Back to Main Page

Yucatan (Mexico)

This is a small page dedicated to our 2 weeks stay on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, December 2006. The peninsula comprises the 3 Mexican states Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo, and parts of Belize and Guatemala. Corinna and me did a 1 week tour with a rented car visiting and learning a lot about the Maya people and sites and then took a 1 week rest at the beach. Enjoy!

We started at Cancún Airport and went to Cancún city Visited Tulum and Cobá; hotel in Playa del Carmen Further south via Chetumal, visited the Cenote Azul and the Museo de la Cultura Maya; stayed at Eco Village Chicanna Took a tour in Becán, drove through Champoton at the coast, finally reaching Campeche Before Uxmal, we explored Labná and Kabah, slept in the Missión Uxmal After a short stop at Dzibilchaltùn before Progreso (coast of Golf of Mexico), we reached Mérida We briefly stopped at Izamal and drive to Chitchen Itza; found our hotel in Valladolid The way back led us again past Coba and Tulum to our beach hotel; returned the car in Playa del Carmen

And here is a small sample of things we did and places we visited:
(You can find an overview of all pictures hidden behind links here)

The Maya site of Becán . Several impressive and high buildings with steep stairs and lots of hidden rooms you can enter. With nearly no visitors and its location right in the jungle it creates a powerful atmosphere.
	Temple with originally about 200 Chac masks on the front side found in Labná . Chac is the God of Rain. Its symbol has an outstanding nose! To the right is the famous Labná Vault. There is still lots todo for archeologists (stone puzzles).
The wonderful site of Uxmal . This is the Pyramid of the Magician (visible from far away) with an unusual oval shape (85 x 50 meters) and a height of 38 meters. There are really many strange and massive buildings on that site. Some still need to be excavated like the Pyramid and Casa de la Vieja.
	Luxury MacDonalds and Burger King: $29 for an ice cream and more than $60 for a burger menu ... Explanation (ca. 10:1)
A beautiful cenote (its formation is explained here) with freshwater in Dzibilchaltùn where you can take a refreshing bath (if you don't mind the hundreds of fish nibbling on you). Try to spot the cenote on this aerial photograph from Google.
	Chichen Itza is impressive not only because of the several hundreds of tourists and determined merchants. This is El Castillo; it is not allowed to climb its stairs anymore after some fatal accident in 2006. Still great from below! Lots of astrological knowledge has been used building this structure. Some places have arbitrary names like the Market Place or Place of Thousand Columns. Some have sensible ones like the Observatory (many and no other tourists). An important figure (especially in Chichen Itza) is the Chak-Mool, a guardian, not very frightening, though.
Ceremony to pay honor to the Dios Descendente (the Descending God). In these days they of course especially honor the dollars from the tourists, but it is still nice to watch them flying down. Many offerings have been found in cenotes or caves.
	The site of Tulum is architectonically not very impressive because of its clear, functional and low buildings (e.g. in comparison to Cobá). However, its location with direct access to the beach (where you can go swimming if you are prepared for that) is really lovely. It is also a place where many tourists come to since it is just a few hours from the main hotel area around Cancún (and lots of merchants like here in Chichen Itza).

	SUN and RAIN
	DAY and NIGHT
	SPORT and LEISURE

You can find an overview of all pictures hidden behind links here.