Ik Kil Explained

Ik Kil is a cenote outside Pisté in the Tinúm Municipality, Yucatán, Mexico. It is located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula and is part of the Ik Kil Archeological Park near Chichen Itza. It is open to the public for swimming.

Description

The cenote is open to the sky with the water level about 26m (85feet) below ground level. It is about 60m (200feet) in diameter and about 48m (157feet) deep.[1] A carved stairway leads down to a swimming platform.

Cenote Ik Kil is near the Maya[2] ruins of Chichen Itza, on the highway to Valladolid. Ik Kil was considered sacred by the Maya who used the site as a location for human sacrifice to their rain god, Chaac. Bones and pieces of jewelry have been found in the waters of the cenote by archaeologists and speleologists.[3]

The cenote is part of a complex that includes a restaurant and hotel. Ik Kil was a location on the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in 2010, 2011 and 2014.[4] [5]

See also

External links

20.6609°N -88.5505°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Cenotes, Underwater Sinkholes . Yucatan Today . 15 May 2022 . 11 April 2024.
  2. Web site: Cities in Mexico and Brief History . Latam Living.
  3. Web site: Cenote Ik-Kil . Cenotes of Mexico . 1 November 2017.
  4. Web site: Red Bull Cliff Diving, Cenote Ik Kil. 14 May 2011. 12 April 2011. Behind Magazine. 24 March 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120324022239/http://www.behindmagazine.com/contents/?p=22672. dead.
  5. Web site: Diving Into Deepest Mexico. 16 March 2015. Red Bull Cliff Diving.