Chichen Itza
Beginning With the Marquis Stop
Stephanie and I made our 2022-2023 Mexico trip without the kids. We were hosting Max, an exchange student from the Netherlands at the time, and we still had four children of our own at home. With a little bit of coordination, and the assistance of my oldest daughter and mother-in-law, me made arrangements for the children and animals at home to have adequate supervision in our absence. We set out for Dallas-Fort Worth airport on December 30, 2022, and didn’t return until the next year!
The flight was fine, but the trip otherwise got off to an inauspicious beginning. Upon landing, we were sent to a room full of people waiting to pick up rental cars. I had made my reservation with a credit card that guaranteed insurance on all cars rented with that card anywhere in the world. As such, I always decline the optional insurance. Unfortunately, many Latin American car rental agencies don’t trust credit card guarantees against their cars. Even a printed version of the card agreement with the stated benefit did not suffice. The car rental company insisted on taking a $3,000 deposit on my credit card against any damage to the car. I thought this was egregious, and did not completely trust that this Mexican car company would refund my deposit even if I did return their car intact. What recourse would I have back in the U.S.? I argued against the hefty deposit for some time, to no avail. I decided to trust Visa to help me extract any unfairly withheld funds once I got back. Fortunately, that was a road I did not have to go down.
So I drove off in my rented vehicle toward a very American mid-level hotel not that far from the airport. It was late enough in the day that I really only had time to grab a few pesos from an ATM on the way before calling it an evening. Much of the area along the main roads leaving the airport is fairly upscale looking. I had to leave the main drag by one block to find an ATM. It only took leaving the main street by a single block to realize that we were indeed in Mexico, not some Gulf Coast resort town on the redneck riviera or a Caribbean all inclusive resort. It got sketchy looking pretty quickly, especially at night. We had no major problems though, and were safely in a very touristified motel for the night, awaiting our initial foray into the land of the Maya.
Chichen Itza is about two hours east of Cancun, midway between that city and Mérida, another relatively major metropolitan area. The highway between Cancun and Mérida has four lanes and nearly rivals American interstates. You can make good time without fear of obstacles or the crazy congestion often present on Latin American road systems. We drove East on the 31st. I had read that you are not allowed to climb any pyramids at Chichen Itza, but that Ek Balam was a fairly decent site nearby that does allow climbing. We went to Ek Balam first. Ek Balam had some very nice puma figures and a rather steep pyramid. I broke a sweat climbing it. Stephanie made it to the top as well. Perhaps if you aren’t an enthusiast, going to both sites might be overkill. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The cities and the experiences were different. Ek Balam was a convenient stop along the way, and it made sense to visit both sites the same day. We spent about 2-3 hours at Ek Balam before proceeding to Chichen Itza.
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Although I had not planned it this way, it was extremely fortunate that we arrived at Chichen Itza in the middle of the afternoon on New Year’s Eve. The souvenir vendors were still very present, but the crowds were smaller and the vendors and hawkers were not covering over the place as I suspect they do most of the time.
Once we got within a mile of Chichen Itza, we were accosted by people posing as tour guides. Anyone with a polo shirt and a lanyard with their photograph on a card in it can pose as a tour guide. Some of them have whistles and jump out in the road in front of you, signaling you to stop. They try to convince you that you are required to park there and walk – with them as your guide of course. I suppose you get an extra few kilometers of exercise that way. I knew we were still some way off, so I ignored them and drove on toward the park entrance. There were, of course, more guides there. We ended up using a guide at Chichen Itza.
I have mixed feelings about using guides. I like the personal interaction, and I am glad to support locals who want to share the special aspects of a place that is extra special to them. I have also noticed, however, that guides in many underdeveloped places are less than professional. Sometimes they are complete impostors. The interaction nearly always involves a personal sales pitch. I use the opportunity of this sales pitch to make some small talk that just happens to explore whether or not said tour guide knows some basic facts about the topic they claim expertise in. If I am going to hire a guide, after all, I would like them to know something more than I do. I don’t ask for a resume or make them complete a college level oral exam. I just ask simple question during the course of normal conversation, or pose a supposition. For instance, if someone offers me a tour of a church, I ask them when it was built. I usually at least know this before I start. One man selling me his guide services in Peru confidently asserted that the church he was going to show me was built in 1450 – forty two years before Columbus sailed for America! I politely declined.
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My tour guide selection was not so refined at Chichen Itza. Actually, Stephanie personally liked our guide and chose her. She offered excellent insight into some of the traditions and spiritual beliefs of the late Maya in the Northern Yucatan. She tried to make the case that Mayans had been unfairly depicted as violent, but that they had in fact been quite peaceful. While pseudo-historical films like Apocalypto may have overplayed Mayan violence, there is no denying that their religion and belief system fully incorporated human sacrifice. She was wrong about that. She was a pleasant guide, though, and her good information and cheerful personality outweighed her misinformation. I was glad to have her company as we walked through the amazingly detailed buildings, ball courts, and astronomical observation structures.
As the afternoon wore on, the place completely emptied out. Between the vendors and the tourists, I get the impression you often have to absolutely elbow your way through the site. We were lucky to be there on a holiday. We strolled along on that warm, late December afternoon as vendors rolled up their Maya themed chess sets, decorative replica masks, clothing, and all sorts of kitsch. All of it was hand made, claimed the sellers. Never mind how many of their items were identical.
I am glad we got to see Chichen Itza, and our timing was perfect. It really is worth a visit. Perhaps otherwise not-so-enthusiastic explorers will learn enough by visiting such a marquis attraction to inspire further investigation. It is an easy bus ride from Cancun. One would not have to strike out on their own across Mexico in a rented car like we did. You could easily plop down in a luxury resort or hotel and just ride the tour bus to Chichen Itza and still have a wonderful experience. You’ll deal with larger crowds, and have some built in captive-audience sales pitches, but for those who need a more packaged experience, it is easily accessible.
I drove toward Mérida as evening fell. It took about two hours to drive to Mérida, and then another hour or so to navigate through it. The outer areas we traversed were sprawling, disorganized street patterns without smooth flowing traffic arteries. When we finally arrived near our motel downtown, we were right along a beautiful, elongated plaza with large colonial buildings and a pleasant, festive vibe. Our motel in Mérida was above average, a nice accommodation that Stephanie could appreciate. There were vendors all along the plaza selling souvenirs, sweets, and savory street foods. The evening was warm and humid, and there were lots of parties going on to ring in the new year. We held hands and walked the street after setting our baggage down in the room. It was a beautiful night in a pleasant part of Mérida, Mexico.
