After the morning visit to Mayapan next stop was to a nearby town of Mani. By now the midday heat was getting intense for the high of 36 degrees.

Mani is home to the 400 year old Monastery of San Miquel. It was built with bricks from Mayan sites.

When the Spanish brought Christianity Europeans and Mayan were still seperated in Church, and further segregations by class and sex. This undermines the notion of equality and has left lasting effects in society today.

To the rear was a convent. Artwork on the walls had eroded. Although Christianity was now the state religion, due to many internal conflicts the Churches fell into neglect.

Nearby was a small cave where scrolls were discovered by the Spanish when they followed a goat running in. They subsequently destroyed all texts as they had done with much of Mayan culture.

We now drove a short distance for lunch and to cool down. We ordered fresh made lime juice and had black bean soup for starters which was good for my sore throat and cough.

I ordered turkey tacos as apparently turkey is a common meal in the Americas (maybe the origin of turkey for thanksgiving?).

Next stop was to the Tzabnah Grottos which I didnt read good reviews of and was considering skipping and waiting by the car due to my illness.

The heat was quite strong by late afternoon. We were given helmets with no straps so kept falling over. Also knee pads and flashlights. A local was going to lead our group.

The further we went in the more humid it became. Mexican caves are humid due to the tropical climate unlike other caves which are very cool.

Aside from being pitch black with bats flying around the ground was uneven and sometimes slippery. You had to climb over rocks or duck to enter caverns. In places there were ropes to help climb down.

I was finding it much harder to breath the further in and they said we were only halfway thru. There was supposed to be a 7 metre tunnel where you have to crawl on all fours. I decided I wasnt up for that already having breathing problems so asked to be led out. Augusto our guide for the day led me out as he does this tour many times.

I would only recommend these caves for the most adventurous and athletic. Quite frankly they are not safe. If a person fell in pitch blackness in deep caverns they might never be seen again. The helmets were no use as with no straps they kept sliding off.

Just down the street was the town of Tecoh with another cathedral. This was much nicer and a safer option. People were actually going thru to the end of the caves to swim in the black cenote at the end with who knows what resides in those dark depths.

We bought drinks to cool down and headed home. Overall it was a nice trip. I would only recommend the caves for a partial tour but no need to go thru to the end to swim in the final cenote.