Chichen Itza

[AB8CD]

We will be heading down to Puerto Aventuras for a week January 13th - 20th, then a week of (dare I say...) open water drift dives in Cozumel. I will be cave diving with Cave Heaven but will also be taking in with my wife (and another couple travelling with us) some of the ruins. At this time I anticipate taking a collectevo to Playa and catching a tour bus to Chichen Itza (which is the longest day trip planned). Any advice regarding tours, etc.? Any good or bad experiences with the various tours?

We have traveled in the Riviera Maya for several years and have taken private tours to Chichen Itza before (the other couple has not)... I am looking to see if there are better options available to us. Price is an issue on this trip.

[Me]

You might want to hop over to the LocoGringo message boards and do a search there. The topic has been beat to death over there, but good information to be had on tours and operators.

:puncher

[deanme]

You might want to hop over to the LocoGringo message boards and do a search there. The topic has been beat to death over there, but good information to be had on tours and operators.

:puncher

I read on Loco Gringo that the Mayans understood the concept of zero. Wow. Didn’t know that. Wonder who was first to comprehend the concept of zero? They built amazing pyramids, the first written language of the Americas, an accurate calendar that we can still use today (at least for another two years), and all this while being “uneducated” and living in a jungle. Guess this gives me hope with me now living in central Florida. :roll:

dean

quote from Loco Gringo:

The Maya originated around 3,000 years ago in present-day Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and Mexico.
The Mayan empire flourished in the southern regions from around 250 AD to 900 AD. The empire in the south collapsed around 900 AD. No one knows the reason.

Scholars have suggested, among other reasons, disease, political upheaval, overpopulation or drought. But while the empire in the south waned, that in the north, especially in the Yucatan, flourished until the Spanish conquests of the 16th century AD.

The Maya were very skilled farmers and also created a very sophisticated written language; some think it might have been the first written language native to the Americans.

The Maya also developed social class system which was a well-ordered and carried on trade throughout a network of cities that went as far south as Panama and as far north as Central Mexico. Mathematicians, their number system included the concept of zero, an idea unknown to the old Greeks, expert mathematicians themselves.

The Maya used their mathematical knowledge along with celestial observations to finesse a calendar created by the Olmec which is a culture from the Mexican Gulf Coast and to create monuments to observe and commemorate movements of the moon, the sun, and Venus. Spectacular examples of these monuments can still be seen at Chichen Itza today.

[mpoucher]

We took the tour bus many years ago and it ended up being a 12 plus hour trip with about 2 hours at the ruins in Chichen Itza. We went from Tulum up to Cancun and then over to the ruins. The only saving grace was they had some good movies and plenty of free cerveza's for the trip. It may have changed since then.

You can drive to Chichen Itza by way of Coba in about 2 hours and the town of Vallodolid is a nice diversion. They have some spectacular cenotes - we went to Cenote Zaci and they have a decent restaurant there. Kind of touristy, but fun.

[rjack]

Never been to Chichen Itza but Coba is well worth a walk around. I liked the jungle and being able to actually climb the pyramid (unlike the manicured lawns of Tulum)