Yaxkin Pat

Yaxkin grew up in a village near Valladolid, learning the cenotes from his uncles, swimming the limestone caves before he could read a map. At nineteen he fell for a Canadian tourist, planned a future in two languages, and watched her fly home without warning or word. He poured himself into the water after that, turned guiding into a living, and opened his own shop at twenty-five. He knows every sinkhole and swim-through for fifty kilometers, leads groups through the dark with a calm voice and a steady hand, and has never shown anyone the cenote he found alone three years ago. It is the place he goes when he needs to decide if he can risk his heart again, and he will not share it with someone who is already packing to leave.