Caves played an integral role in Mesoamerican religion, being places of emergence of gods and ancestors as well as portals to the underworld, the world of demons and other potent beings. The Teotihuacan cave may have held particular significance, its four lobes representing the four parts of the Mesoamerican cosmos. It soon became a focal point of ritual activity and settlement in the valley. Teotihuacan's Pyramid of the Sun was built directly over the cave in the second century A.D.
Archaeologists believe that a cave played a key role in determining the location of the Maya supercity Chichen Itza. The most prominent ceremonial building in the complex is directly aligned with the sacred cenote, and connected to it via a Sac Be, or sacred white road. Cenotes, quite common on the Yucatan peninsula, occur when water erosion causes a cave ceiling the breach the surface, creating a vertical cave filled with water. There is evidence of ritual human sacrifice at Chichen Itza's cenote, including jewelry and human remains at the bottom, as well a ceremonial platform and spectator seating at the rim.
A different type of cave was discovered just six kilometers from Chichen Itza in 1959. The dry horizontal cave at Balankanche has since been opened to visitors, featuring a gradually winding but extremely warm walkway, whose highlight is the large stalagmite altar that resembles an enormous ceiba tree, known as the “Sacred Tree inside the Earth.”
Located on the road between Balankanche and Chichen Itza is another Yucatan cenote called Cenote Ik Kil. Roughly 100 feet below ground level, Cenote Ik Kil offers swimming, as well as a nice restaurant and gift shop. It is highly recommended to anyone visiting Chichen Itza as a refuge from the oppressive mid-day tropical heat, or to those attempting to recover from the near-melting experience of walking in Balankanche.
