By David
In Yucatán, literally you will never stop discovering new amazing places
At one time the official slogan of Yucatan was “Infinity experiences” and it still makes completely sense nowadays, since not all cenotes are explored (counted around 2,000 cenotes but estimated as much as 7,000 in the region). Having said that, you can imagine the endless possibilities as new access are built to new areas or people deciding to rescue forgotten places and opening cenotes to public for the first time.
This is the case of Tsukán: Santuario de Vida, a beautiful new project made by Yucatecan people. They decided to work and restore and old forgotten ranch with natural beauties and welcome everybody to visit it.
But before we continue, if it is your first time to hear about a Cenote, I highly recommend you to check out our blog entry about Cenotes, click here to find out all the secrets behind them (dinosaurs and meteors included).
Location
Tsukán is 1 h 20 min away from Mérida and just 20 min away from Chichen Itzá Archeological Site. With that in mind, I will definitely say it will be another option to visit besides the amazing Cenote: Ik Kil, which is also close to Chichen Itzá. Ik Kil is the famous cenote everyone go after a visit to Chichen Itzá, so sometimes Ik Kil can be very crowded.
Concept
But Tsukán Santuario de Vida concept is way too different from Ik Kil. Tsukán is a complete experience that feels personal and authentic, far away from typical crowded tourist attractions. From the moment we entered the park we could see a lot of the details and investment in the park, but making it very clear the main goal is to keep the place as undisturbed and natural as possible.
At the beggining you will be assigned a personal guide of the park to guide you to de differents areas.
The Park
The first stop is a Casita Maya, a representation of the actual Traditional Mayan House. This topic could be for an entire new blog entry. The design, materials of construction, and what it represents is so unique and important, so it is about to be declared intangible cultural heritage by Unesco. As many millennial cultures, Mayan population and culture is alive and in constant change, but also in constant dare on extinction. By preserving traditions as Casitas Mayas we help keeping the culture alive. Nevertheless, in Tsukan you will get a detailed explanation and you will have the chance to eat fresh made tortillas (this is gold for us mexicans) with salsa specifically made for you. Buen Provecho!
It’s a nice walk through the park, you will see a lot of endemic plants of Yucatan, some of them are related to Mayan legends.
Is interesting to see that Tsukán is within the limits of the Chichen Itzá ancient city. Ruins were discovered in Tsukán, studies are yet to be done to determine the importance of the settlements and eventually the restauration process. Keep in mind that Tsukán is a brand new park.
The entrance to the Cenote (the main attraction) is stunning. Originally the only access to the cenote was a small hole in the ground, people had to access by descending with ropes, so hard work for making a proper entrance was done. This is one of the few alterations done, but otherwise it would be impossible to access to it.
And here we are, a view to the entrance of the Cenote
Cenote
A picture speaks a thousand words. What an amazing Cenote! I deffinetly can say it is on my top 5. Its big with crystal clear water, surrounded by stalactites and stalagmites. You can even see small fishes on the water and the famous Toh Bird (Motmot or Torogoz bird) flying inside the cave.
For security reasons life jackets is mandatory (they provide them), this is because is a deep cenote, probably the depth of it is around 50 meters! you better don’t drop off anything there.
We spent there easily around one hour, exploring each side of the cenote, floating contemplating the cave in silence or just taking many pictures. Have a look to some of them:
In conlusion
We highly recommend a visit to Tsukán. The staff is very gay friendly and were always helpfull. You can visit Tsukán Santuario de Vida:
Monday to Sunday
de 9:00 a 17:00 Hrs.
You can click here to go to their website for more information.
We are in a constatnt journey to discover the most authentic places and gay friendly hotels. If you book by us, or mention us, we might earn a commision
Disscounts
Don’t forget to contact us to get and special coupon to get exclusive discount at the park entry fee. It will also help us letting them know you found out about Tsukán Santuario de Vida through Mérida Gay Tours. We are convinced you are going to enjoy your time there.
