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Published: December 25th 2011
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I arrived to Chetumal after an easy boat ride and was excited by the Mexican flag flying at the port and the novelty of finally being able to eat Mexican food in Mexico! A simple taxi ride later (hailing one from the street instead of the robbing bastards that wait for the tourists at the port) and I was at Chetumal Bus Station buying my ticket for Tulum (4 Hours / $12). I arrived there as always without any real idea of where I was staying bit I knew the options were between the developing downtown or the handful of places on the beach. In the end, I just followed a couple of other travellers I met on the bus to hostel “Casa del Sol” in the downtown area and just a few minutes walk from the ADO Terminal – very nice place with free breakfast and cool Jacuzzi thrown in.
I had just seven days before my flight to Cuba and these had to be split between Tulum and Cancun. I hadn’t heard anything good about Cancun at all, so I spent five nights here in Tulum and would later spend just two in Cancun and this
turned out to be more than enough in each place.
There wasn’t a whole lot to do in Tulum although the beach is stunning and the Mayan Ruins that sit on a cliff above the beach were well worth a visit. From downtown a “collectivo” (mini-bus, $1.5) takes you to the entrance of the road that leads to the ruins and from there it's an easy walk to the ticket office. Although the ruins themselves aren’t that impressive especially when compared to those in Copan or Tikal, they stand out simply due their location and backdrop – perched on a cliff above the Caribbean with super views of the beach and the turquoise water below. In fact, the view seems to be the biggest draw and not the ruins given that most people with a camera head directly for the lookout points over the beach.
I spent a couple of days at the beach and one at the ruins and with the rest of the time just chilled around the hostel making good use of the jacuzzi. On Saturday 4
th June, two days before my flight, I headed to Chichen Itza with the idea
of going there in the morning with all my things, seeing the ruins and then leaving for Cancun in the afternoon of the same day when the ruins close around 5pm. It was all going smoothly until our bus was halted on the road between Chichen Itza and Valladolid by an overturned lorry that delayed us at least a couple of hours. It finally cleared and I think that in the end we had about three hours to see the whole site. I was worried this wouldn’t be long enough but it was actually enough to see everything and the best bits twice. For other travellers – the bus Tulum – Chichen Itza costs $10 and Chichen Itza – Cancun $14. Total entrance fee was $13. Luggage storage free. In total a trip to the ruins sets you back almost $40 USD (not including the Pink Floyd night show!).
I was eager to visit Chichen Itza right from the very start of the trip and to see how it compared to previous Mayan ruins I’d been to. The big attraction was “El Castillo” – the big pyramid in the centre and right in front of you as
you enter the site. Although at first glance it didn’t seem to be any more impressive than the ones I’d seen at Tikal, it does possess a couple of hidden treasures. One being that its stairs apparently represent the Mayan calendar and the other being the incredible winding snake illusion on its staircase that’s visible only twice a year during the spring and autumn equinoxes. Quite how they figured that out and designed and built it over 1000 years ago is pretty mindboggling and I imagine that it’s for this reason that the ruins were voted as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World taking my tally up to three: Chichen Itza, Machu Picchu and the Rome Coliseum. Just Christ the Redeemer, Petra, Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China to go!
I enjoyed exploring Chichen Itza and although “El Castillo” was the main ruin, there was still plenty of impressive structures, not least “El Templo de los Guerreros” complete with a Maya sacrificial stone and the well-preserved “El Gran Juego de Pelota” – the biggest ball court in Mesoamerica. But 16:30 came around pretty quickly so I hastily picked up my backpack from
luggage and got on the bus to Cancun where, for the first time on the
entire trip I’d actually booked a place in advance – the very reasonable “Mayan Hostel” just a stone’s throw from the ADO Terminal.
I’d spoken to many travellers about Cancun and I really can’t recall anyone saying anything positive about it! Many people say that the coast of Cancun was once like that of Tulum until they went a little mental with building high-rise hotels and ruining it all. I suspect the main reason why people go to Cancun is because of its proximity to the far nicer locations of “Las Islas Mujeres” or “Playa del Carmen” or like me, people taking a flight to Cuba or perhaps the States. Either way downtown Cancun is nothing to write home about and I was happy to just bum around for a day and sample some good street food in “Parque de las Palapas”.
So on Monday 6
th June the moment I’d been waiting for arrived and I took an ADO bus to the airport for a few dollars and then just a short hour and a half flight later I
was in Cuba.
Photos are here (pages 1, 2&3):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14643121@N05/ Viva la Revolucion!!!
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