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Vintage Ventures - Yucatán 2018
February 2018
Cenotes de Homun
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VINTAGE VENTURES: I write my travel journals to look back and remember our ventures. A secondary reason is to allow me to organize all my trip photos. I have thousands of photos. Organizing them into a cohesive story makes sense. | |
This cool tire art marks the first cenote, Santa Maria, that we visited in the town of Homun. | |
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DAY 17, Monday, February 19, 2018
DOWN DAY – MILDLY SICK
I was right to fret over the mayo yesterday evening. I woke up a bit queasy – not bad, but it was clear that I couldn’t go very far from the bathroom. Plus, Wanda played doctor on my feet. She brought a couple of these magical Band-Aids infused with a medication, which she applied to my blisters. They are called Hydro Seal and are marketed by Band-Aid. They are expensive but terrific.
Between bathroom breaks, I bided my time by practicing my guitar and reading the Yucatán Today magazine. This is a monthly magazine devoted to promoting the Yucatán, and this particular issue concentrated on Merida and the surrounding towns. One article touted the Cenotes de Homun. Homun is a small town just 3 kilometers past Cuzama. It has several cenotes that rival the better-known and better-promoted Cenotes de Cuzama.
These cenotes looked surprisingly like those that the guy at the colectivo was trying to sell me on. I Googled some more info on these cenotes and became convinced that they were the same ones he was referring to. Apparently, Cuzama gets all of the write-ups, but Homun is the new kid on the block trying to break into the tourista market. With some 6,500 cenotes in the Yucatán, new ones are constantly being opened up to tourism.
If I feel up to it, we will check out these cenotes tomorrow. By evening I felt well enough to walk to Walmart and pick up some more Neutrogena 70+ sunblock and fresh AAA batteries for my little Vox guitar amp.
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DAY 18, Tuesday, February 20, 2018
CENOTES DE HOMUN
I felt much better, and after breakfast, we decided to see if we could get to the Cenotes de Homun. As usual, it was the metro bus to the colectivo stands. We knew where the Cuzama colectivo was and figured the Homun colectivo had to be nearby since Homun is only 3 kilometers from Cuzama. The guy trying to lure us away from the Cuzama cenotes the other day was just one van in front of the Cuzama colectivo, and we were convinced he was promoting the same Cenotes de Homun that I had read about in the Yucatán Today magazine.
Sure enough, right in front of the Cuzama colectivo, we ran into the same guy, who immediately recognized us with a big smile. Sure enough, he was promoting the Cenotes de Homun. His 300 peso package deal promised five different cenotes. His teenage son would take us around to all of the cenotes on his tuk-tuk, and afterward, we’d get a chicken or pork supper at his little restaurant. We had to pay for the entrance fees at the cenotes separately. I showed him my Yucatan Today list, and it matched his list. With that, we jumped into the colectivo (30 pesos each), and off we went once filled. It was an hour's ride.
The promoter rode back to Homun with us to ensure we got off at the right place – right in front of his little restaurant where his son was waiting with the tuk-tuk. His son, a friendly kid of about 15 years old, took us on a wild bone-jarring ride several kilometers down a rock-strewn country path to the first two cenotes. Halfway it rained hard with a driving wind. The cute little canopy over the tuk-tuk wasn’t much shelter, but it was a warm rain and didn’t last more than five minutes. Although his dad spoke some broken English, the son didn’t know any. We used lots of hand gestures, head nods, and smiles to communicate, which worked reasonably well.
|  | In Homun, like all the little towns surrounding Merida, tuk-tuks are the only form of public transportation. | Our tuk-tuk driven by the 15-year-old boy. | |
We planned on hitting five cenotes, but we spent so much time at each one that we only got to four. They were:
1) Santa Maria. This was more of a cave than a cenote. Admission was 30 pesos. The cave was beautiful, with lots of stalagmites and stalactites, and involved tight squeezes. We were surprised by how warm and humid it was inside the cave (I thought of the Mayan women making sisal hats). Most caves that we’ve been in were cool. There was a tiny cenote, which we could have dipped into, but the kid seemed to be promising much better at the next one.
| Above and below: The entrance to Santa Maria Cenotes. This was mostly a long cavern with a lot of formations. There was some water but we didn't swim or snorkel here. | There was one section that lacked stairs. We had to use the rope to help us up. | 2) Yaxbacaltun. Admission was 50 pesos. He was right; the next one was incredible. We took a stairway 30’ down through a small hole in the ground with a gigantic Alamo tree growing through the hole, nearly plugging the hole up. About a third of the way down the ladder, it opened into a vast cavern with wonderful cave formations. The ladder ended on a platform in the middle, with the water ringing the platform. There was a swing rope that you could use off the platform to swing into the deepest part of the cenote. Snorkeling was terrific, and we stayed a long time. | Cenote Yaxbacaltun was the second cenote that we explored. We enjoyed the swing rope. | 3) Bal-Mil. Admission was 50 pesos. This was another tiny hole, just big enough to accommodate another huge Alamo tree and a nice sturdy set of stairs. The stairs landed on a large island in the middle of the cenote. This cenote had even more beautiful cave formations. The underwater caves were also incredible, providing great snorkeling. | Our third cenote, Bal-mil, featured some incredible formations. | A network of stairs had both up and down directions. That cracked me up. It wasn't like there was so much traffic that two sets of stairs were necessary. | 4) Tza-Ujun-Kat. This cenote was my favorite although Yaxbacaltun with its swing rope was a close second. The underwater formations were mesmerizing. We spent a long time exploring every nook and cranny. Our guide also brought along a mask and snorkel and he seemed to enjoy snorkeling as much as we did. | Cenote Kat had a large hole in the ceiling. | Above and below: Kat had a narrow entrance. | Like the sign says, "Watch your head." | Once inside, Kat opened up into a beautiful hall. This was our favorite cenote in Homun. Not only was the cavern gorgeous, but the underwater formations were also spectacular. |  |  | |
It got late, so we didn’t get to Santa Rosa, which was fortunate. As soon as he dropped us off back at the restaurant (Las Palmas), the sky opened up and deluged again, but we were safely under a canopy getting ready to eat our included meal. The restaurant was a couple of plastic tables and chairs under the canopy in front of the house. The wife did the cooking, and the husband was the waiter.
The food was fabulous. We started with a great chicken soup with a ton of bow-tie pasta, carrots, and other veggies. Next, we each got a charbroiled half chicken on a bed of rice with veggies and shredded lettuce. On the side, we got about 20 hot tortillas and a strange but delicious hot sauce. We wrapped the rice, lettuce, and a few drops of hot sauce in the tortillas. We took one bite of the tortilla and one of the chicken. It was delicious.
The total cost for the day: 120 pesos for the colectivo to and from Homun. 230 pesos for admission fees into the cenotes. 300 pesos for the bone-crunching ride to the cenotes, plus the dinner. 50 peso tip for the kid. Total: 700 pesos ($43 US). Not bad for another spectacular day.
|  | The humble Las Palmas Restaurant. | |
Above: Char-grilled chicken with rice, lettuce, and a delicious sauce on the side.
Below: Our bowtie noodle soup.
| When we returned to Merida, we walked through the wild market to reach the bus stand to catch the Carranza metro bus to return to the Airbnb. Sadly, Wanda’s laptop screen started to go erratic. That will make journaling our trip difficult. | Merida's giant rambling indoor-outdoor market. | One large blacktop lot was devoted to taco stands. We stopped for a quick taco snack. | | | | |
