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Cenotes near Valladolid, secrets of the Mayan’s land.

diving into a canote cavern in Yucatan

If you want to cool off in clear and transparent water, you don’t need to leave Valladolid. In the Yucatan Peninsula, near Valladolid, Merida and the Riviera Maya you will find underground fresh water pools from below the surface rivers connected throughout the entire Peninsula.
In several of the region’s cenotes pre-Hispanic and even prehistoric pieces have been found; these are human and animal remains which date back 14,000 years. Sacred spaces for the Mayans, here they performed rituals related to rain and fertility as well as human sacrifices. Today, these cenotes are still places of worship for the communities living in the region.

In the cenotes called Dzitnup,

@latinoamericaneando on Instagram.

 

Samula

@oscarenruta on Instagram.

 

and Xkeken

@frank_m.s on Instagram.

A great portion of their water is in the open air. They are spectacular and are operated by cooperative communities. The Zaci or “white hawk” cenote is one of the largest open air cenotes and is located within the city. It is one of the symbols of Valladolid, and you will have no trouble finding it as it is right in the city center. To visit it, you can walk around it over the stairways and admire its 91 feet in diameter. It has a restaurant offering Yucatan food, a shop selling handicrafts and a small zoo with birds of the region.

@cenotezaci on Instagram.