Cenotes: The sinkholes that kept the Maya’s many secrets.

I had the pleasure to explore the Yucatan coast a few years back and besides the mangroves, jungle, ancient pyramids and gorgeous beaches, we came across these unbelievable water holes known locally as “Cenotes”. The Yucatec version of the word is “ts’onot”, which translates into well. We found them everywhere, deep in the jungle trails, near the beach and to my amazement, even in the ocean in different places and in some instances, quite far from the coast.

Some had active water currents coming out of them, some were made of marshy water, others had only pristine fresh water and some had a mix of both, creating floating layers of lighter water on top of denser saltier water. This only added to the mystery. The turquoise color of some of them was just breathtaking, specially the ones found in the ocean floor.

According to some scientists, the formation of the cenotes is related to rain water filtering through the limestone into depressed spots in cave systems or the slight acidity of the water dissolving the rock as it filters through the ground. Some researchers have also suggested that the existence of these holes is related to the meteor impact in northern Yucatan (Chicxulub), since the outer rings of the crater have precisely a higher density of cenotes than anywhere else. Near some of the big Maya ruins, there are enormous ones like the cenote of sacrifice in the ruins of Chichén Itzá where human skeletons and metal artifacts have been found, suggesting the Maya believed in the cenotes as sacred places, and probably as links to other worlds. In a smaller ruin called Muyil, we also found evidence of how cenotes played a role in providing freshwater to the local community and critical material for construction. I vividly remember one side of a cenote that was scratched by human tools to obtain the ground limestone, some of which was still deposited on the floor and looked like pancaked flour. Some experts have found that the native Indians were able to use this ground limestone to create a type of stucco for their houses and temples.

The cenotes that drew our attention the most were the submerged ones. At the northern corner of Ascension Bay there is a gigantic submerged cenote, so powerful that you could see leaves and sediment churning on the surface hundreds of feet around you. Out in some of the islands south of Punta Allen, we found a couple of cenotes where it was not possible to see the bottom. A school of permit fish acted like guardians of this deep blue infinite hole, constantly circling the rocky walls as 40 pound shiny disks peacefully dancing around the swimmer (my wife got in the water, I did not!). The Mayan guide Pancho who took us there, a tough sailor and lobsterman, proactively mentioned he would never ever swim in or get in the water in an ocean Cenote. His explanation was that saltwater crocodiles and ferocious sharks were known to explore those areas. I also believe he was paying respect to some of his own Maya traditions and beliefs, and honestly, I will stick with his advice. As a matter of fact, in the middle of that conversation a 7-foot long shark approached the hole slowly and disappeared into its unknown blue depths.

The unknowns of these water formations are as many as the unknowns about the Maya and it is not a coincidence they come from the same magical landscape!