Overview
Edward Thompson, the American consul who bought the site in 1894, dredged the cenote for years and shipped much of what he found to Harvard; some was returned to Mexico decades later. Later excavation confirmed the human remains are mostly children and young men, consistent with sacrifice, and DNA work published in 2024 found that several were closely related, including two pairs of identical twins. The water is opaque green and nothing is visible from the rim.
Highlights
Walk the causeway to it rather than cutting through the market stalls; the road is the ceremonial approach and reads as one. Read the museum panels first — the cenote itself shows nothing, and what makes it worth the walk is what came out of it. Do not expect to swim: this cenote is not for swimming and never was.