get something to eat then made it back to the hostel. Later on we bought a couple bottles of tequila and some beer and went out on the town.



















Hanging roots

Mexican Independence Day

After returning from Celestun to Merida the city was heating up for it's annual Independence Eve and Day celebrations. That evening Merida was kicking off the party about 10 o'clock at night so we all had a pre-Independence Eve party on the balcony of the hotel overlooking the central park, or zocalo, where all the action was taking place. From there we went to get something to eat and find a place in the park to watch the festivities. At one corner of the park there was huge stage set up with opening acts before the governor came came out to really get the party started.






















The whole event was spectacular. Before the governor came out to kick off the party, from the balcony right above us, tons of green, red, and white confetti were thrown from the roof. The street was absolutely covered in a storm of confetti.

















The party went on until about 2am that night then about 8 o'clock the next morning I heard band music, marching, and drumming from the door of the balcony. The hotel room was right above the parade with arguably a better view than what the judges had. That was a fun surprise. The parade started with about 50 different school bands marching by. After that it was mostly civil servants such as the local and state police, fire, army, and navy. It seemed like it was all of the civil services showing off there toys more than anything else but it was a nice show, especially from the hotel balcony with a cup of coffee and breakfast.

Confetti falling at night