Memories of Bolonchen

In 1841 US explorer & travel writer John Lloyd Stephens and English architect & illustrator Frederick Catherwood were visiting Yucatan, including the town of Bolonchen in what is now the state of Campeche. In most of Yucatan there are no rivers, and in the dry season traditionally water is from "cenotes", natural sinkholes and caves.

The one in this illustration, a short distance outside of Bolonchen, is known by the Maya name Xtacumbilxunaan, "cave of the hidden woman". A line drawing engraving of the scene was published in Stephens' book "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan" in 1843; Catherwood published this color lithograph the following year in "Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan".

By the late 19th century, windmills were common, pumping the water up, replacing trips to bring it up one jug at a time. The windmills were still ubiquitous in much of the area when I was there in the 1970s.

In 1977 a friend and I were gradually traveling by buses and hitchhiking from the city of Merida to Campeche, with many stops between, and wound up in Bolonchen. We were familiar with this illustration and the description from Stephens & Catherwood. We walked from the town to see the caves.


We were disappointed that the ladder was long gone, and the cavern was inaccessible unless one had ropes and caving gear. As we did not, we just looked from the top.

Now it is a tourist attraction with concrete stairway, electric lights, and recorded sound played.