{"id":509,"date":"2021-12-30T16:25:14","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T16:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yucatanbackroads.com\/?p=509"},"modified":"2021-12-30T18:09:35","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T18:09:35","slug":"story-13-cuzama-cenotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yucatanbackroads.com\/?p=509","title":{"rendered":"Story 13: Cuzam\u00e1 Cenotes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We visited Los Tres Cenotes de Cuzam\u00e1<\/strong> during Christmas\/New Years week 2021. Here’s a Google Maps link<\/a><\/strong>, and higher resolution versions of the photos are available on our Flickr page<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuzam\u00e1 is located just west of Hom\u00fan, but these days is much less marketed. We chose the Los Tres Cenotes de Cuzam\u00e1. There would be a group of five us us, and a WhatsApp conversation with them ensured that their “horse and buggy” trip would accommodate us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s great to drive into this area with your location preselected, because you get to ignore all the touts jumping off the curb waving color signs for cenote tours at you! Drive carefully, because some of them get dangerously close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me preface by saying This was a great day.<\/strong> We really enjoyed ourselves! But I must then add a caution: two of the three cenotes are accessed via almost-vertical steel ladders. <\/span><\/strong> The ladders are very strong, but anyone with bad knees or a fear of heights is NOT going to be going down into those holes. (The other cenote is a steep stairway, but at least it’s a stairway; photo below.) Also, you will not take anything down with you; any bag with towels or anything else will be left on the cart or at the top. (If you want to carry a camera, have it in a pocket or some kind of case you can have over your shoulder.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ll change into your swimsuit in the ba\u00f1o after paying your 150 pesos per person (we all decided at the end of the day that the day is under<\/strong>priced). Your driver\/guide will have lifejackets on the cart for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here’s a photo of the “buggy.” Really this is a small steel-wheeled cart that will ride on rails left over from the hacienda days. There are two benches facing each other, and a fifth person can ride on a platform in back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a bumpy ride! The horses get into a pretty good clop sometimes, especially downhill. Some of the turns are pretty jarring; the cabellero<\/em> is not kidding when he tells you to “Hold On!” There’s a 10-second video of the ride on our Flickr page<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ride to the first cenote is about 20 minutes. Actual time depends on whether you have to stop to allow another cart to pass the other direction; one cart will unload, everyone gets off, the caballero lifts the cart off the tracks and pulls it to the side so the other can pass. One of a dozen such pauses is shown in this photo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(The horses take all this in stride. I realized after returning home that they probably think that they have trained the drivers really well to stop, let them take a break and chew some grass, and then continue on.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’ll call our first stop Cenote #1<\/strong> as it is the first in the chain. It is a steep climb down; you face the ladder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the bottom, you follow a big red arrow to this concrete stairway, and descend a few steps into the water. Unlike most cenotes, this really feels more like you’re exploring a cave. You can see in the photos how narrow this is as you swim or float through it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Wear your rubber-sole shoes for entering this and all the cenotes. Your driver will take them from the start to the end of this cave for you.)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n