Day 7: Coba Cenotes

January 6, 2023

Grampies in the Hole

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Sue Price commented yesterday on how the breakfast place in Tulum semi-secretly tacked on a tip in addition to the tax, bringing the total cost to quite a bit more than the already high price shown on the menu board out front. That really rots our socks! Looking at the register tape, we see that it says that they tacked on the proposed tip, but that payment of this is not compulsory. So slippery! Probably illegal in Canada. It reminds me of a video by the young couple posting as Tangerine Travels (the colour of their car): "Scammed in Cancun and Playa del Carmen, Mexico". More than outright scams, we have noticed the very high prices at hotels and restaurants along the Riviera strip. It's just familiar capitalism, of course. Still, the same or better breakfast this morning in Coba was half what we paid in Tulum, and our wonderful room here is 1/3 of what we paid for a smaller room in Tulum.

Ah yes, breakfast. Once again I went for the pancakes, while wise Dodie chose the fruit. Both dishes were really fine:

Freddie, who has been our host and waiter at the Lol-Ha is quite interested in our bikes, though he may not be a potential cycle tourist. Bikes like these must be pretty rare in Mexico.

Coba is a small and quiet town, and a real pleasure to cruise through. It has a good number of restaurants, on the way to the Lake and the Ruins, plus various souvenir shops. Still it is not overrun with tourism.

The archeological site is not at all glitzy, but the buildings inside are impressive.

Opposite the lake, the jungle looks very jungly.

Leaving Coba town we passed one church. Churches are not really a big thing in Yucatan, though the Spanish did leave some hulking church buildings. We have the impression that the local people can either take religion - anyone's religion - or leave it. They do enjoy Christmas decorations, though.

The road to the cenotes is an example of just what we come here for. Paved and quiet, and today, not even blisteringly hot. The photo below is taken from the middle of the road, because there was no traffic to push me over. Beyond the cenotes area there will not even be an occasional tour bus, it would be just us and the jungle. This time, though, we too are not going beyond the cenotes.

It's hard to see in the photo, but this is a roadside garden plot, with the traditional scheme of interplanting corn, beans, and squash, the so called three sisters.

Dodie is good at spotting things that are up high. This time she pointed out what I think we have decided is a termite nest.

Roadside colour - more at my observation level.

The three cenotes are within 2 km of each other. Each has a very unique character. Their names describe them a bit: "Ha" means water in Mayan. Multun-Ha means rocky water, Tankach-Ha is deep water, and Choo-Ha is dripping water.

At Tulum the cenote was a very costly 500 pesos each. There, a life vest was compulsory, but at least it was included. At Coba, each cenote is 100 pesos, and life vests are optional. A life vest rental, though, is 50 pesos - fully half the admission price. For 50pesos times three, times two of us, we decided to drown!

All three cenotes involve descending into deep deep holes in the ground. They make us wonder how they were discovered and then developed. Each hole ends in essentially a large cave. Only in one case there a shaft (for ventilation?) bringing a little light from directly above. Otherwise without artificial light it would be absolutely black.

Beyond this, each cenote is unique. We went to Multun-Ha first. Although the name emphasizes rocks, the main feature - for me anyway - was the depth. The water in the darn thing is 100 feet deep. And because that water is absolutely crystal clear, when you look down from the edge you are apparently looking over a cliff. There was absolutely no one else there, meaning that there was not a ripple in the water. For me, with a fear of heights, it triggered a panic attack. I started to hyper ventilate. After a bit my breathing slowed down, and I did go into the water. But I couldn't swim, because I couldn't catch my breath. Dodie tried to calm me down and get me to breath slowly, but without much success. Well, at least Dodie got to be in for a bit. For my part it was still invigorating, because my racing heart got a workout.

All the cenotes involve a hole in the ground like this.

Looking down 100 feet from the water surface.

It's 18 meters to the surface of the water and a further 30 meters to the rocks on the bottom.

We left Multun-Ha in time for the arrival of a tour bus. We call these grasshoppers because of how they look.

The next two cenotes are close together, but each is unique.

We next chose Taccanch-Ha, named for deep water. This may be so, but it contains another feature sure to put Steve off - jumping platforms at 5 and and 10 meters above the water as you descend the hole.

Dodie at the base of the tower to the surface.

At this cenote, it was Dodie that ran into some kind of difficulty. Again, this was due to missing steps on the ladder leading in and out. She could have gotten in, by sitting at the edge and flopping in, but we did a lot of testing and speculating, and decided she would never get out. The problem is in the amount of knee flex needed, and then the force required to use that knee to go up and out. I tested it and did not think Dodie would do it.

Up and out - piece of cake unless your knees are made of metal.

It was clear to us from brochures that the final cenote was going to be more our speed. They styled it as being good for non-swimmers and children! Well, it still involved a steep descent into the bowels of the earth.

Sign says don't slip - thanks for the tip!

Passing back now by the lake, Dodie spotted this red bird. Ideas?

Scott Anderson says he will create an album of the birds they have spotted. We could be copycats on that. So we grabbed this Grackle just in case.

Cycling back to the hotel, we were cool from the cenotes, and the air temperature had moderated too. With the empty and smooth road, this was a real cycling pleasure.

Back at the hotel, the cooled down Dodie was ready to go find supper. But our hotel restaurant was mysteriously closed. Ok, we strolled down to the next one, which honestly looked just the same. And this time it was Dodie that sampled the Poc Chuc, while I chose chicken fajitas. With the various cooked and fresh vegetable components, both dishes were flavourful and healthful. Again it had us saying, "This is what we came here for".

Today's ride: 20 km (12 miles)
Total: 207 km (129 miles)

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Marvin PaxmanYou are making us feel like we need to go to Yucatan. So glad you are having such lovely days, having left the touristic area behind
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1 year ago

Sue PriceSo glad you went to all three cenotes! So much fun and so beautiful!
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1 year ago

Gregory GarceauI know it's not pronounced the same, but whenever I see the word "cenote," all I can think of is when I took piano lessons from 4th through 6th grade. The mid C-note was the basis for every song I learned. (Just thought I'd throw this irrelevant comment out there.)
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1 year ago