Maya ruins at Chichen Itza and Tulum

The Maya city of Chichen Itza, famously one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, lies deep in the jungle of the Yucatan peninsula. Chichen Itza was a major city-state during the Maya Postclassic period, at the height of it's power from ~750-1050 CE. The ruins are sprawling, and offer plenty of evidence of everything the Mayan civilization is famous for: temples, human sacrifice, the Mesoamerican Ball Game where players (sometimes) get sacrificed, that calendar with the end of the world (kidding).

The Maya had an advanced writing system, but the Spanish destroyed almost all evidence of it except for temple wall carvings, which Chichen Itza has in abundance. Check out this ball player getting decapitated: those snakes represent BLOOD.

On our way to Chichen Itza, we stopped for lunch at a roadside strip of cafes. It's the only road to Chichen Itza, so it is definitely a tourist trap. As soon as we parked, dueling teams of menu-weilding restaurant hawkers descended on us. The restaurants were all functionally identical, so I made them seat half of our party at one restaurant, and the other half at the adjoining table in the neighboring restaurant. They were not amused by my solution, but I thought it was hilarious.

We also went to Tulum, a seaside Maya city complex dating from ~1000-1500 CE. Tulum was a major trading port, and the cliffside setting is gorgeous, but the exposure to wind and rain means the site's structures are smooth and eroded. We were lucky to visit during a brief storm and enjoyed the dark clouds and windy palm trees.

Mysterious ruins are everywhere- there's even one in the middle of Playa del Carmen's Quinta Avenue. Walk through one of the fish pedicure areas and next to a restaurant's kitchen storage area you'll find a tiny shrine surrounded with a wire fence and trash.

-PT

Coral reefs and cenotes on the Riviera Maya

The Riviera Maya is a top spot for water adventures: the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef runs the length of the coast, and in the 1950s Jacques Cousteau helped bring international attention to the fantastic snorkeling and scuba diving sites. We took a ferry for a day trip to Isla Mujeres- "Island of the Women," named by the Conquistadors for the many statues of the Mayan goddess Ixchel they discovered there. It's relatively less developed than the mainland, but still pretty crazy in the high season.

We met up with family friends with an interesting local connection. They visit Isla Mujeres often and are on friendly terms with many of the local businesses, but on this trip the lavanderia lost their clothes. The lavanderia's owner proposed a novel solution: her husband is the captain of a boat, so instead of paying them for the lost laundry, why not have him take us all out snorkeling on his boat?

The snorkeling was spectacular—crystal clear water, schools of brightly colored tropical fish, barracudas keeping pace just at the corner of your vision—and most of us had an incredible time! Most of us.

I get very, very seasick in all but the best conditions, but thought I'd give it a shot. Why pass up a free boat excursion? The outcome was predictable and hilarious. I kept it together on the way to the first dive site and was very happy to get off the boat and into the water, where I thought I'd be safe! I was not safe. The current was fast, light refracts differently underwater and through goggles so nothing is where it appears, and the water got increasingly choppy.

I puked several different times, including: 1) mid-climb while launching myself backward off the boat ladder to be back in the ocean, 2) over the edge of the boat, 3) in the ocean, after giving up on snorkeling and just treading water, with my goggles off, and hugging my lifevest, where I attracted a school of fish, and 4) clinging to the boat ladder in moderate seas. The fish were pretty though! I'd probably do it again.

On a different day we went to Cenote Cristalino. The Yucatan peninsula has thousands of cenotes: limestone sinkholes filled topped with freshwater. The Yucatan's limestone is so porous that there aren't any rivers and cenotes are the only source of freshwater: the underwater aquifer is a layer of fresh rainwater on top of denser salt water which has infiltrated from the ocean. Some cenotes are open to the public for swimming and are a relaxing place to spend the afternoon.

We really wanted to go to the Reserva Biosphera but it was too busy to book, since this was the peak week of the entire year.

Next up: Mayan ruins at Tulum and Chichen Itza!

-Peter