The house sits on a small pond whose lush waterlilies and cattails hide a deep and very dark secret.

"This is where the hat turned into a snake." We were standing on top of The Hill of The Aluxob (plural for alux). Certainly it was once a stone Maya building of some sort, possibly a small pyramid, although now it is covered in young ceiba trees and strangler figs. A small circle of stones, rather like an old well, lay at our feet. Francisco, our shaman-guide told us that people had often stolen the stones because they are sacred. They hoped to bring good luck home with them

There is a cenote on private land in the jungle near Puerto Morelos in Mexico that is quite certainly home to an alux. How do I know this? Because it was impossible for the owner to have a staircase built to provide access into the jungle pool. The workers came back in the morning after nailing heavy, hardwood boards into place the day before only to find their work torn up and scattered violently across the limestone strewn land in the jungle. It looked as if a hurricane had

Take a look at the photo. What do you see? Want to know the story behind it? This is a limestone formation in a cave near Tulum on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The photo was taken by a tour guide who was leading a tour in the water filled cave. He is certified by the government of Mexico to do historical, natural, and archaeological tours and he took people to this cave on a regular basis. In other words, he was very familiar with the formations there. The day before he took

As seen in the Washington Post Cancun addition, published by Laura LaBrie I just got back from spending a month on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It was a great trip and I found myself delving into some interesting things while I was there. A race of tiny people called Aluxob (the singular is Alux) live in the jungles and cenotes of the Yucatan. You assume I am speaking of ancient folklore? I am not so sure... I had some personal experiences with one about 4 years ago in my hom