Cenote Dzitnup (Xkakah)

A cavern, stalactites and stalagmites, water and sun, bats and fish, blue and brown, hot and humid, locals and tourists, sounds like paradise? Well, it is. Or maybe, if I want to be more precise it's one of the closest things I have ever seen that resembles my image of paradise. That is why, I recommend you to go and see the Cenote Xkakah for yourself. It is situated 7km west of Valladolid, a taxi can take you there if you don't have a car.

We arrived in the small parking lot not knowing what we were going to see. Our guidebook was scarce in details, mentioning that it is a spectacular cenote. As we were early, we were obvious targets for the young children trying to sell souvenirs and postcards. As soon as we stopped the car two young girls, maybe five years old, came and introduced themselves. "Yo soy Clara esta es Carmen. Quiere comprar tarjetas postales?"
Our Spanish was somehow rusty at that point but we let them know that after the visit we might consider their offer. They understood all right but still thought that we should buy first and visit later.

We bought two tickets from the booth and then followed the path leading to the cenote. That day it was as hot and as humid as the days before. An older man was checking the tickets at the entrance into the cavern. I tried to make some conversation, again in Spanish, and spoke about the weather. I told him how hot it was and how humid. He seemed to understand me in general but sometimes a puzzled expression appeared on his face. Later when I checked on the correctness of my phrasing I realized that I told him something that meant "The soup is hot today". I think that some people there must think that tourists are real idiots.

We entered the cavern with great care as it was extremely slippery. The humidity was even higher inside.
After descending a few steps we got into a large cavern that had near the back wall on the right side a beautiful cenote. The water was a pure blue, something that I haven't seen before. The color of the water was enhanced by a spot like beam of light that came from a hole in the ceiling. There were children of school age playing in the water, they looked really happy, different from the expressions of the ones going to school in Valladolid.

I climbed on a path that brought me five meters higher than the level of the water; a perfect location to take some photographs. In the meantime, my wife spoke with an old man, of Mayan descent as he said with pride, and she learned that Xkakah means pig in Mayan. Apparently at a certain point in time pigs used to come to the cenote for water.

After the photographic session we went for a swim in that blue cool water. It was absolutely fantastic. I floated on my back right into the sun spot light and while I was in there everything else disappeared. It was like I was lifted into the realm of the Mayan Gods and nothing material had any relevance. When I got out of the water I discovered that the children were trying to catch the black fish that were swimming near the edge. To no apparent success.

Outside Clara and Carmen greeted us with offers that we could not pass. We bought a card or two but they were trying to convince us that we need more than that. Luckily we were saved by a coach filled with tourists that stopped in the parking lot.

As we were changing and shifting dry and wet clothes in the car we saw the tourists coming out of the cavern and going into their coach. I think they stayed no more then ten minutes inside and not one of them was wet. If you want to enjoy the cenote go on your own and please say hello for us to Clara and Carmen.

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