Kat
Contributor
My boyfriend & I went for 16 days to Mexico & Belize. We stayed at 5 different hotels & used every mode of transportation we could find. I have tried to break the trip report into small sections, to make it easier to read through.
Land trip: Chichen Itza - no diving.
Friday Aug. 4th - travel day.Starting trip on the right foot. Flying employee/stand-by & coach is sold out. We are put in 1st class f/ no additional charge.
Arrive in Cancun & head right over to the ADO bus to downtown Cancun. We are heading to Chichen Itza for the first 2 days of our trip. I had been advised to take the 2nd class bus as it stops directly in front of our hotel. Very true, but what I should have done was take the 1st class bus to Valladolid & then take a 2nd class bus from there. The bus ride is as long as the flight. We check into the little hotel Dolores Alba, swim in the pool for a while & then have dinner.
Saturday Aug. 5th
A nice couple staying at our hotel gives us a lift to the ruins. We get to the ruins when they open & there are only a handful of people there. You are no longer allowed to climb El Castillo, which was a huge disappointment for us. But we were told that they may reopen it.
We had a terrific map of the ruins, from Map Chick ( www.cancunmap.com ) We saw everything. It never did get super crowded. There were some tour buses, but not like I'd expected. However, it rained on & off, from heavy downpours with lightning to light showers. So that might have helped keep the turistas to a minimum. By mid to late afternoon it was sunny. We had lunch at Chichen Itza & then returned to our hotel.
Across the highway from our hotel is the cenote Il Kil. We bought our tickets at the hotel & crossed the highway. I was not expecting much but we were pleasantly surprised. There was a staircase leading down to the cenote. Two ladders to get in & out of the water. And another staircase that goes nowhere & is just for jumping and diving off. A couple small waterfalls (man-made, but still nice) We swam until they kicked us out at closing, we had a blast! I asked the caretaker if anyone scuba dives the cenote but he said it is not allowed. His english was not the best & my spanish is non-existent so further questions were not possible.
We went back to our hotel, which had 2 pools & swam in the 'magical cenote' pool. Had dinner & then caught the hotel shuttle back to Chichen Itza for the evening light show. Unless you speak spanish, you'll need to rent the headsets. The light show was very informative & we enjoyed it very much.
Sun. Aug. 6th - travel day
So we eat breakfast, pay our bill & drag our 2 dive bags across the highway to catch the bus. About 30 min. later our bus pulls up & we go back to Valladolid. I get us on a 1st class bus to Playa del Carmen and off we go.
Continued in Part 2 - Majahual
Land trip: Chichen Itza - no diving.
Friday Aug. 4th - travel day.Starting trip on the right foot. Flying employee/stand-by & coach is sold out. We are put in 1st class f/ no additional charge.
Arrive in Cancun & head right over to the ADO bus to downtown Cancun. We are heading to Chichen Itza for the first 2 days of our trip. I had been advised to take the 2nd class bus as it stops directly in front of our hotel. Very true, but what I should have done was take the 1st class bus to Valladolid & then take a 2nd class bus from there. The bus ride is as long as the flight. We check into the little hotel Dolores Alba, swim in the pool for a while & then have dinner.
Saturday Aug. 5th
A nice couple staying at our hotel gives us a lift to the ruins. We get to the ruins when they open & there are only a handful of people there. You are no longer allowed to climb El Castillo, which was a huge disappointment for us. But we were told that they may reopen it.
We had a terrific map of the ruins, from Map Chick ( www.cancunmap.com ) We saw everything. It never did get super crowded. There were some tour buses, but not like I'd expected. However, it rained on & off, from heavy downpours with lightning to light showers. So that might have helped keep the turistas to a minimum. By mid to late afternoon it was sunny. We had lunch at Chichen Itza & then returned to our hotel.
Across the highway from our hotel is the cenote Il Kil. We bought our tickets at the hotel & crossed the highway. I was not expecting much but we were pleasantly surprised. There was a staircase leading down to the cenote. Two ladders to get in & out of the water. And another staircase that goes nowhere & is just for jumping and diving off. A couple small waterfalls (man-made, but still nice) We swam until they kicked us out at closing, we had a blast! I asked the caretaker if anyone scuba dives the cenote but he said it is not allowed. His english was not the best & my spanish is non-existent so further questions were not possible.
We went back to our hotel, which had 2 pools & swam in the 'magical cenote' pool. Had dinner & then caught the hotel shuttle back to Chichen Itza for the evening light show. Unless you speak spanish, you'll need to rent the headsets. The light show was very informative & we enjoyed it very much.
Sun. Aug. 6th - travel day
So we eat breakfast, pay our bill & drag our 2 dive bags across the highway to catch the bus. About 30 min. later our bus pulls up & we go back to Valladolid. I get us on a 1st class bus to Playa del Carmen and off we go.
Continued in Part 2 - Majahual
