Mexico
Cenotes of Cuzamá
Horse-drawn rail carts rattle old henequen tracks towards pools lit by single shafts of light.
The horse leans into the harness and the little cart bangs along narrow plantation rails between walls of scrub. Each stop is a hole in the ground, a wooden ladder, and far below, blue water holding one beam of light.
At Cuzamá the journey is half the point: horse-drawn rail carts run on tracks laid for the old henequen estates, rattling between a chain of cenotes in the bush. The pools grow more dramatic as the route goes on, the last reached by ladder down through the limestone ceiling, its water lit by a single opening overhead. It is simple, jolting, and unlike any other way of reaching a swim in Mexico.
Friends
Ride the rail carts as a crew and take the ladders down each cenote in turn.
Family
Let older children love the horse carts and swims while you watch footing on the ladders.
Couple
Share the rattling ride and the last, deepest pool when the light shaft finds the water.
- Horse-drawn rail carts run on old henequen plantation tracks, and the transport is half the experience.
- The cenotes along the route grow progressively more dramatic, the last reached by a ladder descent.
- Single shafts of light through the limestone ceilings illuminate the underground pools.
Homún, the neighbouring cenote town, serves cochinita pibil along its ring of pools.
Sopa de lima, panuchos and salbutes fill out the same village tables.
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