A Dive Into the Yucatan Peninsula

That Little Voice

I haven’t done much ‘country exploring’since joining the increasing number of Ex-pats heading into Mexico, but I’m on my way to the Mexican state of Yucatan for several days.

Since I haven’t ventured far from my current location, I am anticipating seeing a different culture than the high desert of San Miguel de Allende. The Yucatan area is filled with beaches and ruins and is a lot warmer than this area of Mexico.

SMA’s temperatures are running from the high 40s at night to mid-70s during afternoons, so the high 80s to even mid-90s will require filling my suitcase with shorts, t-shirts, bathing suits, and sunscreen.

My understanding is the ruins we will explore are Aztec and Mayan vintage, which means they are old with tons of history. I will, no doubt, be asking those weathered walls to talk to me, telling me of the times when they were assembled. It is a period I did not study in high school or college, so I will do a crash course in pre-Mexican life, as we know it today.

The beaches we will lounge on are south of Cancun, so I’m expecting the water to be that beautiful turquoise blue that captured my heart years ago when I first walked the white sandy shoreline of that area.

My exposure to a vast amount of water was limited to water skiing on Lake Murray in southern Oklahoma and then watching the tide move in and out on the Gulf of Mexico at South Padre Island.

The Pacific Ocean was a whole new adventure, and I was awestruck by the colors, the vastness, the water inhabitants of this seaside paradise. A surprise and challenge I’m told to expect is swimming in magical ‘cenotes.’This will be my first dip into the underworld of ‘turquoise pools where Mayans communicated with the gods.’

As Philip Tang wrote, “Cenotes are natural swimming holes formed by the collapse of porous limestone bedrock, which reveals a secret subterranean world of groundwater pools. The Mayans revered cenotes because they were a source of water in dry times; indeed, the name cenote means “sacred well.”

Word from those who have done it, say it was a bit scary and they wanted to be awarded a victory trophy for their courage.

I can’t say I will return with any medals for bravery, but I will bring back some fodder for columns to share with you. Wish me luck, and I’ll write in a couple of weeks.