Here is the Cenote we were hoping to find!! Amazing. 03.25.15

When we were in El Tajin we met a man, Andreas, and his wife from Germany that gave us a bunch of locations to go see and we re-routed our trip just to see them. This was one that we re-routed for and we are glad we did. We stayed a few days. Sometime I want to rent a bungalow for a month here and use this as a home base to travel the Yucatan as there is much to see here. It is half way in between Merida and Cancun and just 5 miles east of Valladolid, the 3rd largest city on the Yucatan but is really quiet and feels a hundred miles from a big city.

Cenotes are natural sinkholes that fill with water, which is scarce on the Yucatan. The Mayans considered them sacred. Here is Cenote Suytun. It was incredible. We spent a lot of time swimming in it. Unfortunately, it was difficult to take pictures in because of the low light. There were little fishes that come and eat the dead skin off your toes – otherwise known as a Mayan spa. Click on the pics and they will enlarge.

: Looking into Cenote Suytun

: On our way down to Cenote Suytun

: Cenote Suytun

: Going into the Cenote

There were two Cenotes at Suytun. Cenote #2 is pictured above. Cenote #1 was covered in a thick layer of moss so it was a non-swimming cenote. Our kiddos scooped off a layer of slime and peeked through with their googles and said it was clear as can be. There is a big iguana that lives up top and a vulture and many other birds and critters inside. I spent a couple hours hanging out inside this cenote just watching all the animal activity. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pz-1Kjbnu4]

: Iguana that lives on top of the Cenote

: The cenote from the top

: The vulture

: Cenote opening

: The non-swimable (but very beautiful) cenote at Suytun!

: The tree that grows all the way up and comes out the top!

We also enjoyed the pool and the lovely surroundings.

: Cenote Suytun and the surrounding camping/ bungalows were beautiful

: Hammocks by the pool

: Bungalows

: Cocos in the trees

: Beautiful paths

: The pool

The kids loved the bridge at the pool and had a Battle of the Bridge! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDOWWavAmLg]
We found another Cenote on the way to Tulum. It has a cave system that goes for 45 mins. It was beautiful too. Click on the pics to enlarge and then scroll through them.

We finally made it to the Caribbean coast. Castle collected a ton of shells and we put them in a baggie. The next day we discovered several of his shells were crawling around. When we got to Tulum (next post) we put them back in the ocean.