We leave Cancun for a several-day loop when in each stop Mayan ruins stand. But on the way and to cut down the stifling heat of the day, a network of water-filled sinkholes fed by subterranean rivers offers a bath of salutary coolness. The area around the town of Valladolid gathers three of the most beautiful cenotes, the cenote Zaci in the heart of the city, the cenote Dzitnup Xkeken where the stalactites are reflected in the calm and pure waters of the grottoe and the cenote Samula where a light shaft gushes out from the ceiling and a poplar, settled at the edge of this hole, lets its roots gliding over several meters down to the sapphire-tinted water.
On the road to Chichen Itza, we divert from this aquatic pleasures once for the Balankanche grottoes. This long dimly-lit cavity seeps under the ground in a overheated atmosphere. We end this subterranean stroll by diving again into another cenote, the Ik Kil one, a genuine natural swimming pool where the surrounding wall doesn't array itself in blue mosaics but a smooth rock inlaid with moss and thin hanging roots.
RTW2-Mexico
Thursday 13 November 2008
bathing into the northern cenotes
By dorian on Thursday 13 November 2008, 13:44
Tuesday 11 November 2008
Into the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean Sea
By dorian on Tuesday 11 November 2008, 13:39
As I take my plane towards Los Angeles where I stop over in, I turn over one of the most beautiful leaf of my round-the-world trip which will have lasted almost 2 months from Fiji to Vanuatu and Hawaii. An entirely blue leaf smudged with a cluster of intoxicating ink stains like all these islands, archipelagos and atolls of the Pacific Ocean. But, unlike the blackish medallions which splashed over my leaf, these bits of lands have their history, their people, their traditions often blending exhilaration and laid-back atmosphere. Before leaving for my long trip, all these islands seemed unreachable and hard to pinpoint on a map, my view evolved and I filled up my pouch of memories for a whole life. From now on, I change scenery as I land in the tumultuous city of Cancun where I meet again Armelle after eleven weeks of separation.
During the 70's, property developers and government were seeking a place on the Caribbean coast to create the counterpart of Acapulco (seaside town on the Pacific). They set their heart on a long strip of white sand, they built roads and infrastructures, buried pipes to bring drinkable water and established Cancun. Today, despite the regular cyclones causing terrible damages, the touristic success is considerable and widely goes beyond the of-that-time property developers' forecasts. The disfigured coastline by the hideous concrete-made parallelepipeds doesn't take away the main thing in any way : a plaster-like sand watered by a turquoise-blue water.
Since we arrived, the Mexicans are really nice and very far from the caricature of the nasty Latino who haunts the Hollywood movies. However, despite the hospitality of the people, a seaside resort remains a seaside resort. That's fortunately possible to escape these horrible palaces by taking a shuttle which drops us off on the soothing isla mujeres, half an hour from mainland. On the spot, the ambiance is relaxed and to be in fashion, we must drive a golf cart. No risk to exceed the speed limit but we drive at a pleasing pace to discover all the corners of the island. At the south point, dinosaur-like iguanas warm themselves up on the sun-kissed stones. Down below, this turquoise, which printed into our retinas, invites to swim. Not the last bath for sure into an about 28°C water.
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