Cruise to Mexico (Chichen Itza)

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At the port of Galveston, Texas we boarded Carnival's Ecstasy for a five day cruise to Cozumel and Progreso, Mexico. We made two of these cruises because we won the second one in a raffle on board ship while on the first cruise. Cozumel is the traditional tourist trap and the port is more American than Mexican. Vendors are in front of stores attempting to sell the passengers everything from booze to jewelry. We left the ship and walked around for awhile, had a couple of beers, took some photographs and headed back on board. Both of us liked Progreso much better as it was more like Mexico. On one of the trips, we spent the day walking around the town but, on the other one, took the day tour to Chichen Itza. This is a place well worth seeing. It is the most important city of the Maya people and is now an archeological site. Chichen Itza was founded in the 6th century AD, later abandoned, and rebuilt some 300 years later. It later fell around the year 1200 which was prior to the Spanish conquest of that region. The ruins cover an area of about one square mile and are majestic to view. When my niece and her husband visited there several years ago, visitors could walk up the steps of the giant pyramid. However, they were roped off when we visited there. Still, we really enjoyed this piece of Maya history and culture.

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