MEXICO'S MAYA TRAIN PROJECT— ON THE RIGHT TRACK OR OFF THE RAILS?

 

Protestors Against Mayan Train in the Yucatán

Tren Maya is an ongoing high-caliber infrastructure project laying 1,525 kilometers of railway tracks set to cross five states in southeastern Mexico, connecting Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, and Quintana Roo. Depending on who you talk to, it's either "the greatest railway project being built anywhere in the world," (Amlo, Mexico's president) or "an attack on the environment and the Mayan identity," (Pedro Uc, member of the Assembly of Mayan Territory Defenders, Múuch X'iinbal).

At first the cries were but a whimper, with conservationists and the occasional archeologist or Riviera Maya environmentalist sounding alarm. But now, two plus years into its construction and the forest purge, the cries of elimination and contamination can be heard from as far off as The South China Post, Japan Times and New Delhi Times to periodicals and newspapers much closer to home. This 'feat' promised by President Andrés López Obrador (Amlo) has been both lauded and maligned in media coverage everywhere and continues to heat up.

Mexico's President López Obrador has promised the 200 billion peso project (9.8 billion USD) will provide a needed alternative to road and air transport for the "Mayan Riviera" and lift southeastern Mexico's economy which has lagged behind other parts of the country. The president's goal for completion of the train is December 2023, one year before his term ends.

Mayan Train Route

CONCERNS

Environmentalists, archeologists, concerned locals, and even the U.N., have voiced concern that the railway and its hasty construction will critically endanger pristine wilderness and ancient cave and eco-systems beneath the jungle floor. Portions of the train route extend over a fragile system of underground rivers, including the world's longest, that are unique to the Yucatán Peninsula.

The plan for the 910-mile rail is that it will carry both diesel and electric trains through the Yucatán Peninsula connecting Mexico's golden goose, Cancun, to popular tourist destinations like Chichen Itza as well as more remote, off-the-grid sites like Palenque in Chiapas. Twenty one stations with 14 stops comprise its total. 

JOBS AND ECONOMY

FONATUR (Fondo Nacional de Fomento al Turismo), Mexico's tourism arm spearheading the project, predicts the railway will lift more than a million people out of poverty by 2030 in the creation of a whopping 715,000 jobs. 

But with the train already billions over budget and behind schedule, scientists and activists, according to Reuters which has closely monitored and documented the evolution of Amlo's flagship project, says the government cut corners in its environmental risk assessments in a bid to complete it while López Obrador is still in office.

U.N. CLOCKS IN

U.N. experts warned in December the railway's status as a national security project allowed the government to side-step usual environmental safeguards and they called on the Mexican government to protect the environment in line with global standards.

FONATUR however defended the speed with which the studies were produced claiming that, "Years are not required. Expertise, knowledge and integration capacity are required," in response to questions from Reuters. It also declined to comment on the U.N. statement.

CENOTES

The Mayan Train route cuts a swath 14 meters (46 feet) wide through some of the world's most unique ecosystems, bringing civilization closer to vulnerable species such as jaguars and bats. It will pass above a system of thousands of subterranean caves carved by water from the region's soft limestone bedrock over millions of years.

Open Air Cenote (By Journey Wonders)

 

Early on, July 2020, researchers from 65 Mexican and 26 international institutions signed "Observations on the Environmental Impact Assessment of the Mayan Train" claiming it would cause "serious and irreversible harm."

Said one environmentalist, "When you destroy territory, you destroy a way of thinking, a way of seeing, a way of life, a way of explaining the reality that is part of our identity as Mayan peoples."

The ancient Maya's descendants have continued to live on the Peninsula, some still speaking Mayan, wearing traditional clothing, and also conserving traditional foods and recipes, crops, religion, and medicine practices, despite the Spanish conquest between 1527 and 1546.

When interviewed by NBC Latino, Lidia Camel Put, a resident of the area being cleared in Vida y Esperanza (Life and Hope) said, "I think there is nothing Maya about the train. Some people say it will bring great benefits but for us Maya that work the land and live here, we don't see any benefits.

"For us, it will hurt us because they are taking away what we love so much, the land," continued Put.

When marines showed up to start cutting down trees to prepare for the train on the edge of the village, residents who hadn't been paid for their expropriated land stopped them from working.

POLLUTION FACTOR

For residents of Vida y Esperanza, the train will run right by their doors. They fear it will pollute the caves that supply them water, endanger their children, and cut off their access from the outside world. In Vida y Esperanza, the train will run directly through the rutted four-mile dirt road that leads to the nearest paved highway. FONATUR says an overpass will be built for Vida y Esperanza, but such promises have gone unfulfilled in the past.

SAFETY ISSUES

The high-speed train can't have at-grade crossings (where a roadway and rail lines cross at same level), and won't be fenced. One-hundred mile per hour trains will rush past an elementary school, and most students walk to get there. Equally jarring, the train project has actually divided the pueblo Vida y Esperanza in half.

Not far from where acres of trees have been felled to prepare the land for train tracks, an archeologist and cave diver, Octavio Del Rio, pointed to a cave that lay directly beneath the train's path. "The cave's limestone roof is only two or three feet thick in some places," he told NBC. "It would almost certainly collapse under the weight of a speeding train."

Crystalline pools or cenotes punctuate the Yucatán Peninsula where the limestone surface has fallen in to expose groundwater. Along with the world's longest known underground river, this area is the site of discoveries such as ancient human fossils and a Maya canoe estimated to be more than 1,000 years old.

FRAGILE ECOSYSTEM

"If built badly, the railway could risk breaking through the fragile ground, including into yet-to-be discovered caves," said Mexican geochemist Emiliano Monroy-Rios of Northwestern University. He has extensively studied the area's caves and cenotes.

"Diesel," he added, "could also leak into the network of subterranean pools and rivers, a main source of fresh water on the Peninsula." With less than 20 percent of the subterranean system believed to have been mapped, according to several scientists interviewed by Reuters, such damage could limit important geological discoveries. 

In 2022, López Obrador wanted to finish the entire project in 16 months by filling the caves with cement or sinking concrete columns though the caverns to support the weight of the passing trains, as reported by The Chicago Sun-Times. This could block or contaminate the underground water system, the only thing that allowed humans to survive in a land of fickle rain fall. "I rely on water from a cenote to wash dishes and bathe," said Mario Basto, a resident of Vida y Esperanza. 

Uncharted Cave in Yucatán

IMPACT STUDY

The government's environmental impact study for Section 5, a 68-mile and most controversial stretch that runs from Cancun to Tulum, states its environmental impacts are "insignificant" and have been adequately mitigated, Reuters wrote. The study adheres that the risk of collapse was taken into account in the engineering of the tracks and that the area will be observed through a "prevention" program.

However, dozens of scientists disagree, writing in open letters that the assessments are riddled with problems, including outdated data, the omission of recently discovered caves, and a lack of input from local hydrology experts.

"They don't want to recognize the fragility of the land," said Fernanda Lases, a Merida-based scientist with UNAM, calling the problems identified "worrisome." And adding insult to injury, the names of the 70 experts who participated in the government study were redacted from the publication.

Bulldozer Clearing Land in Puerto Morelos (Photo AP)

Monroy-Rios said his research highlights the need for extensive surveillance and monitoring for any infrastructure project in the region, and this has not happened. "I guess their conclusions were pre-formatted," he continued. "They want to do it fast and that's part of the problem. There is no time for proper exploration."

The railway has deeply divided Mexicans and the controversies surrounding the construction exemplify struggles developing countries across the globe face to balance economic progress with environmental responsibility, Reuters wrote.

LOOMING MILITARY

López Obrador has already given the military more tasks than any other recent Mexican president, with armed services personnel doing everything from building airports to transporting medicine to running tree nurseries. The army will operate the train project once it is built, and the proceeds from that will be used to provide pensions for soldiers and sailors. The president said the army is among the most trustworthy and honest institutions in the country.

For more than two years Maya communities have been objecting to the train line, filing court challenges arguing the railway violated their right to a safe, clean environment, and that they be consulted. Back in 2019, the Mexico office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the consultations the government did prepare were flawed.

How will it all play out? As of February 28, the military-controlled Tren Maya S.A. de C.V. announced the passenger and cargo rail route will begin operations on December 1, 2023.

"It will be one of the best rail systems in the world," said Javier May Rodriguez, general director of FONATUR. "Its trips will be safe because it will have state of the art technology." 

December 1 marks the date of the fifth year anniversary of Amlo's presidency. Auspicious timing? Or not. Time will tell. 

Cenote Choo-Ha in Yucatán (Photo Sandra Salvadó)

If you enjoyed this post, check out  Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya, on Amazon. My website is www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are also on Amazon. And my journalistic overview of the Maya 2012 calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed: Demystifying the Prophecy, is on Amazon.

THE YUCATÁN'S CHICXULUB CRATER AND ITS CONNECTION TO THE DINOSAUR EXTINCTION

 

Chicxulub Crater (Photo UT, Austin)

For 170 million years during the Cretaceous Period, a time when oceans formed as land shifted and broke out of one big super-continent into smaller ones, dinosaurs ruled the world. Meanwhile, an asteroid was hurtling towards planet Earth after its misguided journey around the sun. The most consequential outcome of this impact would cause a cataclysmic event known as the fifth mass extinction, wiping out roughly 75 percent of all animal species, including the non-avian dinosaurs. But what really happened when the asteroid collided with Earth? 

Hidden below the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the Chicxulub crater marks the impact site where the asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago. "The asteroid was moving astonishingly quickly," according to Professor Gareth Collings of Planetary Science at Imperial College, London. "Probably around 12.5 miles per second when it struck. That's about 100 times the speed of a jumbo jet."

Crater Ring After Impact Drawing

SIZE MATTERS

By studying both the geology at Chicxulub and worldwide, scientists have pieced together what happened that fateful day and in the years following. Larger than the height Mount Everest reaches into the atmosphere, the mountain sized asteroid slammed into Earth, dooming the dinosaurs. It unleashed the equivalent of energy of billions of nuclear weapons all at once. It vaporized the Gulf of Mexico. Bedrock melted into seething white flames at tens of thousands of degrees Celsius and it created a hole miles deep and 120 miles wide.

Its existence is a fairly recent discovery, first put forth in 1978 by geophysicist Glen Penfield, who worked for Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil agency. While searching for oil his crew used a magnetometer as they flew above the Gulf, and that's when he saw the outline of a perfect semi-circle in the clear water below, where the ground had been vaporized in a split second. His device let him and geophysicist Antonio Camargo Zanoguera know it had a magnetic field different from volcanic terrain, a most un-volcano-like symmetry. The saucer shaped underground structure was ten times the size of any volcano with an upward bulge at its center. The two men concurred, according to Smithsonian Magazine, that it could not be the result of a volcano, and was probably an impact crater.

SPECIES COLLAPSE

Because of this impact, Earth's water supplies were poisoned and 75 percent of species vanished. The 25 percent that survived were pushed to the brink of extinction and anything larger than a racoon didn't live. It would take 30,000 years for life to stabilize.

Luis and Walter Alvarez

After Penfield's initial fly-over, Luis and Walter Alvarez (father and son) discovered a thin layer of iridium in a geological record marking the ending of the Cretaceous Period across the entire world. Iridium is more prevalent in comets and asteroids than on earth. The scientists postulated that the impact led to global fires, smoke, and dust clouds that blocked out the sun, cooling the planet and preventing photosynthesis. They hypothesized that the crater might be the K-T impact site.

THE SCIENTISTS

Soon after that, Allen Hildebrand, Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from University of Arizona, worked with the Alvarez team and published what were considered controversial articles at the time that suggested that a large impact from an asteroid had caused the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The impact site was eventually determined to be at Chicxulub and the extinction it caused came to be known as the K-T event.

Ring of Cenotes Near Impact Site

In 1990 Adriana Ocampo discovered the distribution of cenotes in the Yucatán Peninsula along with her then husband, Dr. Kevin Pope, by using satellite images to map water resources on the peninsula. They found the semi-circular ring of cenotes or sinkholes that she recognized as related to the crater and they hypothesized that the crater might be the K-T event site, publishing their findings in the journal Nature in 1991.

Ocampo has visited the peninsula numerous times since her discoveries but few people are aware of the importance of the place, she was quoted as saying in an interview in Yucatán Magazine. 

"It should be preserved as a world heritage site," she said. Though not yet world heritage worthy, the Chicxulub Crater Science Museum south of Progreso, though temporarily closed due to Covid, is a stunning nod to the asteroid that literally shook our world 66 million years ago and created a new pecking order by destroying the dinosaurs.

Chicxulub Crater Science Museum

Although Ocampo began connecting the dots when she attended a 1988 scientific conference in Acapulco as a young planetary scientist from NASA, having studied with legendary pioneering astro-geologist Eugene Shoemaker, she names Houston Chronicle journalist Carlos Byars as the first person to connect the Yucatan ring to the Alvarez asteroid theory. Byars had shared his theory with Alan Hildebrand who then approached Penfield who'd flown over the Gulf for Pemex. The two of them determined the crater wasn't a volcano but an asteroid impact.

Chicxulub Fishing Boats (By Benandcarma.com)

LAIDBACK SPOT 

Chicxulub Puerto and Chicxulub Pueblo are laid back communities made famous because of the epicenter of the asteroid impact that destroyed the dinosaurs. Even the asteroid museum is miles away from them. But things may change with David Attenborough's The Final Day on BBC that explains in detail what may have transpired so long ago. Paleontologist Robert DePalma joins Attenborough to discuss his recent discovery in a prehistoric graveyard of fossilized creatures. New theories and views are continuing to be made, and PBS will air a two-part series the end of May on the asteroid and the death of the dinosaurs. Welcome to the world of yester-year and the way we, humans, managed to climb to the top of the food chain. We had no competitors and well, here we are. So—what say you? How we doing, folks? 

If you enjoyed this post, check out my other works, Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya. It's available on Amazon with tales of expat life and living within 100 miles of four major pyramid sites. Also check out my website at www.jeaninekitchel.com. Books one and two in my Mexico cartel trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown, are available on Amazon where you can find my overview of the 2012 Maya calendar phenomenon, Maya 2012 Revealed—Demystifying the Prophecy.

HOW MEXICO'S YUCATÁN SINKHOLES AND UNDERGROUND RIVERS WERE FORMED

 

Photo MexicanCaribbeanTravel

CENOTES

PART 2

The Yucatán Peninsula emerged 65 million years ago as a vast coral reef according to geologists. As the oceans receded, mollusks died, creating the limestone shelf that now covers the Peninsula's porous land. Rain waters filtered down into the substructure and created underground rivers. After the last ice age, the oceans rose to their current levels and flooded the caves left by the lacy limestone shelves, collapsing some, creating sinkholes, commonly known as cenotes in Yucatán. Though not unique to the Yucatán, cenotes are fairly uncommon geological formations, and they can vary considerably in shape and size.

Image from CenoteFinder

Although cenotes are plentiful in the Yucatán, with thousands known, exploring them is a fairly new phenomenon. In the 1980s, geologists identified 21 variations and have since narrowed these down to five basic types: open air, angled wall, vertical wall as at Chichen Itza, cavern pool with stalactites, and underground domed.

Open air Carwash Cenote near Tulum (photo theworldisaplayground.com)

CAVE SYSTEMS

Some cenotes have small surface openings but unfold into an intricate cave system that can literally run for miles. This cenote type is popular with cave divers and tackled by professionals like diver Mike Madden, formerly of Puerto Morelos. Madden did some of the first explorations near Tulum, Quintana Roo, under the auspices of CEDAM (Club de Exploraciones y Deportes Acuaticos de Mexico) earning a spot in the 1988 Guinness Book of World Records for documenting the world's longest underwater cave system—168,400 feet in all—called Giant Birdhouse or in Mayan, Nohoch Nah Chich. Madden's explorations proved that an intricate series of meandering underground waterways exists, connecting cenote to cenote.

Nohoch Nah Chich Cenote (photo Steve Gerrard)

Considered an extreme sport, cave diving is gaining popularity and it's not uncommon to bump into serious divers on Yucatán's cenote route.

In colonial Valladolid, 28 miles east of Chichen Itza, Cenote Zaci can be found. A cavern pool 150 feet wide, its turquoise waters show off stalactites and there is a walkway around the entire cenote, to better view the massive pool. An adjoining restaurant lights up the area at night for diners who can either eat inside or on an expansive deck overlooking the fresh water pool.

MOST PHOTOGRAPHED CENOTE

Four miles south of Valladolid off a narrow, two-lane road is Centoe Dzitnup. An underground cenote with angled walls, it has a hole in its ceiling where sunlight streams in at mid-day. Tree roots stretch down from the rocky ceiling to reach the clear, still waters below. One of the most photographed of Yucatán's cenotes, a steep slippery descent leads one into this underground cavern.

Underground Cenote Dzitnup (photo Cliff Wassman)

Ten miles north of Merida, Yucatán's capital made famous for manufacturing Panama hats at the turn of the 20th century, Xlacah Cenote can be found at the Dzibilchaltun ruins. A popular cooling off spot, this open air cenote is not connected to any underground pools and seems more like a local swimming hole than a cenote.

AMAZING CAVES IMAX FILM

Dos Ojos (photo HiddenWorlds)

Leaving Yucatán and entering Riviera Maya territory, cenotes dot Highway 307 south of Playa del Carmen, 42 miles from Cancun. Dos Ojos, south of Playa, was the site of the Amazing Caves IMAX diving film. The film shows stunning footage of underground caverns with stalactites and stalagmites, and was the highest grossing giant screen documentary film of 2001. Well worth a watch.

IMAX Journey Into Amazing Caves (Blu-Ray review)

Aktun-Chen combines both a cenote and the area's largest caves within a massive rainforest park, ten miles north of the Tulum pyramids. A bit further south at the Coba pyramid turnoff, Car Wash Cenote is located on a road dotted with sinkholes. A wide pool, unspectacular at first sight but good for swimming, Car Wash opens into an underwater cave where freshwater tropical fish cruise alongside turtles.

SOUTHERN CENOTES

Heading south to Belize, Cenote Azul is located in Bacalar, 25 miles north of QRoo's capitol, Chetumal. Situated near Bacalar's famous Lagoon of the Seven Colors, the second largest fresh water lake in Mexico, Cenote Azul is Mexico's largest cenote. Stretching 600 feet in diameter, this stunning turquoise-colored cenote is a perfect spot for a swim. 

Cenote Azul near Bacalar (photo LocoGringo.com)

This vast peninsula, comprised of low scrub jungles and knockout white sand beaches, was considered "the most savage coast in Central America" only 60 years ago. No paved road existed in Quintana Roo, now home to Cancun, which was then just a territory.

 

It would not become Mexico's 31st state until 1973. Trying hard to overturn their mediocre at best ecological record, the Mexico government established the 1.3 million acre Sian Kaan Biosphere Reserve in 1986 in Quintana Roo, in hopes of preserving this outstanding piece of Mother Nature.

Sian Ka'an Eco Biosphere Reserve (photo UNESCO)

SIAN KA'AN UNESCO SITE

Named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, the biosphere encompasses hundreds of species of local birds, plants, mammals and fish along with acres of mangroves, lagoons and savannas. Sian Ka'an is all about eco-tourism and the preservation of this massive stretch of land, which covers one third of the Caribbean coast of Mexico. The reserve contains a buffer zone where limited human activity is allowed, such as bone-fishing or boat trips through the lagoons out to the Great Meso-American Reef, the world's second largest reef.

These cenotes are but a handful of many the Yucatán Peninsula has to offer. Local tour guides and guidebooks can lead to spur of the moment or planned cenote adventures, plus ensure a cool dip in a crystal clear fresh water pool for your efforts as a reward.

For more information on Mexico, the Maya and the Yucatán, subscribe to my bi-monthly blog above or check out my website, www.jeaninekitchel.com. I'm also author of a travel memoir, Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya, that details how I bought land, built a house and became an expat in a fishing village on the Mexican Caribbean coast. It's available on Amazon, as are books one and two in my crime thriller trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, along with Tulum Takedown. 

MEXICO'S MARVELS—CENOTES OF THE YUCATAN

 

Cenote in Yucatan 

Tangled green vines brush against my face as I trek behind our guide deeper into the low-lying Yucatan jungle. The narrow, gnarly path—recently cut by machete—oozes damp, musty smells.

It is July, rainy season in Mexico, and temperatures are in the nineties, a veritable heat wave. We’re in search of a cenote, a clear fresh water pool, also known as a sinkhole here in the Yucatan, a place the Maya named Sian Ka'an or Where the Sky is Born.

Although the Maya used these ancient wells as their water source in an arid land that offered few rivers, our search is for recreational purposes. We plan to cool off in the cenote’s crystal waters, to swim and maybe snorkel.

Traipsing through thick forest growth alongside a mangrove swamp, little did I realize this jungle spot forty miles south of Cancun and just seven miles north of Playa del Carmen (Tres Rios) would many years later become a major resort. With a wave of the hand, our guide motions us to follow.

Tres Rios cenote (haciendotresrios.com)

We ford the stream behind him and into a clearing. Now surrounded by brilliant green foliage, the scene becomes a primeval forest. The clarity of the cenote is beyond comparison. Gazing into it I see mangrove tree trunks reaching up from the pool’s bottom, breaking the waterline and stretching high into the tropical sky. 

Cenotes are plentiful in this part of Mexico and have become a favorite tourist attraction as vacationers discover they’re an ideal place to cool off in the sultry climate of the Riviera Maya. Nearly five hundred are known to exist in the Northeastern Yucatan where Maya civilization flourished for 3500 years from 2000 BC to 1521 AD. 

Cenote Bang by USGS.gov

To the Maya, a culture made great by ruling dynasties and strong religious beliefs, cenotes were more than just a water source. The Maya believed cenotes were the sacred entrance to the underworld of spirits where Chaac, the rain god, lived. On a parched peninsula, Chaac ruled in a long line of spiritual dieties. Water is life.

Of the Yucatan’s numerous cenotes, perhaps best known is the Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza, a ceremonial center known for towering pyramids and spring and fall equinox displays of shadow and light. The vertical wall cenote has a diameter of 160 feet and measures 60 feet from its lip to the water surface below. Made famous by archeological explorer Edward H. Thompson, this well brought forth its diabolic history when Thompson dredged it in 1904.

Thompson knew Maya life intertwined agriculture, religion and water. Due to agricultural needs to feed a burgeoning  population, the Maya calendar was developed to determine auspicious dates for planting and harvesting. Thompson also knew the calendar was interpreted by the priests, but as their promises failed to bring rain, he’d heard human sacrifices were thrown into the cenote to appease Chaac. He was also positive that along with the maidens, other offerings would also have been made.

The Boston explorer tested his theory by creating a diving aparatus and taking diving lessons, hiring a Greek diver to assist him, traveled to Boston to buy a derrick and thirty-foot boom, designed his own diving apparatus, and shipped it all to the Yucatan.

Edward H. Thompson (photo americanegypt.com)

On his return, he dove and dredged the Sacred Cenote daily. Finally, about six weeks in, he came up with gold and copper discs, figures of Maya gods and the clincher, human skeletons. His exploration of the cenote proved that human sacrifice was indeed a part of Maya life, with human sacrifice hopefully giving them access to the rain god and his whims.

Chicen Itza's cenote is but one of many in the Yucatan. Part 2 will explore how cenotes were formed and give details on some of the more popular ones on the Peninsula. Stay tuned.

For more information on the Maya, Mexico and the Yucatan, check out my website, www.jeaninekitchel.com. My travel memoir, Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya, is available on Amazon.com. Also on Amazon, are books one and two in my Mexico cartel thriller trilogy, Wheels Up—A Novel of Drugs, Cartels and Survival, and Tulum Takedown. Subscribe to my blog above for my writings on Mexico and the Maya.