Yucatan, Mexico Van Tour

Original Trip Description: (February 6-14, 1993)
On our Mayaland journey, we will have an opportunity to compare the architecture of the Puuc region-Uxmal, Sayil, Kabah, and Labna-with the Toltec-influenced buildings of Chichen Itza, as well as learning about the history and politics of these prehistoric city states. Jungle overgrown Coba and fortified Tulum on the Caribbean coast will offer additional insights into the Mayan mystery. We'll have frequent opportunities to contrast today's bustling city dweller with descendants of the region's original Mayan citizens, who still dress in traditional costumes. Because of the recent great strides made in interpreting the Maya writings, or glyphs, it is now possible to construct histories as well as gain insights into their political and economic relationships. We will attempt to understand this broader picture of the Mayan world as we journey through the beautiful Yucatan peninsula.
We'll fly to Cancun, Quintana Roo and then travel by van throughout the Yucatan area, camping in newly built campgrounds, trailer parks, or on the beautiful beaches. In addition to our Mayan explorations, our trip plans include sightseeing in Merida, beach bumming, snorkeling, and visiting out of the way places. We'll stroll beautiful, Caribbean beaches; shop for our food daily in local mercados; and totally immerse ourselves in this Spanish speaking culture. The trip is rated leisurely to moderate (L/M).
Originates @ Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Temple of Magican

Orange Festival Queen?

Previous Trip Report (February 6-14, 1993):

We were surprised at how much Cancun has grown since our last visit. New hotels are erupting all along the strip. Even the lagoon is being filled in for new tourist accommodations and other amenities. The flavor of the entire area was quite different ten years ago. The Yucatan Peninsula has definitely been found by tourism. Prices for goods and services have sky-rocketed. The locals are less curious about tourists. The other surprise was the weather. Flying into Cancun we noticed that the landscape was exceptionally green. We thought we had planned the trip for the dry season but Mother Nature didn't appear to be cooperating. While we were in Cancun by ourselves preparing for the trip, on two of the four days we were hit by torrential downpours.

On the first day of the trip we had an unusual problem with our rental vans. The previous night, our reliable supplier, who we had used twice in the past, delivered us two combis which weren't usable. One was in fair condition, but with no window locks. The other was a piece of junk which had hard taxi bench seats and was obviously well past its prime. We left town a little late the next morning because we had to arrange two good vans with National Car Rental. Fortunately, Susan had extra bookings with both Avis and National.

We were greeted on the outskirts of town by a police shakedown. On past trips to the Yucatan Peninsula, traffic police were always noticeably absent and the morbida was never a problem. Two freelancers on a motorbike were stopping rental vehicles for minor infractions. Supposedly, we had been speeding. We hadn't prepared everyone for this type of activity, but the group responded perfectly. The two policemen tried several different tactics. The primary approach was asking for Bob's drivers license and telling him they would need to hold onto it until he had settled. We were offered the choice of going back downtown with them or paying them $30.00 immediately. A gentle test of wills and tug-of-war for Bob's license ensued. With our two combis parked by the side of the road and a crowd of American tourists milling around them, these entrepreneurs eventually decided we should be on our way with just a warning. This problem is epidemic in Mexico City so apparently Cancun has joined the big leagues. While we frequently saw patrol cars later, no further attempts were made to raid our wallets.

These negatives were eventually balanced out by the great group of helpful, flexible folks we traveled with and by the wonderful interactions we had with people in the countryside. One example of Yucatecan hospitality was at a cooperative restaurant near Uxmal. Our hosts kept the restaurant open late for our arrival and after a delicious lime soup, served us Pollo Pibil which was cooked especially for us. Pollo Pibil is chicken marinated in achiote (a Yucatecan spice) and sour orange juice, topped with onions and tomatoes, wrapped in banana leaves, and baked in a pit. After a great day of ruin hopping, it was wonderful. As always our combat Spanish got us by. One participant's Portuguese was understood by some of the people we encountered and we found another to be much more fluent in Spanish than he let on. Since our return home, at least one of our group has enrolled in a Spanish class. I guess the conversational antics made an impression.

Since this was the high tourist season for the Yucatan, we expected to encounter crowds, which wasn't the case. Even Xel-ha, the fantastic snorkeling lagoon was relatively calm. We had no problem finding places to camp on the beach. We did observe that high entry prices are keeping the locals out of the ruin sites and tourist attractions. They still have free Sunday admission but something will eventually have to be done for weekdays. Most Mexicans can't afford high tourist prices and they certainly have as much right to visit these places as tourists do. We expect a two tier admission pricing system, like New Zealand's, to be instituted sometime in the future. Such a system allows the host country to make money off of tourism and still allow access to the locals.

After the group left, the two of us took the bone jarring drive to Punta Allen. We met some nice people there but decided that it was a little too laid back for our liking. Once a thriving lobster fishing village, it has been fished out over the past few years. The locals talked about manatees in the lagoon. We didn't stay long enough to run that rumor down. We found a clothing optional public beach to camp on within site of the ruins at Tulum. We camped one day at Chemuyil, which is still billed as being the most beautiful beach in the world. However, most of its palm trees were lost when Hurricane Gilbert came through several years ago. The lagoon is a great place to snorkel and there are enough palms left to make it pretty. We also checked out the camp sites at Punta Bete, an out of the way little piece of paradise that we understand is slated for future development.