Cenotes of Homun

The villages of Homun and Cuzama sit atop the Ring of Cenotes - the arc of sinkholes tracing the buried rim of the Chicxulub crater - and their municipal territory is honeycombed with dozens of swimmable caves in every stage of wildness. Unlike the ticketed showpieces of the Riviera, this is community cenote country: families steward the entrances at the edge of their cornfields, fees are village-modest, and the standard visit is a circuit - a mototaxi driver-guide collects visitors in the plaza and strings together three or four cenotes along dirt lanes: perhaps Santa Barbara's boardwalked trio, the ladder-drop into Tza Ujun Kat under its shaft of noon light, a cave pool like Canunchen where stalactites meet their reflections in the dark, and somewhere unnamed where the only other swimmers are village boys. Horse-drawn rail carts - the old henequen trucks - still serve some Cuzama routes. Bring a torch, water shoes and no schedule; the pleasure is the string of blues, each different, and the Yucatecan lunch waiting back in the plaza.

Highlights

• The cenote circuit - three or four caves strung by mototaxi lanes.
• The light shafts - single sunbeams into underground blues.
• The village stewardship - family-kept entrances and honest fees.
• The rail carts - horse-drawn henequen trucks on surviving lines.

When to go

Dry-season weekdays for empty water and passable lanes; mornings position you under the light shafts near noon. Merida weekenders arrive in numbers on Sundays.

Things to know

Development is minimal by design - ladders, rough stairs and dark passages are part of the deal, and facilities vary cave to cave. Agree the circuit and price in the plaza first. Cash only, everywhere.

Nearby

Izamal's yellow streets and the Acanceh pyramids-on-the-plaza lie along the Merida road; Mayapan's ruins are half an hour south.