Even as someone not seasoned in international travel, I knew there were “wonders of the world” out there that I needed to see. I knew I wanted to visit places like Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, Chichen Itza, the pyramids, the Roman coliseum, and the acropolis. As of February, 2025 I have still only checked half of those places off the list. I have added so many more that the list will never be complete, which I suppose is a good thing. There will always be more places to see.

Before visiting Mexico in 2023, I was only vaguely aware that there were other Mayan sites of significance in Mexico. I knew that the Mayan civilization was spread out over a fairly broad area, but I had no idea how vast and complex their network of city-states was. I was completely unaware of the number of massive cities all around Mesoamerica. Our honeymoon cruise had allowed us off by a Mayan site on Cozumel back in 1996, so I knew that there were other cities out there. But there are hundreds of amazing Mayan ruins all over the Yucatan, Guatemala, Belize, and other parts of Central America. Some of the cities we visited had been cities at least as impressive as Chichen Itza in their time. Many of them we liked better.

I watched a few videos and did a little research about some of the convenient to visit Mayan sites around the Yucatan before we left. We were going to be in Mexico for about a week. My plan was to fly into Cancun, rent a car, drive around looking at Mayan ruins until we got tired of that, then spend the remaining time enjoying the beach at Cancun. This may have been the genesis of my modus operendi of coming up with a list of things to do, and having some backup plans, but not a rigid itinerary. I had also thought out an order to in which to visit sites that would make sense geographically.

I knew that Cancun was a safe and popular tourist destination, and I have never been as afraid to visit Mexico as some of my friends and family members. My general sense was – and is – that there is a sort of tacit agreement in Mexico between the cartels and the government. Neither can really dictate terms to the other. The government seems to allow the cartels their territory, so long as they don’t interfere with Mexico’s tourist industry and its associated locations. While the zones may shift a bit, with some research, we Norte Americanos can be reasonably confident in visiting some pretty wide swaths of Mexico without running afoul of cartel activity. Even in cartel zones, I doubt the crime bosses have all that much interest in hassling gringos who have no dog in the cartel fight.

While I knew from the start that Cancun was as safe a place as there is in Mexico, driving to the southern edges of Mexico near the Guatemalan border seemed a little more adventurous, in some vague sense. Perhaps I was feeling a flicker of that same apprehension so many people have of traveling to distant or unknown places – a bit of the fear of the unknown.

Some time during my research, I learned that there was a huge Mayan site still largely covered with jungle growth way down south. You had to hike in to it through canopies populated by exotic birds, several species of monkeys, turkeys, and other wildlife. The city was Calakmul. To get near it, we would have to venture about as far south as you could get in this part of Mexico to a town called Xpujil (esh – poo – heel). I didn’t know how to pronounce it, either. I was never petrified about driving the rental down there, but I was not sure if Stephanie would want to go. I wasn’t going to force her, but I decided broaching the idea was worth a try.

In that sense, this 2022-2023 Mexico trip was a critical step toward my understanding that U.S. State Department warnings, public perception, and long-held assumptions about many places in the world tend to be over cautious. That’s not to say that going to Calakmul or Guatemala or even Peru is for everyone. Each of us must weigh our own risk and comfort tolerances. I still evaluate trips based on who is making them with me. But when it is just up to me, there are fewer and fewer places I would be reluctant to visit as time goes on. There is not a right or wrong answer to whether a place is safe enough for you to travel there. It is a very personal decision. Although a place may be objectively quite safe, if you don’t make peace with the safety of your journey, there’s a high likelihood you won’t enjoy your trip. See more about our experience in Xpujil and Calakmul on that page.

My eyes were opened to the sophistication and scope of Mayan civilization during this trip. I knew there was a lot more to learn, and by the time we were preparing to come home, I knew that this would not be my last Mayan ruins tour. Sometime during the trip, I downloaded the Audible version of “The Great Courses” offering on the Maya and Aztec. The Great Courses are a series of college-level lectures given by professors hand selected for their expertise and ability to present engaging material. I have boned up on Egyptology, the Byzantine Empire, ancient China, Rome, and many other historical topics with these very well done lectures. I listened to Dr. Edwin Barnhart of the Maya Exploration Center give me a cover to cover history of the rise and fall of the Maya and Aztec civilizations as I drove across the high quality Merida-Cancun highway, and south through potholes and Menonite farms en route to Xpujil. I learned a lot. That is my mission on these trips. While still not expert level, my understanding of and appreciation for Mayan culture grew exponentially as we crossed into the new year, 2023.