Cancún is not the first place I considered going for a beach vacation. In my mind, I wanted to do an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. Drinking tequila on the beach everyday sounded like a good plan. However, a friend asked me if I would be down to do Cancún. I decided to say yes, despite it being Spring Break season and I don’t like crowds. I ended up having a very good time.
I went with two friends. We opted for an all-inclusive resort, which was pretty fun to experience. Live Aqua offered us an adults-only experience, with food, drinks and room service all included. Tipping is highly encouraged. Cancún is very United States orientated, so they appreciated U.S. dollars coming their way. It was nice to walk up or swim up to a bar, grab a drink, and settle back into a spot in the pool. It was really relaxing.
At the resort, we spent a lot of time in the pool and on the beach. We went into the ocean a lot, and my friend ended up losing two pairs of sunglasses to Poseidon. We spent a lot of time just enjoying the great view, sipping drinks, and chilling in paradise.
The food was great. We ate breakfasts at one of the restaurants with a buffet. It had tons of pastries, french toast, pancakes, waffles, an egg station, and so much more. We ate at a fancier restaurant one evening, which was disappointing. I had a filet mignon which was perfectly prepared, except the mushrooms overpowered the beef. Another night, the resort had a buffet after the pool closed, and we had some outstanding grilled ribs and chorizo. All of the food items I tried on the buffet were delicious. Our last night, we went to the Italian restaurant just for something not Mexican, which really hit the spot.
Because we paid for an all-inclusive, we did not want to spend a lot of time outside of the resort. We did end up wondering over to a nearby cigar bar. I had a 10 dollar Cuban cigar and we all had mojitos. It was a very good mojito, but overpriced. Same with the cigar, but, hey, we sat on the patio. We enjoyed a great view, and it was quiet. Not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.
The highlight of the trip was our Chichén Itzá excursion. It was an all day trip, but it was very much worth it. We booked with a tour company, and they picked us up at our resort. The bus was air conditioned, and very comfortable. The first stop on our tour was Valladolid, which was a two hour drive away. Most of the time driving was quiet, but when we got near, our tour guide, Rodrigo, started giving us a history lesson. He was outstanding! The tour is a bilingual tour, and he was effortlessly switching between English and Spanish. He made jokes, and taught us without a script.
Rodrigo shared with us the history of Valladolid. The city was conquered by the Spanish, but had a long history of the Mayans trying to retake it. He told us the Mayans aerosolized peppers to run the Spanish out of the city. The Spanish had white-washed all of the buildings when they occupied the city. The Mayans made the city colorful after retaking it. We stopped in the center square and visited Cathedral of San Servacio. The Spanish build the cathedral in the 1500’s over a ruined Mayan pyramid. Even after the Mayan’s retook the city, the church remained a Catholic church, which is still used to this day. It is a beautiful church.
Right across the street is the Parque Francisco Cantón Rosado. It is a cozy little park with a beautiful fountain in the center. There were a ton of street vendors selling their wares, but the park was quiet and lovely. Alas, Rodrigo did not give us any history about the park. We were only there for 45 minutes before we had to be back on the bus.
Our next stop was lunch and a cenote. I don’t recall ever hearing the name, so I had to look at a map and try to narrow down which cenote it could have been. I am pretty sure it was Cenote Chichikan. Rodrigo showed us a hollowed out tree, and then a Mayan shaman gave us a blessing. After the blessing, we walked through a “gift shop.” Sure, everything looked like handmade Mayan crafts, but it really felt touristy; I didn’t buy anything, but there were some cool things for sale. I did not want to try to haggle with the locals; I heard horror stories of being ripped off.
Before heading to lunch we stopped for a tequila tasting. Our tequila expert gave us a brief overview of the tequila distilling process, and showcased seven different tequilas. He explained the different distilling techniques among them. I was really excited, because I thought we would taste all seven. Instead, we got to taste three; not a shot, but a small taste. The twelve year tequila was great and really smooth. The two flavored tequilas, mango and coconut, were sweet and you couldn’t even taste the tequila. Very delicious. I would have liked to taste the 18 year tequila just to taste the difference between it and the 12. Of course, you could buy them, but I didn’t want to try to get them home.
The lunch was a buffet. It was a pretty basic buffet with a taco bar. The food was good, but not mind blowing. The food was included, but drinks were extra (including water). I had better food at the resort.
After dinner, we had about thirty five minutes to wander around the area, and check out the cenote. A cenote is a water filled sinkhole. There are a ton of them in the Yucatan, and they are beautiful. We could swim in the cenote, but we had to rent a locker and life jacket. One of my friends opted to swim, while my other friend and I took some pictures. We, also, had a drink. I didn’t feel like doing a swim when we did not have a lot of time. My friend who did swim said it was really cool. The water was nice and cold compared to the 90+ degree air. There were catfish swimming around, and there is a dock you jump from into the cenote.
Finally, we headed to Chichén Itzá. It was about 45 minutes away, so we had a little downtime. Rodrigo gave us more information. For those who do not know, Chichén Itzá is one of the modern wonders of the world. When I say “Mayan pyramid” you are probably thinking of the pyramid at Chichén Itzá. It is very iconic. Our guide has a doctorate in Anthropology, and he is half Mayan. He actually told us that he grew up living within the ruins of the city. He pointed where his house was and said he played baseball in front of the pyramid.
Chichén Itzá is also a very big tourist spot. We passed miles of parking lots and toilets which cost money. Luckily, our bus drove passed all of them and we parked next to the entry gates. Our guide handed out passes, and we went straight to the pyramid. Although the walkways were lined with people selling souvenirs, they were easy to ignore.
Rodrigo gave us so much information in an hour and half. He talked about the Mayan calendar, and explained how it relates to the pyramid. He talked a lot about Mayan’s contributions to astronomy, and how they invented the first telescope. They were able to recognize the orbit of earth around the sun, and how it relates to seasons. There is a whole clapping thing you do in front of the pyramid (at least the first time you see the pyramid). The engineering of the pyramid is very impressive.
The front (left) is restored, while the side (right) is not.
And then we saw the other parts of the city. He showed us some ruins and pointed out some of the images etched into the stone. He talked about human sacrifices, and the Mayan religion. However, he spent another big chunk of the tour teaching us about the Great Ball Court.
You can read about the Great Ball Court on Wikipedia if you want to learn about the game, but our guide focused more on the architecture and painted a picture of how it was used. A cenote runs underneath the court, which amplifies sound. Our guide demonstrated by whispering to us from across the court. The losers would be decapitated by the winners (although some sources say it was the other way around). You can see a greyish-black color on one of the buildings where the blood had corroded the bricks. He also explained how it was an honor to be sacrificed.
After the guided tour, we were given about 30 minutes to checkout the rest of Chichén Itzá. I could have spent a few more hours there, but our tour was the last group to leave. This was nice because the city was pretty empty when we got to roam around; the tour company we booked with is special.
It was another 2 and half hour drive back to our resort. The tour was the highlight of my trip. It really made me want to find more resources to read about Chichén Itzá and the Mayan culture. I might have to look for some books to read more about it.
Overall, the trip was a relaxing time. North Dakota gets shit for being windy, but Cancún was very windy everyday we were there. However, I can’t complain because it was sunny and 80 degrees every day. Not a bad way to spend a few days as ND sheds the last layers of winter.