No. 313 Kankirixché Cenote

Yucatán treasures some of the most beautiful cenotes in these Mayan lands. Kankirixché Cenote is one of the loveliest in the Abalá and Mucuyché areas. Its name, which is in Mayan language, means yellow fruit from the tree. It is a semi-open type cenote of crystalline waters, you must descend through stairs around 49.2 ft until getting to a wide cave. You will enjoy being among stalactites, stalagmites, and roots, while swimming in its refreshing waters. If you like diving adventures, it is one of the cenotes where most people go to scuba dive in this area. As a tip, the best time to visit this place changes depending on the season, but it is between 11 am and 2 pm, when the sun reaches its peak, so that you can watch the lights play.

Have you seen a Yucatecan wearing the traditional clothing? Have you noted the techniques used to make these handcrafted garments? If you answered no to any of these questions, then you should go to “Bordados del Mayab” (Mayab Embroideries) Museum, where you can find traditional hand-made garments elaborated by Yucatecan hands with ancient techniques like “mol mil”, “xmannicté”, “ch’uy, cab”, “cross stich”, “fraying”, and more modern techniques like sewing machine embroidering and textile painting.

The museum has fourteen items among suits and hipiles, all of them made with a different and unique technique. It is located only 50 minutes away from Mérida; besides, you can take your best pictures at San Francis the Assisi temple, one of the largest in the area.

Another good reason to go is that only 8 minutes away you can find the cenotes route, so Hocabá and its museum are a must-visit for you and the whole family.

Disconnect from the city and connect to nature, come and spend a moment of calm and tranquility walking along its streets, full of friendly and kind people, and enjoy its cuisine which you will find at its municipal market and which every day offers the most delicious breakfasts in the state.

Ik-Kil, which is in Mayan language, means “the place of the winds”, and it is a park surrounded by exotic plants and old huge trees, the perfect habitat for diverse wild birds, such as the turquoise-browed motmot, toucans, parrots, tropical mockingbird, flycatchers, and cardinal birds, among others. In the middle of the park, you will find Ik Kil Cenote, a sample of the natural richness in Yucatán, which was an ornament of ancient cultures; animals dating from centuries ago have been found here, which proves that this cenote was a sacrifice and legends place.

Plunge in the sacred world of this gorgeous cenote, a window to the past where you will find the perfect balance of harmony and adventure. Because of the fact that is located near the great city of Chichén Itzá, it is the preferred place to enjoy and refresh before or after touring around the archeological site. Discover the magic of ik kil cenote and experience an unforgettable moment of contact with nature.

Santa Cruz Hacienda invites you to “Muyal Ha Spa” a unique spa of its kind, with an extent of 0.6 miles distributed in a complete beauty center offering facials, deep cleansings, masks, relaxing massages, therapeutic massages, body scrubs, and chocolate and honey body wraps. It also offers a star service called “Ritual Cura de agua” (Water healing ritual), which will provide you with an invigorating freshness and a relaxing warmth, stimulating jacuzzies combining and alternating rebalancing and comforting scents. You can rest with delicious herb and flower teas, with a magical silence and captivating music for your delight and wellness. A wide and complex selection of hydrotherapy facilities to be freely enjoyed, or as a guided tour, with extraordinary therapeutic, preventive, and energizing properties: training, strengthening, and improving body resistance and performance, while balancing and toning the nervous system, stimulating the immune system activity, and improving circulation and mobility.

Ready and with the seatbelts fastened you will start this adventure around the largest and most important port in the state. You will begin by visiting the port’s landmarks, like the traditional and international boardwalk, where you will be making several stops so that the guide tells you some interesting and relevant information while you take your best pictures to share in social media at every photo shooting look-out located along the way.

You will visit monuments, important buildings and also a flamingos’ sanctuary. Continue with the tour for 30 minutes from the boardwalk to Xtampú pink salt banks, where community’s inhabitants are in charge of extracting salt by hand and where ancient Maya people also produced salt since 400 and 800 years before Christ. You will taste salt and could take home some as a souvenir. During the tour, you will also enjoy a delicious cold coconut and a popsicle to refresh. Before the end, you will visit El Corchito Ecological Reserve, where you will have an encounter with nature and crystal-clear water springs. The guide will tell you about historical data of the place, as well as about the flora and fauna living there. At the mangrove, racoons, fish, birds, and turtles will surround you. To finish this adventure, you will also have a meal of the traditional coastal cuisine in a restaurant offering the most typical Yucatecan food.

Yucatán not only has great cultural tourist attractions like the archeological sites, cradle of the Mayan culture, currently alive among its inhabitants; beautiful colonial cities of unparalleled architecture, or its exquisite cuisine; it also has more than 186.4 miles of a coastline with calm waters and soft sand, creating the ideal conditions for people with disabilities, so that they can easily enjoy Yucatecan beaches.

Due to the latter, foundations in matters of inclusion are beginning to be set with the first inclusive free beach in the state of Yucatán, which is located at Progreso Port, an excellent place to bring the opportunity of recreational activities for disabled and elder people, who will enjoy plunging in warm waters or having a promenade along the seashore. This service has amphibious chairs for a safe sea plunge and an easy movement inside water, it also has trained people who will accompany them in this experience, providing more safety, as well as making available accessibility and inclusion for everybody’s enjoyment without any difficulties.

The Yucatecan village of Pixyáh has three fantastic cenotes to enjoy, one of them is Nay Yah cenote, located approximately 37.2 miles away from Mérida. It is a semi-open type cenote, with 29.5 ft of free fall and its blue, calm waters are the best to refresh during the hot season. It is surrounded by nature and has diverse areas for different activities. The water spring is 131.2 ft long and 98.4 ft wide; to access, you must descend through wooden stairs leading you directly to its shore. The best access is jumping from the platform directly into the cenote, or if you prefer, you can descend through a small ladder. If you do not feel safe, or you want to relax without concerns of floating on your own, they have a circular float attached to a wood log from the platform.

This cenote is attractive for people who love scuba diving, because you can find caves in the inside, you just have to take your own complete diving equipment, which must be in good conditions.

The best moment to visit this natural wonder is when the sunlight enters directly into the cenote, as it illuminates the bottom, turning its fresh waters into a turquoise color.

Visit Suhem Pixyah cenote and enjoy its fresh crystalline emerald waters, where you will be in direct contact with nature. This cenote is open-type and has safe stairs to access, and for those who love adventure, you can also jump or climb. Besides, it has a wide platform where you can rest and then swim again. You cannot miss the great show of bats when they go out in swirls when night starts. For those who would like a distinct experience, you can also camp and swim at night, where you can enjoy seasons with a beautiful full moon, either in couple or with the family. To get to the cenote you should walk or bike, as it is located just 10 minutes away from Pixyáh municipality, on your way, you can watch the characteristic fauna of this place, see some iguanas, listen to birds’ singing, and see the famous turquoise-browed motmot, or “clock bird”. You will meet kind and modest people who will provide you with a safe service. Come and fall in love with Suhem cenote.

In this experience you can visit city’s historic downtown walking, starting at “José Apolinar Cepeda Peraza” park, which will amaze you with its charming French style, afterwards, you will go to the St. John the Baptist former convent to learn about its history and gorgeous architecture from the 15^th century, becoming one of the largest in Yucatán. Would you like to visit one of the most emblematic houses, which was an important witness of the “Caste War”? During this visit you can also learn about its secrets and its legend, this tour is for the whole family, you will be told about the best recommendations to do after the tour and where to eat. Do not miss it, Tekax has lots to offer, come and discover it!

“Cuyo Climbing” tower is located at the charming port of El Cuyo, a distinct place at Ría Lagartos biosphere reserve. Try the pleasure of climbing among beaches and palm trees. There are numerous routes of different difficulty levels. It you are a beginner, you can start with the easiest and increase the level each time. Holds are set so that any person of more than 3.2 ft of height can climb. So, any kid from 4 years and on, willing to climb, can practice here.

Most visitors are beginners, so if you ask for it, we will intensely train you in anchoring safely. Due to the fact that this training takes time, you should plan at least one hour with the necessary stops to climb. There are also beginners’ lessons. Come and experience an amazing outdoors “vertical adventure”. Enjoy Ría Lagartos biosphere climbing, your health will thank you.

Only 45 minutes away from Mérida, you can find an incredible cenote located in an ancient henequen hacienda in ruins. This beautiful place has everything so that you can spend a wonderful day with your family and friends.

San Antonio cenote is a body of water which used to be a watermill in the ancient Hacienda. To access you must descend through stairs around 16.4 ft until you get to this gorgeous cenote with a depth that goes from 1.6 ft to 45.9 ft. It is cave-type cenote and has three air entries, which allows a full airflow inside.

Mayan people made rituals and ceremonies in this place, so you can learn more about this at the tour offered on site. The guide will tell you about the most relevant happenings on the Hacienda, a baptismal crypt, and a Mayan sacred tree. Come and visit San Ignacio cenote either in the daytime or evening schedules.

Caricoa is located in Tekax, just one hour and a half from Mérida, in a Mayan hut, where the traditional table chocolate is made. A place full of familiar and traditional history, which will take you back to your childhood through a unique flavor. You can learn about the elaboration process, from the raw materials to the final product, and you will also be able to do each process. Caricoa offers the experience of making your own table chocolate with the traditional process and recipe form the family. You will learn the process of cocoa toasting in the skillet, the hand-made grounding of ingredients to make the paste and elaborate the chocolate bars, completely by hand, just as it is made in Caricoa, the best thing is that you can take home your chocolate bars to taste them.

The experience lasts around 3 hours in the workshop and in the end, you will taste a delicious water or milk chocolate, which is the traditional way of drinking it in the state, accompanied by a typical bread. While you make your chocolate, they will tell you about the origin and story of Caricoa, handcrafted chocolate, and you will learn more about the cocoa; in this incredible experience you will taste traditional chocolate and will see the different presentations made here with love.