"When you're trekking in 40C heat, there's nothing more welcome than a swimming hole. This particular oasis was a perfect circle of inky, deliciously cold-looking water. Only problem was, it was 10 metres below the trail. I took a deep breath and channelled my inner Tom Daley. One, two, three go! I leapt into the void and plummeted like a stone points deducted for the huge splash as I hit the water."
"When I came up for air, I had the cenote, or sinkhole, to myself, barring the birds nesting in the craggy rocks that formed it. I floated on my back and watched as a black vulture tried to coax her fluffy chick to take its first flight. Who knew carrion-eaters were so cute? The Yaal Utzil cenote is one of many along the Camino del Mayab, a 68-mile (110km) walking and cycling trail near Merida on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula."
"Before the journey, I met the co-founder of the camino, Alberto Gutierrez Cervera. He took up walking with friends while at university in Merida. Inspired by the success of the Camino de Santiago in Europe, he decided to turn his student hikes into a Mexican pilgrimage route, offering a more sustainable form of tourism than, say, the nearby resorts of Cancun on the peninsula's Caribbean coast."
A trekker in 40C heat found a circular cenote 10 metres below the trail and leapt in, then floated while watching a vulture coax its chick. The Yaal Utzil cenote is one of many along the Camino del Mayab, a 68-mile (110km) walking and cycling trail near Merida that opened in 2020 and follows historic paths. Walkers and cyclists can tackle the route independently or on guided tours over several days. The camino was co-founded by Alberto Gutierrez Cervera, who transformed university hikes into a Mexican pilgrimage inspired by the Camino de Santiago to promote more sustainable tourism. Merida sits atop the ancient Maya city Ti'ho, and modern Maya communities remain present but often face poverty and prejudice.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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