By Al J. Laukaitis in Sphere, January 17, 2003

Here are some quotes taken out of the article:

TULUM, MEXICO—A jagged crack in a limestone cliff unlocked the underworld of Sian Ka'an, a 1.5 million-acre biosphere reserve on the eastern edge of the Yucatan peninsula.

Our guides led the way into the cave. We stepped over the damp, mossy rocks spotted with bat droppings and across the muddy floor interlaced with pools of stagnant water. ….

Established as a biosphere reserve in 1986, Sian Ka'an, is home to more than 345 species of birds, including more than one million wintering migratory songbirds from the United States and Canada. In the language of the Mayan people, Sian Ka'an means “origin of the sky” or “the birth of light.” ….

Endangered jaguars, pumas, ocelots, white-tailed deer, crocodiles, loggerhead and other types of sea turtles, jaguarandi, spider and howler monkeys, tapirs and peccaries inhabit the region. In 1987 the Sian Ka'an was named a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site due to its ecological and cultural importance…..

On the second day of the tour, our group loaded into kayaks and paddled across two large lagoons connected by a narrow channel dug by Mayans centuries ago. At times, tour members felt like Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn plying the waters in “African Queen.”…

New Year's Eve could not have been spent in a more beautiful and serene place. The remote beach was lettered with coral and shells…..

Gonzalez-Guillet has been a guide for EcoColors for a year. “every day is different. The birds. The places. The colors of the water…” He told the story of how one morning he went for a swim in a lagoon and submerged himself into a point where his eyes were just above the water. He could not see the difference between the sky and the water. They were as one. He then understood why the ancient Mayans named the place Sian Ka'an. “It's where the sky is born.”