Haciendas and Cenotes

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This morning we had another early start breakfast of Cheerios. Our destination for the day was the Hacienda Mucuyche. This is one of many haciendas that were built during the henequen boom of the late 1880s to the 1920s. Henequen is a member of the agave family and the fibers are super strong. It was used to make ropes and bags to store grain as well as hats, handbags and more. The invention of nylon saw the end of the wealth for henequen plantations as nylon was cheaper and easier to produce. Today henequen is still used for hats and bags available for sale in many of the local markets. The other attraction here is the two cenotes, Carlota and Mayan Blue.

Mucuyche has been left in its abandoned state and is hauntingly beautiful. The front “reception” room still has some of the original paint amongst the mildew and mold. The crumbling stones and plants growing out of the crevices make for some amazing photos. We took the 9 am tour (the first of the day), which is only available in Spanish. Our guide was an archeologist and gave what I assume was very detailed information about the house and how henequen was grown and manufactured. I could only pick out a few words here or there but it didn’t matter. After about a half hour of walking slowly through the ruins it was time to change and head to the cenotes.

A cenote is a natural pit resulting from the collapse of the limestone that exposes the groundwater. The Maya considered these sacred sites and they were also a source of fresh water. The Yucatan has thousands of cenotes, some have elaborate facilities while others are in the middle of the jungle undisturbed due to their remoteness.

At Mucuyche the facilities are elaborate. There are bathrooms and changing rooms as well as lockers and locked bags to store your valuables while in the water. Life jackets are mandatory here. A beautiful staircase leads down to Cenote Carlota. Here the cave is semi open and the water is super clear and surprisingly not freezing! We had some time to bob around and look up at the cave. Then it was time to head to the channel between the two. This is man-made, however it fits in with the landscape. Floating along on my back I looked up to see a black vulture sitting on top of the cross over one of the archways near the cenote. Spooky!

At the end of the channel you climb a few steps and make your way into the cave where Cenote Mayan Blue is located. This one is really cool as it’s all enclosed in the cave and dark save a few lights under the water and the guide’s flashlight. There were some amazing stalactites and stalagmites, all formed over millions of years from dripping water. We also saw some small fish, who are all blind due to living in a cave. The cenotes were really neat and the water felt great on the warm day!

After the cenotes you are free to spend as much time at the site as you want. There is a pool as well as a restaurant with some pretty good food. I had the Chaya empanadas, where the tortillas were made with Chaya leaves mixed in and then filled with cheese. After lunch we explored the ruins some more before heading back to the car. I will say, getting the earliest tour possible is a must as bus groups of school kids showed up after we were done in the cenotes and it gets really busy. Our tour had the three of us plus another couple. It was perfect!

A short drive away was Cenote Yaal Utzil. This was more typical of the cenotes one might stop at. A little old lady collected the money (only 80 pesos) and there were life jackets if you wanted them. The worst part was the steep wooden stairs to get down to the water. Well you could dive in from the top if you like 10 meter diving, which I do not! The water here is super clear and refreshing. We saw some little fish and enjoyed just bobbing around.

On the drive back to Merida we stopped at Hacienda Uayalceh. This place was another ruin by the side of the main street. No fee to go in and no facilities of any kind. There was one cool tree my aunt found inside one of the arches. Its roots had taken over the building and made a great photo.

After a brief rest at the Airbnb we wandered out to get some pizza at Cheese Chase Pizza. It was really good and very inexpensive. As an extra treat a possum walked along the wall while we were waiting for our dinner!

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Photos

Mucuyche
This is the channel to go from one cenote to the other.

Tamarindo
A very refreshing drink!