I had the pleasure of staying one night in Cancún, Mexico. My one and only goal was to see one of the seven wonders of the world: Chichén Itzá also known as “Mouth of the Itzaes Well”. I rented a car from Avant rent a car. They had one of the cheaper deposits. They also do pick ups and drop offs to the airport which is about a 10 minute ride. The service was good and the car ran well.
first mixed civilations with the mayan and inca
Side bar, Here are the 7 wonders of the world:
- Great Wall of China (China)
- Chichén Itzá (Mexico)
- Petra (Jordan)
- Machu Picchu (Peru)
- Christ the Redeemer (Brazil)
- Colosseum (Rome)
- Taj Mahal (India)
Cancún time zone is EST and their currency is Pesos. I landed in the morning, 10am to be exact. I wanted to be well rested before heading to Chichén Itzá the next day. For lunch I went to Los de Pescado. It’s a chain restaurant. The food was so good and cheap. The only picture I have is of the dessert. I had oreo palenta and my fiancé had the sour sop flavor. It was delicious!
Here is the link to the airbnb I stayed at in Cancún https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/36910306?source_impression_id=p3_1703152681_FRAKkjLsOwbCqTph. The water was boiling hot (very much to my liking), and the location was great. Everything was so close, even Walmart.
Some pics of the airbnb:
The next morning, it’s time to head to Chichén Itzá. The doors open at 8am, but please do remember that Chichén Itzá is CST time zone in a town called Yucatan. The drive to Yucatan was smooth and took a little over 2 hours. Their highway put NYC highway to shame lol. I was happy I didn’t go the “tour” route. All you saw was buses pulled over for a bathroom break. I just want to get to my destination as fast as possible lol. Please make sure you have pesos because you will pass two toll booths and they do not take cards or USD, ONLY PESOS! if you are driving.
Things to bring to Chichén Itzá:
- Sunscreen
- Water
- Hat
- Comfortable shoes
To me these items are essential/must haves. The pyramid is not under any type of shade. So while you are getting your photos/videos you will be baking in that Mexican sun…whew. I was HOT and I didn’t even go during a summer month. I can’t even imagine what it’s like during the summer. About 5 minutes until I arrived at Chichén Itzá a tour company stopped us on the road and sold us entrance tickets (if you’re skeptical about this do not stop. The tickets are the same price at the door. This just sped up our entrance process), gave a brief introduction about the pyramid and how to scan our tickets, and told us not to STOP for anyone else until you get to Chichén Itzá. The cost per ticket was $65 USD for a fast track ticket plus $10 for buffet style lunch. I do not like buffet food but I said what the heck. One least thing to worry about after we leave to go to the next destination.
I can’t even describe the feeling when I first laid my eyes on the pyramid. It is magnificent. It was like an awwww feeling. Just look at the pictures. Tell me what you think.
Fun Facts about Chichén Itzá:
- It is one of the largest Mayan cities to ever be built
- The Mayan people built Chichén Itzá
- There is a total of 365 steps which represents the number of days in a solar year
- They restored half of the pyramid
- In 2006 they stopped allowing people to climb the pyramid.
- Clapping in front of the pyramid makes a chirping echo mimicking the quetzal bird
- There is a stadium where all groups came together to fight to see who would be a human sacrifice for the Gods. The WINNING captain would be the sacrifice.
I did pay for a guide. He gave us a brief history lesson. Like I’ve mentioned before I’m not a big history person. So after awhile I tuned out. All I need is the basics lol. Total time for the tour is about 1.5 hours. After about 40mins our tour guide Juan could tell it was a lot of information to process and asked if we wanted to continue lol….NO!
