| The warm dark water is refreshing. Little black | | | | scared my husband might become one of those |
| fish dart around my legs as I swim out to the | | | | human sacrifices. He decided to climb up the |
| center of the pool. I look up to see fifty- foot | | | | steep stone steps on one side of the cenote and |
| long, string-like tree roots hanging down in a kind | | | | jump from this precarious position landing way |
| of see through curtain. Colorful birds dart through | | | | down in the waters below. He survived the steep |
| that curtain and soar up to find their nests. High | | | | plummet however and enjoyed it enough to try it |
| overhead are strangely formed stalactites. One of | | | | several times. Luckily he did not suffer the fate |
| them looks like a wasp's nest, papery grey and | | | | of the Mayan sacrificial victims who were thrown |
| pock marked. Light streams in from above, | | | | into the cenote's waters and were never seen |
| glancing off the mossy rock walls. Ferns and | | | | again. |
| leafy, flowering plants grow from crevices in the | | | | The cenote we swam in was near the ruins of |
| stones. | | | | the Mayan city of Chichen Itza. The layer of |
| I am swimming in a Mexican cenote. On a trip to | | | | limestone rock on its surface had caved in |
| Cancun I had the opportunity to test the waters | | | | allowing light to filter through and create lovely |
| of a cenote. There are over 3000 cenotes in | | | | rainbows and shadows. We visited in the late |
| Mexico's Yucatan province. Divers and visitors | | | | afternoon so there weren't that many other |
| have explored only a tenth of them. Many remain | | | | swimmers around. At one point I had the water |
| hidden in the jungle. Cenotes are fresh water | | | | of the pool all to myself. Swimming through the |
| underground caves or sink holes. The ground in | | | | sun lit tree roots I got an eerie sort of feeling |
| the northern part of the Yucatan tends to be | | | | imagining all the people who had visited this same |
| gravelly and permeable allowing rainwater to filter | | | | subterranean cave over the last two thousand |
| through it and form caverns. These natural | | | | years. |
| reservoirs can become very deep before they hit | | | | At some of the spas in the high-end resorts in |
| a layer of rock that prevents the water from | | | | Cancun they pour water from a cenote over |
| filtering further down. The water in cenotes is | | | | your body. It is said the water is scared and will |
| turquoise and usually a pleasant 78 degrees. The | | | | bring peace and healing. At other spas they take |
| cenote we swam in was quite small but some are | | | | mud and moss collected from a cenote and put it |
| thousands of meters in length and can be | | | | on your skin. Apparently it keeps you looking |
| connected to other cenotes through underwater | | | | youthful. These special cenote treatments can |
| passageways. | | | | cost over $100. Luckily I got to use the cenote's |
| The ancient Mayans thought the cenotes were | | | | waters for free. A yoga expert who offers tours |
| sacred because they were their only source of | | | | of the Yucatan takes her devotees to a cenote |
| fresh water. The cenotes were considered the | | | | to swim. She says the experience is a holy one. |
| home of Chac the Mayan god of rain. Skulls | | | | Swimming in a cenote she claims can make you |
| wedged between rocks in many cenotes have led | | | | wiser and give you a longer life. I guess I'll just |
| archeologists to believe that human sacrifices | | | | have to wait and see whether my cenote |
| were made to Chac in the cenotes. I was a little | | | | experience has that kind of magical impact on me. |