Chichen Itza and the cenote at Yaxbe
There are cheaper ways to visit the great Mayan/Toltec ruins at Chichen Itza than this day trip with Roberto. Busses and less personalized excursions deliver enormous crowds to Chichen Itza at roughly 11 am every day, mostly from the beach resorts in Cancun and Playa del Carmen. The difficulty with such a mass and therefore, less expensive approach is the heat that bakes the center of the Yucatan flatlands at this late hour of the morning. It is just too hot to be out and about at that time, walking around Chichen Itza, presumably a Mayan prototype of the microwave oven if experienced at that hour.
Roberto will therefore pick you up at Casa Santiago at 7:30 am. You will arrive at Chichen Itza shortly before 9 am. Almost no one is there at that hour. Chichen Itza is a great place and deservedly has been named one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Roberto will help you hire a guide, which is strongly recommended. After about two hours, you’ll come back to Roberto’s air-conditioned taxi-van and smugly note the crush of tour busses arriving from Cancun.
And now cool off. Roberto will take you to the Yaxbe cenote in the town of Piste. A cenote is an underground river whose roof has collapsed centuries ago, creating a body of clear water which you can reach by stairs. Yaxbe is a privately owned cenote. It is clean and meticulously maintained. There are very clean dressing rooms and showers. Life preservers are available.
Lunch is at the Yaxbe cenote. There is a very good buffet there and the staff is very friendly.
Roberto will get you back to Casa Santiago at about mid-afternoon.
Roberto’s charges for this day trip do not include lunch, admission fees to the ruins or cenote or the cost of hiring a guide at Chichen Itza.
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