Grutas de Tzabnah and Journey’s End

An early morning stroll at the hacienda while waiting for breakfast.

With only hours to go until it was time to leave the hacienda, we wandered the grounds taking in as much of it as we could, the sights, the sounds and the smells.  Chalanté was gifting us with beautiful memories.

With our meal finished and our bags packed into the car, we drove off en route to Mérida.  Naturally, we took only side roads avoiding the busier highways as we knew that this was the way to see the real Yucatan, the real Mexico.  We passed fields of sisal, a strange looking plant that produces fibres using in cloth and in rope.

In each village that we passed, we stopped for a moment to check our map and to get a feel for the villages. 

In the village of Homun, we took an extended stop so that all could take advantage of the facilities located in the village’s municipal building.

The local village police made for a few interesting photos.  In all honesty, I don’t think that they would be a major threat to any serious criminal elements.  That said, I am certain that they were perfectly suited for keeping the peace and order of the small village of Homun.

The next leg of our journey took us through a number of back roads through tiny pueblo settlements.  Finally we came to the village of Tecoh where we were to check out a set of caves calle “las Grutas de Tzabnah”. 

It was with some difficulty that we made it to the caves site.  A small sign on the side of a narrow road indicated that we had come to the right place.  But all that we saw was this scene.  There was no one there to collect money or to hire as a guide into the hole in the ground.

Not wanting to just drive away, we decided to go into the opening to see how far we could get.  We did manage to go quite a ways in.  At one point, we were using the infared beam from my camera to light up the way ahead in little flashes just so that we wouldn’t find ourselves bumping into overhead rocks or tripping over stones underfoot.

Having gone as far as we dared, it was time for a few photos using the flash.  We all wished that we could have gone further with lights and a guide.  But, it was not to be.  We found out as we headed back into the village that it was a fair day with rides and entertainments planned.  Maybe another year we will be able to discover the treasures of “las grutas de Tzabnah”. 

Since it was nearing noon, we drove the rest of the way to Mérida on the main road.  Taking care of a few tasks such as returning the car, checking Roger and Suzanne into their hotel and booking our room for “Carnaval”; we then stopped for our final meal together in Mexico.  Taking a trip like this with friends was something that will make for great memories when we are too old to do more than reminisce.