Letter from a sinkhole to the SCT, Cancún road

Y nos dieron… la una, las dos, y las tres. Perhaps tourists would sing something like this if they knew Joaquín Sabina and were in the mood to say: “I want to visit Mexico and spend my vacations in “Don Socavón“. And although you may not believe it, this type of wells are not exactly the type that one promotes, but they are in the process of forming.

More than five years ago, on federal highway 307, on the stretch that goes from Cancún to Playa del Carmen, in front of the Iberostar hotel, nature reclaimed its land, with the sinking of 12 meters wide by 2.5 meters deep, the experts had finally realized that these were fractures in the ground due to the existence of a cenote, which they decided to fill in.  

Recently, the 307 has reappeared, after a year of the emergence of the fissures through which the Mayan Train will apparently pass; the businessmen are working together with speleologists, since it is necessary to make precise maps to determine the connection of the sinkholes and the subterranean rivers.

With the aforementioned, it is known that the area is cavernous, so the authorities were asked to pay special attention, since the incidence of cases experienced in the area leads to serious traffic chaos, and both locals and tourists who usually pass through here, have to stop, and are stuck for up to three hours in the traffic jam. The access road in the narrow stretch is tricky, and it’s so scary to fall!

The noise of the discomfort reached the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT), through a letter from the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies (AMAV) of Cancún, which made a strong complaint, as it has been a year since a first notice was sent, and nothing has been resolved.

Just a few days before entering summer vacations, the call to the authorities has become urgent; how is it possible that the number one tourist destination leaves its travelers and its people stranded for hours, between the beautiful jungle and the sea, between small roads to elegant hotels or around bars and hostels.