Cenote (TS'ONOT) (セノーテ)

This is our story. And here we are.

CENOTE

How long have we been here?

The Sun.

Who were you?

What do you wear on your skin?

On that day, we wore beautiful clothes of gold.

The people got down on their knees in front of us.

Prayers were not enough.

We want to go back to where we were born.

To where the sun rises and disappears.

To where the earth is dry and burns.

To where the faint breeze touches our cheeks.

How can we get out of here?

We have already melted into the water.

We can’t get out of here but the living can come down.

A boy went into the cenote during August.

When people saw that he didn't come back,

they went to wait for him to come out, and they say that the body came up.

But I can't tell you if he did come up because I didn't go to see him.

They say it did come up.

The other boy that went into the cenote never came up.

People waited for the body to come up, but it didn't come up.

He went into a cenote, now we don't know in which cenote he'll show up.

They say the body could get stuck. It could go far.

That’s the problem with the cenote. Cenote has many canals.

When I was a kid there was a cenote near our town.

Many adults were taken into the cenote. Year after year...

the water would rise and take people into the cenote.

They died there. Some people don’t believe that the water carries people with it,

because the cenote is 20 meters deep.

The foam and the water that come out is what takes people.

If you are in its path, it will take you and bury you inside the cenote.

Many people died there. They didn't know about this and went to the cenote.

Then people realized that when there’s bad weather,

in each storm, the cenote water rises up to 20 meters.

Our reciters told us the song of the minstrel.

One day I will kiss your mouth

between the plants of the milpa.

Shimmering beauty,

will you wake up?

We never saw the sea.

We wonder what is below the horizon.

Our fathers were afraid that bad wind may come from the sea,

and bring us a fever.

Who knows how it happened, I was small I only heard tales.

There was a lady who used to live close to the cenote.

She had her baby and was feeding him his night milk and the kid drank it.

The kid fell asleep, then the mother went out. She climbed and jumped into the cenote.

They realized she was gone and was nowhere to be found.

But they say that 24 hours after the body always comes up on the water.

People look for a way to get it out.

I have seen 22 year old young man who used to get drunk and walk by.

He walked around the place where the men cut grass.

He jumped into the cenote and died.

They couldn't find him when they looked for him,

but three days after that school boys said someone saw a person inside a water well.

He was dead when he was taken out.

The water well was deep so it was hard to get him out.

Every god danced and they disguised us

as birds, jaguars, bees, butterflies, or beetles.

Following the dance of gods,

we dream of a falling meteor.

A meteor is crossing the Sun.

A meteor is falling on us

and making landscapes in our faces.

When the drought comes, the only place where there will be water left is in the cenote.

It has a Mayan name, Cabachem.

There, to be able to drink the water in the “cocoyol” shell,

you have to offer a baby, so the legend goes.

Round and round in circles.

The lust to dominate lives.

Not to be dominated.

Their horses brought the chain of blood.

My mother always told stories because when she was small there was no electricity here in town.

They used to go to the cenote very often to drink water.

Here in Uzil cenote, since it’s closer to us, people would go to rest for a while to be refreshed.

Many people said that when they arrived they would see a big snake, like a dragon with wings.

Here in town we all know that it is the owner of the cenote.

Sometimes when you go to the cenote, all the walls have water on them,

because they say that it comes out and shakes its body.

At night, the people who go to the woods say it comes out and they see it flying around,

mostly during full moon, they see it come in and out the cenote.

That’s why sometimes when we go to the cenote there’s water outside. They say the cenote overflows,

but other people say it is the creature which lives in the cenote.

They say ancient Mayans used to live in the cenote Uzil.

They would make Sac’ha, the traditional Mayan drink.

They would do their rituals, and offer it to the cenote,

But now they don’t do that anymore.

They say that after a while the cenote comes alive and takes a sacrifice on its own.

That’s why people who die in the cenote are never seen again, not even their bodies.

We don’t know if it’s because the cenote has veins that connect to another cenote or to the sea.

But, the last time a person died there, about two years ago, they never found his body.