Mexico - Excursion to Cenotes - Part 1

After a few days, our first excursion in Mexico was already on the agenda. This took us to some of the mysterious cenotes that can only be found in Yucatan. These are freshwater-filled sinkholes in the middle of the jungle, like small lakes. 90% of the cenotes in Yucatan are interconnected underground. Pretty amazing, right? A huge cave system! They are also used as groundwater, which is why applying sunscreen is prohibited. There are both closed and open cenotes, as well as semi-open ones. I'll explain the difference in a bit :D During the excursion, we visited two of these cenotes.

Aledia Tours

We had already booked the excursion from Germany with Aledia Tours, an agency run by a German expat living in Mexico. We stumbled upon the provider while browsing through excursion possibilities and chose three tours to reserve based on the really good reviews. The reservation is completely non-binding here. Payment is made only during the tour and there is the possibility to cancel at short notice.

The Excursion

But that didn't even cross our minds, so we were already picked up early in the morning at the hotel, shortly after 7 o'clock. We had decided to go with this provider because small groups of a maximum of 12 people were promised here. And so it happened that we were traveling with a group of only 8 people. The size of the group was simply unbeatable! It makes a huge difference whether you're traveling with a huge tour group or a small group of people. The excursion becomes much more private and personal. Additionally, the excursion was far away from mass tourism and did not consist of checking off sights.

Cenote 'Cristallino'

And so it happened that we had the first stop of the tour, the semi-open cenote 'Cristallino', all to ourselves. So getting up early was definitely worth it. So there it was, our first cenote of our lives, and I have to say, I was thrilled! Before us opened a small lake surrounded by jungle. The water was crystal clear and a part of the cenote was kind of covered in a cave (hence semi-open). The water was pleasant for swimming, the air temperature on this morning was still a bit cool, so the water felt really warm.

In the cenote, you could snorkel and discover small fish. But the interesting part was the light play under water. You just have to see it for yourself! There was also the opportunity to jump into the water from a height of about 4 meters. We dared and did it, which didn't surprise Luke at all, but it did take a little overcoming for me :D

After spending some time there, we moved on to the next cenote....see part 2.