Chichen Itza

My second last day in Mexico and I was going to finish it with a bang by visiting Chichen Itza, one of the seven wonders of the world.*

• depending on which list you find

I had booked another tour through AirBNB experiences. That’s where I’ve booked all of my excursions this trip and they’ve all been 5 stars. This one was charging just for the transportation and tour, and I was to bring along pesos for the entry fees to both Chichén Itza and a cenote called Il-Kil.

I had chatted with the host prior to the trip, using the app. This was a normal step to sort out details. They had said the pickup spot was 6am at coco bongo in Playa Del Carmen, which was about a $20 taxi or a 40 minute walk for me. I’m very close to the highway, so I asked if it was possible to get another pickup spot. The host asked me to send them my address, and they agreed to pick me up! Sweet! And my pickup time was 7:15.

They also sent me some conflicting information, it seemed like maybe a few different people were monitoring this chat for their tour, as well as they said the tour would end in Cancun, an hour away. I clarified, and checked in about lunch as it was not included and was at a buffet that I’m sure would have any decent vegan options. Luckily this chatting was all last night, and I ordered from Uber eats to pack something to go for lunch. Ok, I was set.

As I waited for my pickup I get a call from a number in Mexico, it was the guide and the driver having a hard time finding me. I had sent my address twice to the host, but I sent it again and sent a google maps screenshot too. He was very hard to understand due to a weak sounding signal, but I made out that they were running behind and he’d be there in 20 minutes, which gave me more than enough time to run across the 8 lane highway and get a coffee, something I had done every day here in Playa while our coffee machine was broken.

Coffee in hand I’m sitting on the curb and the guide calls me again. “We’re here, can you come out?” I replied, “I am outside, you are not here.” They were two streets down and eventually found me. Odd.

Once I got in the sprinter van to a full house, the guide, Alex, got on a microphone and introduced himself. The van wasn’t big enough for a microphone in my opinion but whatever. He had me and another girl from Brazil who was picked up in Playa introduce ourselves to the group. She did not speak English, and the driver was trying to tell her in English that the tour was only held in English. She spoke back in Spanish, and finally he spoke with her in Spanish too. After some back and forth, some of his familiar words but more his body language told me that he agreed to do the tour for her in Spanish, even though that wasn’t included. So from here, Alex would speak sentence by sentence translating the entire day in English and Spanish. Sometimes mid-sentence he would stop to translate. This made it very difficult to follow along with him, and he was clearly exhausted from having to speak double. I felt really bad for him!

He proceeded to speak for the entire 2 hour drive to our first stop, the town of Valladolid. He had old maps that were tattered, or laminated and browned on the edges, or in plastic sleeves that looked 10 years old. He tried to open them and point to them while being turned around in his passenger seat and holding his microphone, and translating. It was awkward, hard to follow along, and he really jumped from story to story, or from one point in time to another. He went through what felt like the entire history of Mexico including the times of the Mayans, then he would jump to talking about a type of tree we were passing by or whatever else was going on outside.

We reached the town and learned that it and the surrounding area is still occupied by Mayan people who dress traditionally and speak the ancient language. He pointed out people who “had the look of the Mayans.” We parked and had 15 minutes to wander this square and view the church.

Back on the bus we headed for Chichen Itza, going through a few little towns on the way. The guide, Alex, pointed out things on the side of the road. “Here we see mango trees. Aquí vemos árboles de mango.” We also saw a mix of housing types including wooden houses that people still lived in.

When we got to Chichén Itza it was busy. We got our tickets and corralled through the entrance together. We walked through some merchants and saw the pyramid!

Alex did his best to navigate both languages. It was hot, and he was tired already. I felt for him! He kept looking for the Brazilian girl, and if she wasn’t paying attention he would stop translating for a moment, then he would find her and catch her up.

We learned more about the Mayan calendar and how the numbers correlated to the structure with the number of steps and sides to the pyramid.

We visited the ball game arena and learned about a game where the two teams had to try and score a goal in these relatively small hoops very high up, using their bodies but without using their hands and feet. The captain of the winning team would be beheaded and sacrificed to the gods, and this was the highest honour. We saw carvings that portrayed this game and Alex pointed out the nuisances of those carvings.

We learned about the platform of skulls, a way to show off the impaled heads from the ball court came.

We learned about the other structures in the area, then had about half an hour to explore on our own.

The others on our tour were exceptionally quiet and keeping to themselves. Mostly couples, I had gathered they were staying at different resorts in Cancun. They didn’t even seem to want to talk to each other let alone the rest of the group. There was one guy who seemed the most excited to be there, Sam. I offered to take his picture and chat. He had escaped his wife and kids for the day by leaving them at the resort and having his own vacation time. Well done, Sam! I chatted with the other solo guy, Josh from Australia. He was on a couple weeks trip in Mexico and was about to head home, quit his job and go travelling. Amazing! We got to chatting a little more about other places he’s hoping to go to and my experiences there.

After wandering around the area and seeing the sights we were back on the bus and heading to Cenote Il Kil. We pulled up, got tickets which were not at all cheap, and the rest of the group headed for lunch. I had brought mine, so I ate it outside then got ready for the cenote.

There were changing rooms and lockers; this felt like Mexico’s version of a public swimming pool. We had to wear life jackets, they are mandatory here. The cenote is far under ground level, and they have a manmade spiralling staircase to take you down to it. The cenote is 48 metres deep, and human remains have been found there! It may have been a dumping place for sacrifices.

I jumped in off the platform, maybe 10 feet high and floated. I took off my life jacket to sit on it, but was quickly pointed to by the lifeguard who shook his finger at me. Back on it goes I guess! It was very uncomfortable to float around in the life jacket the whole 1.5 hours we were there.

I floated, admired the bats and the hanging vines and plants, and chatted travel with Josh. When we were shivering we got out, dried off and then time came to get back on the bus.

Alex said he would “leave us alone” on the ride back, and most people seemed to sleep. I was the first drop off, and I felt so lucky I wasn’t a part of the additional 2+ hours of driving it would take to do all of these drop offs. When we got close to Playa del Carmen I opened my google maps. As suspected, the driver missed every turn to take the best way to my drop off, and with each missed turn he added 2 minutes to the trip, totalling 10 minutes. I wished Josh well on this trip and started my message to the Airbnb host about my feedback. For every experience I’ve done I’d given 5 stars (out of 5), but for this one I shared that at the very least your drivers need to use their smartphones for navigation! This tour needs a serious upgrade to be successful in 2023, but overall I’m still very glad I got to see the magic of Chichén Itza and spend a few hours soaking in this gorgeous cenote.

Back at home, Misha was almost finished his day and I put on my best dress to head out on the town for the last night! We walked to their old neighbourhood where they had an Airbnb last year, in a little more of a central area.

We walked to Salvei Vegan Concept for dinnner. We started with cocktails and these huge, fresh and filling salad rolls that came with two dips.

Misha got a curry, and Alanna and I both got two different types of the ramen. On such a hot day this was a little hard to eat, but it was really yummy so I powered through. My cocktail was corn liqueur, tonic and burnt cinnamon stick, but tasted like only tonic so that was a little disappointing.

Next stop, around the corner to cocktail bars, we were on the same gorgeous, jungly street as the craft beer place I’d visited earlier in the week. We stopped at this spot for their unique cocktails, and we all enjoyed them! I got a martini with hypnotic, lychee, grapefruit and a cute apple pinwheel garnish.

There were two pitties at the table next to us and I lost my mind when I saw them. They greeted me like I was their mother and I was covered in face kisses. My heart!! Their owner said, “So, you miss your dog, eh?” Yes, yes I do!!

Next up, the fancy Mezcaleria across from the beer place. Here we pondered the long list of cocktails and were all happy with our choices. I took the servers recommendation and got a cocktail with rum, more rum, and tepeche, which is a fermented pineapple drink I’d tried on my first day in Mexico City. Despite sounding sweet this cocktail was more bitter and I loved it. I forgot to get a photo of this one! I was also incredibly thirsty and didn’t even look at the price of a bottle of water before ordering. We got a bottle of Tulum’s finest oxygenated, non-chlorinated, caught rainwater (lol), which came with service where the server brought a tray of fruits, vegetables and mint for you to choose to add to your glass. I chose lime, and with long bar tweezers he pinched a slice, glided it along the rim and inner lip of my glass, plopped it in, then poured the water. I was surprised to see the price was only $125 pesos at that point!! We also got complimentary chips with three types of salsa, of which the habanero finally gave Misha something to talk about! He’d been complaining of not enough heat in his food.

After our cocktail we went across the street to Chela for a beer. Misha got a flight and I got my favourite from the other day, the white IPA. We sat next to the cenote and enjoyed our final night together!

After beers, we walked up and away from the main area to hail a cab, and were sold on one for 100 pesos back to our place. I set an alarm for the next day as I had snorkelling planned in Puerto Morales for my last day before my flight home.