taco's & toucan's travels ~ 2019

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DAY 26a

Week 4

CHICHÉN ITZÁ ~ Zona Arqueológica de Chichén Itzá (Yucatán, MEX)

Tuesday April 9^th, 2019

TODAYS MILEAGE – 112 miles / 180 kilometres

TRIP MILEAGE – 15,653 miles / 25,191 kilometres

We arrived at the world renowned Chichén Itzá site just on 9AM and my first impression was - WOW, there’s a shit ton of people here. We were met by a very knowledgeable local guide, who lost my interest after taking ½ an hour just to explain the Mayan’s time-line in history in a dull mono-tone presentation that would've put a glass eye to sleep, so I simply wandered off to explore on my own.

I ended up with most of the site information by listening to the various English speaking guide,s delivering their presentations to their respective groups. It's a trick I learnt years ago when not wanting to pay exorbitant guide costs in Bali and its served me well over the years.

I was done and dusted with the site in an hour and a half, then waited another two hours for the rest of the group to be done and arrive back at the bus. In speaking with our group upon their return, it looks as if they missed out on seeing the back ⅓ of the site due to time constraints.

Our departure corresponded with a huge influx of tour buses loaded with cruise ship passengers from the resort towns of Cancún (2½ hour drive) and Playa del Carmen (2¼ hour drive), which turned the joint into an absolute zoo.

My impressions of the site??? If it was the first pyramid, I’d have been impressed, but after 4 previous sites, Chichén Itzá would be way down on the list. Unlike the previous sites, you cannot go exploring in & around the site as you are kept well away from everything. The experience is also lessened by all the trinket & souvenir vendors that virtually encircle the entire interior of the site. The management and those who run the official facilities of the site seem to be somewhere in the Gordon Gecko “Greed Is Good” mindset with a healthy dose of the government mantra of “Give ‘em nothing, Take ‘em nowhere and Make ‘em pay for the lot”.