National Museum, Volcanoes and Caves of Mexico

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Mexico is a very attractive country for various types of recreation and tourism. Mexico is full of not only a variety of beaches, but also cultural sites, historical monuments and all kinds of unique places and natural attractions.

National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico

At the moment, many artifacts and historical monuments of the Mayans, Toltecs and other peoples can be seen in museums in Mexico, in particular in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. A giant monolith depicting the god Tlaloc meets museum guests who come to get acquainted with the finds of archaeologists. Located in the park of Chapultepec, the museum holds the largest exhibits in the open air, and the rest of the exposition is contained in its halls: Oaxaca, Aztecs, Toltecs, Teotiucan, Maya ... The most famous object of the Aztec hall (and, perhaps, the whole museum) is The Stone of the Sun, which is still an unclear Mayan calendar.

Volcanoes and caves of Mexico

Volcanic Sierra - the famous national park of Mexico. This is one of the largest volcanic zones on Earth, which stretches for 900 kilometers from east to west of Mexico, from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico’s highest mountain is also here - Orizaba peak, a sleeping volcano 5636 meters high, its last eruption occurred in 1687, and now the peak is covered with eternal snows. Most of Mexico's highest volcanoes (Popocatepel, Istaxiuatl, Las Cumbres) have long fallen asleep, but there are many active ones. Mexican Vesuvius is called Colima volcano, 80 km from the Pacific Ocean, the last eruption of which occurred in 2010, is one of the most active in the Sierra.

In the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, just 5 kilometers from the famous ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza, Mexico’s unique natural landmark, Cenote Ik Kil, is located. Cenote is a natural well, lake or cave formation with ponds, and its name comes from the word "tsonot", which in the Mayan language means "well", and "Ik-Kil" is translated as "place of the winds."

Currently, about 6 thousand cenotes have been found on the Yucatan Peninsula, and only about 2.5 thousand of them are officially registered. Since there are practically no fresh lakes and rivers on the Yucatan Peninsula, it is believed that the ancient Indians used cenotes both as a source of drinking water and as a place for rituals, namely, human or animal sacrifices to the rain god Chaak.

Cenote Ik-Kil is part of the eponymous archaeological park alone and is one of the most visited cenotes in Mexico. It was formed even before the Mayan civilization and belongs to the open type of cenotes. The depth of the Ik-Kil cenote is 40 meters, the height from water to land is a little over 25 meters. At a distance from the bottom to the surface of the earth, a 22-storey house will quietly fit. The diameter of the well is about 60 meters.

In the mountains of Mexico there is another natural monument that tourists really like - this is the Swallow Cave in Mexico, in the state of San Luis Potosi. It is known that even the ancient Ouestecs inhabiting this area revered it. The entrance to the cave - only from above - is of an even oval shape measuring 49x62 meters, and the depth of this "stone bag" is up to 376 meters. Giant open (and still explored) volumes of the cave would allow the construction of a whole skyscraper in the Swallow Cave. But there are, apart from curious climbers, cavers and base jumpers, mostly insects, snakes and birds. Oddly enough, the Swallows do not live in the Swallow Cave. These are swifts, which are often mistaken for swallows - inconspicuous but impetuous birds, one of the fastest and most agile birds in the world. Their morning and evening flights - from the cave and back - are a delightful sight to see in Mexico.

The opening of the crystal cave in Mexico, alas, did not bring new points to the program of visiting attractions, but it is impossible to remain silent about this unique cave of Mexico! When new tunnels were laid in the Nike mine, which miners silver, zinc and lead, in 2000, they found a horseshoe-shaped cave flooded with water. Having pumped out the water, the workers discovered that its entire space was intersected at different angles by giant gypsum crystals - the largest crystal, 11 meters long and 4 meters wide. The cave of crystals in Mexico is very difficult to explore, because due to the ancient fault it is very hot here - about 48 degrees - and you constantly have to pump out water. But it was precisely such conditions — a stable high temperature and mineralization — that allowed nature to create such miracles, which now, alas, are degrading due to the access of air. Scientists seek to document and research Mexican crystals as soon as possible.

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