During our visit to some of the most stunning cenotes we visited in Yucatan, I experienced a world of contradictions.

On our way out of Mexico to Belize, Glen and I visited the cenote SAC-AUA. This impressive sinkhole is a geological wonder and a symbol of nature's paradoxical fragility and resilience… I was visually captivated! Yet, beneath it, an undercurrent of unease left me pensive.

A cenote, by its very essence, is a refuge for much wildlife, sometimes whispering a serene lullaby of nature's rhythms, and at other times echoing loudly with the vibrant chorus of its abundant inhabitants.

Here, I had anticipated the call of the beautiful blue motmots, the flapping of bat wings and the sound of wind when the flight of the cave swallows cut through the air but all this music was absent, instead swallowed by the insistent noise of human activity echoing loudly against the walls of the cenote.

Ironically, the very staff employed to preserve the cenote's beauty contributed to its diminished authenticity. Their constant patrol, their kayak cutting through the tranquil waters drowned out the symphony of nature. Their mission, while outwardly benign, felt invasive - to purge the cenote of nature's traces. Leaves that had fallen naturally were relentlessly hunted and removed, every trace of organic scum was swiftly eliminated to maintain an illusion of pristine perfection.

As the staff worked tirelessly to create an ideal backdrop for photographs, I couldn't help but feel disturbed and melancholic.

This hit me as an unsettling testament to our society's obsession with aesthetic perfection.

I felt a part of a world so absorbed in capturing moments for social validation that we're willing to disrupt the very tranquility we sought in the first place.

The visit to SAC-AUA was as thought-provoking as it was visually captivating. There I was reminded that nature, in its raw and unaltered state, is already perfect in its authenticity, that I need only to appreciate its raw beauty, not alter it for a picture-perfect illusion.

PS: There was a lingering guilt within me about these 'party-breaker' feelings that seemed out of sync with the picturesque surroundings. Yet it is the reflection of my experience and sentiments during this visit...