Mexico - Mayan Ruins

Mexico holds a rich Mayan history and preserves many Mayan ruins. I visited three  magnificent ruins in the states of Yucatan and Quintana Roo.

Coba Ruins

This is a huge site with ruins spread out in the jungle and breaks into three major communities. This is especially famous because you can still climb to the top of a pyramid. 

Welcome to Coba Ruins

The gate going into the parking lot

A huge parking lot waiting to be filled with tour buses. There are local shops on the side. The entrance to the ruin is all the way at the right end corner

You can visit the site on your own or hire a guide. There are guides waiting right by the entrance and inside as well. It will be up to your negotiation skills to bargain a good price. Generally speaking, it costs about 700 Pesos for a 90-minute tour visiting two out of three communities of ruins. You can share costs with others, but you will need to find the people yourself. The guide won't help you find a group.

This is where you will pay for ticket and find the guides

The three major communities of ruins: Grupo Coba, Grupo Nohoch Mul, Grupo Macanxoc

Beautiful site surrounded by trees

The nearest site, Grupo Coba, by the entrance

Trees grow on top of ruins

After you finish visiting at Grupo Coba, you will see the bike rental booth and a bunch of people with tricycle waiting on the side of the main road. Since this is a huge site and so spread out, you have the options to rent bicycle or hire a tricycle. I recommend renting a bicycle if you are okay biking because this will make it a lot easier to explore. Even with bicycle, it took me pretty much 2 hours to visit the whole site. You can imagine how limiting and tiring it would be if you visited by foot. The bike rental was 50 Pesos for the whole day.

Bicycle rental

Once you pay for the bicycle, just walk to the left hand side and pick whichever bike you liked. I spent forever selecting my bike because I liked to test out the breaks and made sure the height of the seat was manageable.

A good selection of bicycles both adult size and children size

The route was pretty much flat. Some bumpy and rocky spots, but nothing dangerous or difficult. Overall it was very relaxing and enjoyable, especially when you got some nice breeze as you rid along.

Intersection going to Grupo Nohoch Mul on the left or Grupo Macanxoc straight down. There is also a little shed on the right where you can sit down and take a break

Sign pointing direction going to different ruins

Well maintained ruin

Soon after you pass by the intersection sign on your bike tour, you will reach the tallest ruin at Coba.

This is highest ruin in Coba which you can hike up. It's called Nohoch Mul 

Don't just hike up, but remember to take a look at the surrounding. You are getting higher and higher and before you know it you are above the tree lines

There is no railing to hold on to. All there is a rope hanging right in the middle of the pyramid. You can try to grab it as you walk up or down the stairs, but the rope is really just for a mental support.

Once at the top, you will realize how steep it is

You are in the middle of a jungle and above it. It's pretty amazing

There is not a lot of space at the top of the pyramid, so be careful there. You definitely don't want to fail accidentally while taking a selfie at the edge.  

And lastly, going down can be scary. Do take as much as you need to walk down safely

One thing I noticed was some of the stairs had pretty smooth surface. It was probably caused by so many people gone up and down and eventually smoothed out the rough stone surface. If your shoes were not suitable for this hike, try just taking your shoes off and walk bare foot. Yes, there are little gravels that may potentially cut your foot, but that is a smaller risk comparing to slip and fall from a pyramid. 

Coba is full of Mayan statues

How to get there:
The site can be reached via ADO bus. It's about an hour bus ride from Tulum. There is one bus leaving Tulum in the morning. Then leaving Coba in the afternoon. For detail on bus schedule, visit the ADO bus website. Originally I thought the bus schedule would leave me with a lot of idle time at site, but it turned out just enough time for me to visit the entire site and some time to shop around in the local stores.

Another way would be by taxi, which is more expensive unless you can share cost with others. One way is about 400 Pesos. I heard people can negotiate and ask taxi to wait for them on site while they visit inside. 

Ticket price:
65 Pesos as of December 2016

Tulum Ruins

One of the most scenic ruins in the region with its back against the beautiful white sand and ocean.

The observatory facing beautiful ocean and white sand beach

If you took a taxi, Colectivo, or ADO bus to the ruin, they will drop you off at the intersection between Boulevard Tulum and a side street going towards the ruins. As you walk towards down the side street, you will encounter some shops then you will reach a plaza where you can choose either to take a free shuttle train or continue walking. It's about 15 minute walk along this flat paved path surrounded by trees. 

Shuttle train to the entrance of Tulum Ruins

Path leading you to the Ruins

Soon you will reach the entrance and the ticket booth. This is where you find restroom and tour guides. The guide is about 45 minutes and cost about 700 Peso. You can find people to share cost with you.

Entrance and ticket booth

The first part of the ruin is through a forest

Soon you will reach the walls of Tulum Ruins. This is built for protection from enemies

The King's residence

The temple where the sacrifices were made

 An interesting story about the temple and the sacrifices. The temple is facing the West with its back against the East. As everyone watched the sun set, sacrifices were performed and symbolized the energy given to the sun so that it will rise again from the East. 

The fertilization temple governed by the God of Venus

Right behind the sacrifice temple, there is a path down to the beach

Beautiful beach by Tulum Ruins

A lot of sea iguanas

How to get there:
Depending on where you are coming from, there are buses, taxi, and Colectivo going to Tulum Ruins. You will be dropped off at the intersection between Boulevard Tulum and a side street going towards the ruins. Follow the side street walking towards the shops, you will reach the ruins.

Ticket price:
65 Pesos as of December 2016

Tips and suggestions:

Try to go early during the day. First of all, it's a popular site, so you want to get there before it gets crowded. Second, it's super hot and there is barely any shade, therefore, go there before it gets too hot. Make sure to stay hydrated and wear sunscreen.

Chichen Itza
The most famous and the most advertised ruin in Mexico. It was nominated as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

I attended the Go Wonders tour with Mexigotours. Mexigotours is one of the primary tour company in Valladolid. I highly recommend taking a tour with them. 

The entrance of Chichen Itza

A map of Chichen Itza. It is a huge site

A huge ball court where the king host ball games. Sometimes the ball game can last for days

An interesting story about the ball game is its tradition. At the end of the game, there was a sacrifice. The surprising part about the sacrifice is that the captain or the leader of the winning team being the one to be sacrificed. It symbolized to give the best to Gods in return for a good harvest and good weather. However, the darker side of the story implied that it was a strategy for the kings and priests to eliminate potential threats to their regimes.     

Can you see the sculpture of a player on the left hand side holding another player's head? And bleeding out from his neck?

Another close look at the sculpture of a ball game player

An unique flower from a native tree which was used for coloring

Close to the center of the Chichen Itza site, there was the massive step pyramid called El Castillo. It was one of the greatest work by Mayan astronomers and architects. It was not only a sundial, but also a 3-dimensional Mayan calendar. One of the Mayan calendars indicated there were a total of 19 months and a total of 365 days in one Mayan calendar year. Besides the tour guide told you so, the design of El Castillo showed you so as well. 

If you follow my math, there are a total of 2 sets of 9 big steps on each face of El Castillo. 9 x 2 = 18 plus the step at the top = 19. This is the 19 months in the Mayan calendar. There are a total of 91 mini steps on each face. There are 4 faces of El Castillo. Therefore, 91 x 4 = 364 plus the step at the top = 365. This is the 365 days in the Mayan calendar. As mysterious as it sounds, the story sells well. 

Another unique aspect about El Castillo is the shadow image it portrays as sun goes from east to west. The reason is because of the stone snake at the base of the stairs and the big 9 steps on each face of the pyramid. In your imagination, when the sun moves, the shadow moves with it. The shadow is shaped by the serrated edges of the steps and with a snake head at the base. As the day goes by, it looks like a snake moving in shadow. 

El Castillo

Observatory

A closer look at the snake head sculpture which you can find almost in every pyramid on site

The Warrior Temple

Before you know it, Chichen Itza is full of vendors. This is the only site where vendors are allowed on site

How to get there:
Depending on where you are coming from, there are buses going from various cities such as Cancun, Tulum, and Valladolid. Since it is so famous, you will also find lots of tour company taking you there for a day trip. 

Ticket price:
232 Pesos as of December 2016 (65 Pesos out of 232 Pesos is supposedly for Federal and the rest is supposedly for State) 

Tips and suggestions:

Try to go early during the day. It is the most popular site, so go early to take some real good photos of the ruins without any other tourists in the background. Enjoy the bargaining and take it slow. You will be surprised as to how much you can bring down the prices with some basic negotiation tactics.