Recently I read these interesting passages on a page about cave diving in Mexico's Yucatan:
We soon arrive in Chunkanán, where we come upon a bizarre miniature train resting on narrow-gauge tracks. Called a truc, the train is pulled
by a small horse and driven by a 12-year-old Mayan boy. (Trucs were a major mode of transport during the sisal boom at the end of the last century; the tracks still wind through much of the peninsula.) The five of us (and Kairo the dog) climb aboard, and for five jerky minutes we roll through arid fields of agave and cactus toward the mysterious cenote. Suddenly our driver hits the brakes: another truc--carrying a group of cave explorers wearing full scuba gear--has derailed in front of us. We all climb out to help them lift their truc back onto the rails; then they help us carry ours over the same bad bit of track, and we follow the
scuba gang to the cave opening.
And this recollection:
An hour from Merida, we stopped at a hennequen farm. Agustin found two of the workers to assist us with our dive gear. They were eager to help. We will give them $50.00 pesos each, which is twice what they would make working all day at the hennequen farm. The workers rounded up two
small horses. The cenote that we were going to dive was Chacsinicche, which was 3 miles from the road. Luckily, there was a narrow gauge railroad for the hennequen farm going near the cenote. We loaded our gear onto two 3-foot by 5-foot carts, the workers hooked the horses up to the carts, and we were on our way.
As we traveled down the tracks, we were assaulted by a cacophonous concoction of sounds. The clackity clack of the cart going down the tracks, the clanks of bouncing dive gear, the ringing of banging tanks, and the tongue clicking of the Mayan workers coaxing the horses to keep going.
Every thousand feet or so along the track, we witnessed a dramatic display of color when the carts scared a flock of sulfur butterflies into flight. The butterflies flock together on the ground at certain spots where they can get minerals from the soil. The ride was very rough but somehow the cart stayed on the tracks and we all held on without losing any equipment. As for myself, my lower back was very sore at the end of the ride and I was wishing that there was a
chiropractor on the trip.
SO, does anyone know anything more about this system, such as the extent and gauge? Were there ever locomotives?
Thanks-
Olin
