A natural underground reservoir of water such as occurs in the limestone of Yucatán, Mexico.
Example sentencesExamples
There should be a hole in the pavement, looks like a cenote.
In one early scene in the book he is dangling in a harness fifty feet above the water level of an overgrown limestone cenote, or sinkhole, deep in the jungle of the Dominican Republic.
But perhaps the best day out was hiring a ‘Herbie’ (VW beetles are still made in their original form in Mexico) to seek out the cenotes, pools formed by underwater rivers.
Maya tradition also merits them a special place - cenotes are seen as the wellspring of life, an entrance into the afterlife and a point of contact with the gods.
The cenote is magnificent: gin-clear water, fine cave formations and the occasional crack above with the green jungle framing a bright blue sky.
Several of the natural waterholes or cenote within the area of the settlement became sacred places into which offerings were regularly deposited.
For example, cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico are collapsed depressions, in the base of which groundwater flow is exposed.
Some of the caves contain cenotes, or openings to underground water sources, that the ancient Maya associated with Ix Chel.
You can kayak, mountain-bike, dive in a reef or cenote (a water-filled limestone sinkhole unique to the Yucatan Peninsula), or enjoy snorkeling and scuba diving, golfing and tennis, trekking, birdwatching, and deep-sea fishing.
They gave me such bad palpitations and shakes I couldn't actually concentrate on Brazilian hyperinflation or the ritual uses of the cenote in Mayan culture.
A cenote, or sink-hole, is created when the roof of one of these vast caverns collapses.
The aptly named Gran Cenote is really several cenotes meandering along the verdant jungle floor and connected by wooden walkways.
Synonyms
pool, lake, pond
Origin
Mid 19th century: from Yucatán Spanish, from Maya tzonot.