Cancun - Day 2
The tour left at 7 AM for Chichen-Itza so we climbed sleepily onto a nice tour bus and headed out. The bus was about 3/4 full so it wasn't too bad, probably about 35-40 people total. They gave us juice and some breakfast danishes to eat on the way. Chichen-Itza is about 3-4 hours from Cancun, so it was a long trip. On the way there, we took some side trips through a small colonial style Mexican village and a contemporary Mayan village. We also stopped at a little artisan market for some shopping. At the market we bought a little terra-cotta sun/moon sculpture thing to hang on the house outside and a Mayan astrological calendar. It is pretty cool. You choose the date and they print up the star alignment for that day in Mayan glyphs.
We finally arrived at Chichen-Itza around noon. Our tour guide was really super great. He used to be a professor of history at the local university but realized he could make more money as a tour guide. Jaime was half Mayan, half British and spoke Mayan, English (with a bizarre combination of UK and Spanish accent) and Spanish fluently. He was humorous, intelligent and seriously charismatic.
Jaime gave us a guided tour for two hours and explained much about Mayan religion and culture to us, then we were given an hour to explore on our own, which was nice. Roger and I nearly died climbing all the steps to the top of the highest pyramid. 91 steps didn't sound like a lot, heck I do way more than that on the stair stepper at the gym, but these were extremely steep and narrow steps and it was a lot of work. We were rewarded at the top by an incredible view of the entire site and surrounding jungle and thankfully a nice cool breeze.
After a delicious mid-afternoon meal at a small hotel just outside the ruins we headed back to Cancun on the bus (siesta!). It was a good first day in Cancun.
Click here for Day 3.
We finally arrived at Chichen-Itza around noon. Our tour guide was really super great. He used to be a professor of history at the local university but realized he could make more money as a tour guide. Jaime was half Mayan, half British and spoke Mayan, English (with a bizarre combination of UK and Spanish accent) and Spanish fluently. He was humorous, intelligent and seriously charismatic.
Jaime gave us a guided tour for two hours and explained much about Mayan religion and culture to us, then we were given an hour to explore on our own, which was nice. Roger and I nearly died climbing all the steps to the top of the highest pyramid. 91 steps didn't sound like a lot, heck I do way more than that on the stair stepper at the gym, but these were extremely steep and narrow steps and it was a lot of work. We were rewarded at the top by an incredible view of the entire site and surrounding jungle and thankfully a nice cool breeze.
After a delicious mid-afternoon meal at a small hotel just outside the ruins we headed back to Cancun on the bus (siesta!). It was a good first day in Cancun.
Click here for Day 3.
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