[nikhilarni]

Precursor

School vacations were always synonymous with a train journey to hometown. My parents had good choice in books and were always reading something or the other. I should thank them for inculcating a reading habit, early on. The fun was to finish the book before reaching the destination only to be rewarded with another book on the return journey.

On one of rail road travels, my dad got me a book - "World Famous Unsolved mysteries", from one of the wheelers at the station. I am sure a lot of you'll would have read them or something from their " World Famous " series. I eventually got most of the books from that series.

If this brings back any memories, eh!

Another classic on similar lines is the book, Chariots of the Gods?, by Erich von Däniken. Again dad got this book for me.

There sure always has been a strong desire to visit these locations after reading and watching documentaries on these phenomenons and historic marvels. It is simply amazing to know the kind of scientific knowledge and know how, these civilizations possessed for their time.

Being in the US currently, brought this desire closer to reality. And I got to know about the exemption of visas on the condition that we have a valid US work / tourist visa. This was like the icing on the cake.

Here is a quick like to those who might be interested.

This trip is special in a way of a little celebration of sorts. We wanted something that was relaxing with the only agenda being a visit to Chichén Itzá.

Destination Cancun, it is. Plans were made, bags packed and off we went.

[nikhilarni]

Planning.

Chichén Itzá is a Mayan ruins site. Here is the wikipedia link to it.

The first thing that comes to mind about Cancun is the soft white sand, clean beaches and turquoise water.

We did a quick search on things to do in Cancun and got to know about a naturally occurring phenomenon called "Cenote". Fascinating enough, the plan had to include a visit to at least a few cenotes based on schedules and locations.

The objective of the trip was a quick getaway with minimum activity.

We decided on -

1. Explore a few Cenotes.
2. Visit Chichén Itzá.
3. Explore a little bit of Cancun Downtown ( Market 28 only ).
4. Sample some local food - Marquesitas.
5. Relax on the Beach.

The initial thoughts were to just use one of the tour buses and do a guided tour of Chichén Itzá since they cover a couple of cenotes enroute. Then we thought, if we are going that far, we might as spend adequate time around the cenotes and another factor was that we wanted to be in Chichén Itzá as soon as they opened, partly to avoid the crowds and mainly to beat the heat.

Decision was then made to book a rental, that would give us flexibility in planning the trip at our pace. Booked a cheap little Kia Rio to get around.


After a few iterations, the draft plan was to:

1. Land in Cancun, Pick up Rental.
2. Visit a Cenote and stay booked hotel close to Chichén Itzá.
3. Visit Chichén Itzá early the next day.
4. On the return from Chichén Itzá to Cancun, visit another Cenote.
5. Stay in Cancun and enjoy the beach for the next couple of days.
6. Explore Cancun Downtown on any free day.

[nikhilarni]

Day 1.

We landed around 8am. After the customary "Welcome to Cancun" picture taken, we picked up our rental.

The KIA Rio we got. Nothing fancy, except a working AC and a covered trunk.

The less said about the car, the better. ODO reading was around the 63500Km mark. Lessons learnt, next time I need a rental, I will stick to the known brands / names, more on that later in the day.

The immediate plan was to get some local currency and a local cell number. As you exit the terminal, there is this huge information counter with more than eager reps waiting to assist. Got to know about a "San Jorge" currency exchangers giving a better rate than the folks inside the terminal as well as a prepaid cellular service called OXXO. Figured they were right along the highway leading to Cancun, barely a 5 min drive from the Car Rental place.

A smart thing my wife did, was to use the airport Wi-Fi and set g-maps to our first two destinations ( the San Jorge currency exchange and OXXO centre ).

First stop was to get a SIM and some pesos. The SIM activation was almost immediate, thanks to the lady at the store. She also called the helpline to activate my sim and called my number to ensure it was working. GPS set for the local Walmart.
Local time was around 10am.

Google map image of the route planned for Day 1.

Total distance: 221 Kms
Total Drive Time: ~3 Hrs

Traffic within Cancun felt like I was driving back home. After picking up some essentials like water and some munchies we headed to grab a quick bite before setting off to Cenote Suytun.

Cenote Suytun has an entrance fee of 200 pesos per person that includes a life jacket. There is a near changing room with lockers and a shower area.

I am not sure if the government owns the cenotes or if they are privately owned. But most of the popular cenotes have created a resort like ambience with cute little rustic cottages, a bar and restaurant and relaxed seating in and around the cenote itself.

Check out the details of Cenote Suytun

Let some pictures do the talking.

Central Stalactite Column

The cool water was a refreshing break from the heat outside. Being a covered underground cenote, was just perfect. The stalactite and stalagmite formations were all over to see and marvel.

I think we spent a good 2 hours at this cenote before heading for dinner to the nearby town called Valladolid.
Just while resuming the drive towards Valladolid, discovered the front left tyre had a puncture and was loosing air. Luckily it still had enough air to reach town.

Called the rental company, and after an eternal hold, got someone who spoke a little english. They didn't have a replacement car near by nor had any road side assistance nearby. The help desk literally told me to fix the puncture myself . To top it, the rental did not have a full size spare, just a donut!

Thankfully found a local mechanic who agreed to fix the repair before closing shop, only to discover that a previous puncture had given way and was impossible to fix. He and his manager were God sent.

Google translate to the rescue and some broken spanish, the mechanic agreed to sell me used tyre that would work for the remainder part of my trip. Price negotiated and done, he was quick to get the car back on the road.

After dinner, we headed to our hotel, which was about 50 Kms away, towards Chichén Itzá.

Checked in, had some finger snacks and called it a night.

[nikhilarni]

Day 2

Route for the day.

Total Distance: ~ 290Kms
Travel time: 4 hours

Chichén Itzá was the highlight of the trip. I could barely sleep with the eager anticipation that we were going to see Chichén Itzá in the morning.

Brimming with excitement, we had a quick breakfast and left for the monument site.

The hotel we chose was barely a 10min drive to the monument site.

From our previous trip to Machu Picchu, Peru, we knew it would be wise to have a guide and had got some baseline costs as well.

Good thing is, parking for the most part is free. We arrived early enough beating the rush and heat. Picked up a guide who spoke decent English. A good 3 hours later, we were done with all the sites at the location spending adequate time at each site. About 3 to 4 hours is adequate time to spend at this location.

Good thing is, we were also able to get some good pictures without the crowds photobombing

Will let some pics do the talking.

Map of the Site



Temple of Kukulcán (El Castillo)



This is called the "Tree of Life". Even the Incas had a similar concept of a central tree that was worshipped.



This is when the Spanish explorers first discovered the ruins.



How can we miss a photo op .

https://youtu.be/AZa7cO6AkaI

This is supposed to be the market place. Only the pillars remain. A reference in Wikipedia states this as the Temple of a 1000 warriors.



The Temple of a 1000 Warriors.





A closeup of the Wall of Skulls. Skulls of killed invaders were hung around this wall acting as a deterrent to other invading clans / tribes.

The Grand Ballcourt structures and Arena. This is one of the games they played. It is hard to identify from the image, but the sides of the arena have carvings of the teams that played, with each team consisting of 7 players. A Mayan version of a modern day basketball, where in the ball had to be put through the hoop on the side, using only their elbows, knees and hips. A similar game was depicted in one of the Kung Fu Panda movies.

Interestingly, the captain of the winning team was sacrificed at the end of the tournament, and was considered a privilege to do so. The wall carvings across the arena portray the entire process.

Some Literature about the game.



Vendors selling various souvenirs.

We skipped two other temple ruins which are about a 20 min walk from the main entrance ( Casa Del Vanado and Monjas ). It got too hot to be in the open. Glad that we decided to go early morning and go with our rental. Most of the tour company buses began arriving around 11ish when it started getting scorching. After a quick bite, we left for Gran Cenote. In our research, Gran Cenote came up as one of the top 10 cenotes to visit.

For the most part, the roads were clear with light traffic, but due to some major road / rail construction work, we encountered pockets of slow moving traffic that sort of delayed us getting to Gran Cenote.

Some pics of the roads heading to Valladolid and from Valladolid to Gran Cenote.

By the time we got to Gran Cenote, it was barely 45 mins to closing. Most Cenotes close by 5pm. Besides it was too crowded. So we decided to skip it. Wasn't worth spending the entrance fees for barely 30 mins at this cenote. There were 3 other cenotes around Gran Cenote, which were all closing around the 5pm mark. Just didn't make sense for us to spend time / money on a cenote right before closing.

Recalibrated out plans to head straight to our hotel in Cancun and spend the evening by the beach. As luck would have it, we lost a good part of the evening stuck in traffic due to a accident barely, 10 Kms from our hotel.

We found a nice little restaurant by the marina for a quick bite and headed back to the hotel to plan for the next day.

We figured, if we were to spend time and money at a Cenote, we might as well spend on a good one and spend quality time as well.

Plan was to head to Cenote Dos Ojos the next day.

[nikhilarni]

Day 3

This is the view we woke up to.

Just makes one sit and stare into the horizon, with the sweet sound of the crashing waves.

After getting back at the hotel the previous evening, we took a second look at the Cenotes in and around us and sort of decided that we would do only one more cenote and it had to be special.

After looking up some reviews and details, Dos Ojos ( Spanish for 2 eyes ) it was!

Distance Travelled: 250Kms
Travel Time: 4 hours

A quick breakfast and some currency conversion done, we headed towards Cenote Dos Ojos. Fairly easy drive with mostly straight roads and free flowing traffic. Save for the occasional police checkposts.

Just a passing shot of the highway leading to Dos Ojos

The entrance to Dos Ojos is pretty unassuming from the highway. As you enter in, there is this main entrance to get tickets. Cenote Dos Ojos, Cenote Nic Te Ha and Cenote Jaguar are within this campsite. There are different ticket pricings for each and various combo packs as well. We signed up for a snorkel tour that included the life vest, diving glass, flashlight, wet suit, fins and a snorkel pipe. You pay at the main entrance and then drive inside.

Entrance To the Cenotes

We just wanted to head to Dos Ojos. Here is a little Wikipedia like for those seeking additional info on this Cenote.

From the entrance, it's a 2Km drive along a dirt road till you reach the cenote.

Road leading to Dos Ojos

The instructor gives you a crash course on snorkeling and lets you practice in the common section of the cenote before the tour begins. Our tour lasted about a hour.

Will let some pics do the talking.

Oh Boy, this was like the best decision. After Chichén Itzá, Cenote Dos Ojos was clearly the highlight of this trip. Crystal clear water with light rays filtering through. We saw a lot of certified divers with professional equipment diving into this depths of this cenote to explore its labyrinths. I wish I could also do that.

Its pretty eerie and spooky once you go inside when no natural light filters through. Its pitch dark inside the cave system with the Stalactites and Stalagmites sticking out at various angles. Under the flash-light, the formations are nothing short of nature's magic hand at work.

Here is a schematic of the 2 Eye Cenote

Starting from the East eye, we navigate through the maze of formations to the Bat Cave and return back to the West eye. The West eye section is where folks can relax in the water and spend time. Which is what we did after the tour. I guess we were in the water for good 3 hours after the tour.

Some pics taken under water along with videos. I used a GoPro for the videos and a fellow tourist clicked the pics with his waterproof camera. We had agreed that he would capture pics while I focused on the videos.

The Bat Cave


The cenote is a labyrinth of caves and crevices like this, making it a diver's paradise.

And some videos to follow.

https://youtu.be/cEUqUOIU65U?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/SYj4AEgitC8?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/nzsLmRg4Zsk?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/Yhh05LZYgZg?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/yaqgWUK1LXI?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/Lykax0GTpwo?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/LdZD4Zux1FM?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/1BJrFzDaX3o?feature=shared

https://youtu.be/w79g8TyQEAQ?feature=shared

After a relaxed meal with an assortment of tacos, we headed back to our hotel in Cancun. I really wished the car had cruise control. How we take things for granted here.

Dinner that evening was special. We went to this fancy restaurant that was built over the lagoon waters, with under water lighting and fishes all over. Couldn't have asked for a better ambience or setting. Just perfect! Being barely a 2 min walk from our hotel made it very convenient.

Couldn't have asked for anything better!

This was like a lazy lawn within the perimeter of the hotel. It was just so relaxing to sit and watch the gently swaying lanterns in the evening breeze

After returning back, we just lazed around the lounge chairs soaking in the sea breeze with the soothing sound of the crashing waves before calling it a night.

[nikhilarni]

Day 4

Another gorgeous view that we woke up to.

The itinerary was planned such that we had day 4 for ourselves without any major agenda or objective.

Our plan was to spend the morning on the beach and then head towards downtown to get a feel of the city. Market 28( Mercado 28 ) is the place to go for souvenir shopping.

Minimum driving on this day.

Total Distance: ~50 Kms
Drive Time: ~ 1:30 mins

Murals adorn the walls of almost every street, land and buildings. Here are a few pics of them. At first we thought it was limited to a specific area, but soon realized they were everywhere.

One in the making

Think about Market 28 as a square-ish single level market zone with tiny shops within selling all sorts of souvenirs, tees, hats etc and restaurants in the center.

We sort of criss-crossed it walking and exploring various shops in a relaxed manner.

We wanted the Temple of Kukulcán souvenir to have the snake heads at the bottom. It took us a bit of wading through the many shops, finally finding what we liked.

Souvenirs we picked up.

Chichén Itzá - Temple of Kukulcán (El Castillo).



A Mayan Calendar.

After a quick bite, we headed to another location called Parque de las Palapas, which literally translates to a park with food stalls and kiddie rides.

One little local dish we wanted to try out was a Marquesita. We learnt there were many variations of it. Think of it like a rolled / wrapped thin "Dosa" or a very thin waffle, filled with cheese spread, fruits, and ice cream and then garnished with cheese and chocolate sauce on the outside.

Each stall had something unique in terms of their fillings ranging from kiwis, avocados, strawberries to mangoes and other local fruits. We took the safe path of chocolate with strawberries and cream cheese.

Yummy, isn't it!

Another street food that we tried. I don't recall the name of it. But it was more like a fried tortilla topped with tomatoes, cream, cabbage and avocado.

As full as we were, we still could not resist going back to that fancy restaurant for dessert. We got something fancy that was a Chocolate cake with Guava, grated cheese topped with Xtabentún that is torched to caramelize the top layer. My mouth was literally watering as I typed that out .

Day 5

All good things must come to an end! Our return flight was scheduled for a noon departure giving us enough time for a relaxed early morning stroll on the beach, letting out feet soak in the blue waters.

One last parting clip of the serene blue waters and waves.

https://youtu.be/PHrulFGWgcU

How do you say good bye to a beach like this ?

The airport being only a 10 mins drive, we were in no rush and just about enjoyed our last morning on the beach with our morning coffee.

Adiós Cancún. Tuvimos unas vacaciones maravillosas e inolvidables!

Some key takeaways.

1. People are very friendly and will make every attempt to help even if they don't know English.
2. Google translate is God sent! My broken spanish barely got me anywhere
3. Parking is free in most of the places.
4. There are enough veggie food options.
5. The entrance tickets to the Cenotes can be quite expensive if you want to visit multiple. I'd recommend going to at the very least two or three cenotes, that are worth the time and money. The guided tours typically take you to one or two enroute, but they give you limited time.
6. I would recommend visiting the cenotes in and around Valladolid as they are natural and their entrance tickets are way cheaper than the ones closer to Cancún We also got to know that some of the ones near Cancún are man made.
7. Get your souvenirs in Valladolid or Chichén Itzá itself. They are cheaper there as compared to CCancún.
8. Guided tour companies are aplenty and most hotels have a travel desk that can help with bookings. On a quick comparison, the rates the guides offered were half of that we saw on the internet. Glad we did not book anything in advance.
9. Cancún and Chichén Itzá felt safe ( maybe because of the heavy tourist footfall ) and driving wasn't a challenge.
10. If you rent a car, I'd recommend sticking to the known brands like Hertz, National or Avis.
11. Most shops accept USD as well. Keep some loose change for tips.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by nikhilarni

This trip is special in a way of a little celebration of sorts. We wanted something that was relaxing with the only agenda being a visit to Chichén Itzá.

Destination Cancun, it is.

Thanks for this thread. there is so much more to see out there. Although I have always been aware of Cancun as a Holiday destination, never really looked it up. Now I know more.

[Kkumar]

A wonderful travelogue with great details. The photos and videos are excellent leaves one wanting to visit these places and the mouth watering delicacies. Do they have different entry ticket rates local residents and foreigners like we have here or is it common.

[nikhilarni]

Originally Posted by 14000rpm

Thanks for this thread.
Although I have always been aware of Cancun as a Holiday destination, never really looked it up. Now I know more.

True, Cancún is considered more of a holiday destination than anything else. Chichén Itzá was on my bucket list, but the Cenotes was something very new to me.

I am sure a similar phenomenon should exist in other parts of the world too. Infact, Dos Ojos was featured in the documentary Planet Earth as well.

Originally Posted by Kkumar

A wonderful travelogue with great details.

Do they have different entry ticket rates local residents and foreigners like we have here or is it common.

Thanks Kkumar,

Good question. No. The pricing is same for all, but they allow you to pay in USD ( but its cheaper to pay in Pesos ). However, most of the cenotes have a tie-up with tour companies and offer discounts / or bundle the tickets with their guided tours.

I recall in Colombo, there was a huge difference between the prices for citizens vs foreigners.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by nikhilarni

Temple of Kukulcán (El Castillo)

I'm left with mixed feelings struggling to describe when I think of what had happened 6-7 centuries ago. How those places would've been then? Could anyone at that time imagine how it may be transformed in future. How dreading this place would've been for a non Aztec folks then?

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by Kkumar

Do they have different entry ticket rates local residents and foreigners like we have here or is it common.

The tourist areas are like US.

I have been speaking Español for 5+ years, so i take local city buses, and go to city center. I book the tickets where Mexicans do, it's 1/3 the cost. We got on the same bus to Chichen Itza for $50, while they charged $150 at the resort.

Nikhilarni,
Great pics and travelogue! Mexico is my favorite vacation destination, and Mexicans are my favorite people. Me gusta mucho la gente mexicana!

[nikhilarni]

Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon

I have been speaking Español for 5+ years, so i take local city buses, and go to city center. I book the tickets where Mexicans do, it's 1/3 the cost.

Nikhilarni,
Great pics and travelogue! .

Thanks GutsyGibbon,

Mine is more of a touristy spanish than anything Good to know about the differential pricing. I am sure others on the forum can benefit.

Appreciate the kind words. True about the local folks, super helpful and very polite. Even the folks in the flea markets never forced or hounded us. They gave us all the time we needed.