Have to say I'm glad for the ridiculously long sleep and am up and raring to go for the 7.30am pickup and day trip to Chichen Itza. Sadly the hotel breakfast isn't till 8am, so we head to the nearest place for take out breakfast.... Maybe muesli and milk wasn't the best choice!! And didn't help that we were given forks to eat with. Thankfully, the nearby shop had spoons, our tour agent ran to get them as they turned up 30minutes early and we had to run out of the restaurant with our food.
It comes as a bit of a shock when we get on a huge coach, having been sold a tour for 12 people in a mini van 50 people on a coach is a bit different. The next hour is spent rafting around the general area picking up more and more people till the bus is full. We then head straight to Chichen Itza, where the next surprise is that the 2 hrs to Chichen Itza is actually more like 4 with all the messing around. We get there at midday!! You could probably get there in 2 hrs as its 140km away, but not on this tour!
Chichen Itza doesn't have any limit on number of tourists like Machu Picchu, so it's swamped... I think they mentioned that since its become one of the new 7 wonders we are talking 8000 people a day, maybe more on the March and September solstice days when the serpent can be seen ascending and descending the pyramid. Our tour guide is like someone from the Texas military... marching us into the park.
It's really interesting though and surprising about the history of the place, we get 2 hours to look around which is about enough, you could probably do a bit more but it's enough to get the information you need and some good pics. Our guide has all the advice on photos, squashing the pyramid, holding the pyramid in your hand, with your finger and so on.... We could be there all day as he shows how to do photo art of Chichen Itza.
The place is a bit spoilt with the endless row upon row of stalls all selling the same souvenirs it's actually a bit oppressive the volume of stalls actually in the place itself. "Hey lady, best price, cheaper than my ugly neighbour" is all I hear them say... After Chichen Itza we head for a really nice buffet lunch included in the tour, with some traditional Mexican dancers.... I am just amazed at how they keep the beer bottle on their heads as they spin round and round... Skilful!!
Next stop is Cenotes a pool with vines hanging in a cave, that's the best I can really do to describe it really. There are miles of underwater caves in the area apparently this is just one place. It's lovely, and the water is so nice to swim in after a hot day walking around. Refreshing!!! Sadly we are rushed here, only 1 hour we could have done with 2.... Next stop is a Mayan village, basically here we are just brought to shop... But get a taste of a traditional Mayan drink and some quite nice tequila. Anyway, after trying on poncho's, sombreros and various other fun we buy a little bottle of the Mayan drink, bit like sambuca but much nicer and easier to drink!!!
Sadly, we aren't warned that it's another 3 hours before we get back so we don't eat.... 9pm we get back starving...! Again, a surprise as we were told back at 6.30pm. I would say if you book anything in Mexico make sure you shop around a lot, we had a great day but the frustration is that we weren't told what we were getting! So needless to say, no plans to use that tour agent again in a hurry.
Luckily there is a great restaurant directly under our hotel Di Vino, so we head there for a late dinner. The food is delicious, I order grouper and Helen has the lasagne, and I can't resist the tiramisu which was divine. They have wifi too, always a plus..! Although we couldn't connect, a common problem in popular places. It's not the cheapest place, but food and service is really good so worth it really.
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment