The Adventure In The Cenotes

One of the moto-cabs

On Monday we went on a trip to some cenotes about an hour away from Merida. First we had to take an hour bus ride that was really hot because the air conditioning didn't work and there were a lot of people. When we got to the small town of Cuzama we took two motorcycle taxis (we're not sure why we had to take two because there were four seats, but what can you do??). We took the taxis to a little railroad where horse drawn carts would take us to the cenotes. Cenotes are big water tunnels and pools under ground and they are super beautiful and fun to swim in.

The first horse drawn cart stopped at a little rest stop for the horses. After a little waiting at the horse stop another moto-cab took us to another horse stop and we got on yet another horse drawn cart. The railroad ride was a lot longer than the first one but then we got to the Cenotes. At first I couldn't see the cenotes but when I got closer there was a hole in the ground with a stair case leading down. When we got to the water my brother, my mom and my dad all jumped in right away but I'm a wimp of cold water so I had to test it first, but after awhile I jumped in.

After the first cenote we thought that we were just going to go back but our cart guy took us to another one. To get down to the second cenote was really scary. There was a ladder attached only by a rope and it was kind of far down, like 30-40 feet down into the dark. I eventually went down it and it was beautiful. After a lot of waiting for another group to come down the ladder we went up and went to the last cenote.

A view from above the first cenote

A veiw from below of the second cenote

My brother and I were really confused at first because the only thing we saw was a big tree. We walked around it looking for the Cenote and when we found it I wish we didn't. There was a hole next to the back of the tree and a really wobbly ladder going down into darkness. Our "guide" went down first with some flashlights and turned them on at the bottom. I looked down the hole and realized it wasn't very far down just really dark. When I got down I waited for my mom and dad then the guide led us up a steep slope then down some stairs to the water. At first sight I wasn't sure if it was the right place because of the lack of light. My dad and I felt the water and it wasn't that bad but we didn't really want to go swimming. When we were making our way out of the cave I hit my head on a stalactite and it really hurt.

Climbing down the ladder of the last cenote

Inside the last cenote

After we got back from the Cenotes my mom did some research on what the railroads were used for and found out that people used them to transport henequen. Henequen was used to make rope and it was easily farmed there so some people made a fortune off of it.

Riding the horse drawn cart