This is seriously the best vacation picture I have ever taken. (You have to click on it to enlarge and then you can see the bottom of the pool as well as the reflection of the ceiling in the water.) This is a cenote in the Yucatan, part of our vacation to the Mexican Mayan region in August. To get to these cenotes, we had to climb down steep and damp stairs, in one case we climbed down a ladder into near complete darkness, to arrive at cool and marvelous underground mineral lakes. The water is crystal clear, the air is cool but heavy with minerals, though the scent is pleasant and there is sunlight streaming in through holes in the limestone ceiling of the caves. There were few people at this site, as the cenotes are difficult to find and require a guide with a horse drawn cart in order to traverse the landscape. These cenotes are on a former sisal plantation about 50 kilometers outside of Merida. Swimming in that soft, cool water, I felt some sense of why the Mayans believed that paradise was under the earth. We were alone in this particular pool, floating in the refreshing water with the sunlight filtering down through the roots of massive trees. Snorkeling here was incredible -- small fishes and amazing rock formations. Climbing out of the water, I was able to take this picture before the next group climbed down the ladder to take their swim.
