Mehling.org: Ik-kil and Chichen Itza

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March 28, 2008

Ik-kil and Chichen Itza

3/28 (Friday)

David met us at our hotel and we grabbed a quick breakfast before catching a collectivo (5 pesos each) to the Ik-Kil cenote. We were the first ones there. Although the signs at the highway were modest and run down, the park was anything but. We could see why -- parking for the monster sized touring buses that would arrive within a few hours, stores and vendors, a nice looking restaurant and bar. They had no need to advertise, the tour buses brought them business all day long.

As the first guests to arrive, we had the grounds to ourselves. We walked in past a handful of well maintained cottages. Hol spotted a little racer snake on the path. The grounds were beautiful with well manicured lawns and planters. We found our way to the stairs leading into the cenote... There were several openings providing previews of the water below. Just like the grounds above, the entrance to the cenote was well built out, with a paved stone deck with ladders leading into the water... The deck extended up maybe 2 to 4 meters so you could "high dive" into the water. The water was a dark blue and you could see hundreds of small black cat fish swimming slowly around the only home they'd ever known. Swallows flew in and out, sometimes dipping into the water. The crew of life guards were finishing up the morning cleaning of the deck before taking a quick dip and leaving. We had the entire cenote to ourselves for about an hour. After swimming, jumping from the high jump and some photos, we decided to get moving before the buses started lining up.

Just as we reached the highway, the first tour bus was arriving. We saw 6 more go in before we caught a collectivo back to Piste. We were lucky to have gotten all that time by ourselves -- these new visitors would be paddling around with 200 other people. If you go through Piste or Chichen Itza, definitely hit this cenote early -- they opened at 8am.

Back in Piste we bought tickets on the 4:15pm from Piste to Cancun. That gave us 3+ hours to walk throughout the city of Chichen Itza. (We later learned that you can actually board this run directly in Chichen Itza.) We took a taxi into Chichen. It was a total zoo. There must have been 25 massive tour buses in the estacionamento. Since we had checked out, we dropped our bags in a large auditorium they use for checking bags. Once inside we passed through the rows of vendors that setup shop all over the complex. For the most part they sell the same crap, side-by-side -- I do not understand how they make any money this way. If I never see another "authentic" resin poured Mayan "carving" again, I'd be happy.

We walked throughout the complex for several hours, besides the main temple (it forms a Mayan calendar and lights up a slithering snake on and around the equinox) which towers over the entire site, the highlights (for me) were the observatory, ball court and nunnery. These (and other Mayan) ruins are built with incredible precision -- they must have had means to measure and plan, but didn't even have metal tools. It is truly a wonder. The Chichen site is well preserved, but very commercial. I felt the buildings at Uxmal were in better shape in some cases and certainly is was a quieter site. By mid afternoon it was really hot and we got lucky when a small tropical storm dumped warm rain on us for 10 minutes -- at least we got the dust washed off.

After regrouping at the entrance we got an ice cream for Hol and a Yucatan Cook book for David, including a recipe for grasshopper tacos. We headed back to Piste to catch the bus to Cancun. The bus ride took us through Villiadad???, which appeared to be a bit larger than Playa (but it's hard to gauge these things while riding along in a bus). We reached Cancun that evening and found un casa de telephono to dial the property David had read about in the "36 hours in Cancun" NYTs??? article. They'd moved. It turned out that they were in the process of selling that property and had expanded to a larger house north of Puerto Juarez. They only had a large room available for the first night, and said they could put an extra bed in it, then we could get another room in the morning. Our only other option was a condo unit directly in the "heart of darkness" (zona hotelera). We opted for the quieter bed and breakfast. We grabbed a taxi and rode out of Cancun, north about 5 minutes above the jetboat ferry port. Many cabbies put their nickname or handle on the back of their cab -- this one's was La Princessita, the first female driver we'd seen in our two weeks here. Hol and I had even discussed the fact that we had yet to encounter a female taxi driver earlier in the trip. David and her chatted on the longish ride out to the hotel. Cabs charge based on the "zone" they are in -- apparently the hotel was still in a relatively close/cheap zone, even though it was in the boonies. Before we figured this out and upped the tip, she was gone.

The property was a converted 6 bedroom, four story (with elevator) private residence. It was directly on the beach, with the lights of Isla Mujeres visible straight ahead and the hotels at Punta Cancun twinkling just to the right. We spent a couple minutes enjoying the view and ocean breeze before dropping our things and heading back to Cancun to get some dinner. Alejandro the cosmopolitan hotel manager and principle business partner (he studied for 6 years in Colorado for the Olympic gymnast team, but decided he wanted something more stable) was kind enough to run us into town. Margaritas (with far less tequila than we wanted) were dos por uno (2x1) and Hol got the rice, beans and salad she wanted.

Before heading back to the hotel we needed to change some money -- we still had about 300 USD on hand, but wanted to keep it in reserve, so we stopped at an HSBC ATM to withdraw funds. I was amazed to see a roughly $0.75 surcharge was the only transaction fee (OCTFCU does not charge fees for ATM use) for using the ATM. We walked back to the bus terminal to see if we could catch La Princessita to give her additional tip, but she must have been off duty.

Photo Album:
http://mehling.org/gallery/v/travels/2008_mexico/Day+15/

Posted by ben at March 28, 2008 10:00 PM


« Merida, then Piste \| Main \| Puerto Juarez and Cancun » March 28, 2008 Ik-kil and Chichen Itza 3/28 (Friday) David met us at our hotel and we grabbed a quick breakfast before catching a collectivo (5 pesos each) to the Ik-Kil cenote. We were the first ones there. Although the signs at the highway were modest and run down, the park was anything but. We could see why -- parking for the monster sized touring buses that would arrive within a few hours, stores and vendors, a nice looking restaurant and bar. They had no need to advertise, the tour buses brought them business all day long. As the first guests to arrive, we had the grounds to ourselves. We walked in past a handful of well maintained cottages. Hol spotted a little racer snake on the path. The grounds were beautiful with well manicured lawns and planters. We found our way to the stairs leading into the cenote... There were several openings providing previews of the water below. Just like the grounds above, the entrance to the cenote was well built out, with a paved stone deck with ladders leading into the water... The deck extended up maybe 2 to 4 meters so you could "high dive" into the water. The water was a dark blue and you could see hundreds of small black cat fish swimming slowly around the only home they'd ever known. Swallows flew in and out, sometimes dipping into the water. The crew of life guards were finishing up the morning cleaning of the deck before taking a quick dip and leaving. We had the entire cenote to ourselves for about an hour. After swimming, jumping from the high jump and some photos, we decided to get moving before the buses started lining up. Just as we reached the highway, the first tour bus was arriving. We saw 6 more go in before we caught a collectivo back to Piste. We were lucky to have gotten all that time by ourselves -- these new visitors would be paddling around with 200 other people. If you go through Piste or Chichen Itza, definitely hit this cenote early -- they opened at 8am. Back in Piste we bought tickets on the 4:15pm from Piste to Cancun. That gave us 3+ hours to walk throughout the city of Chichen Itza. (We later learned that you can actually board this run directly in Chichen Itza.) We took a taxi into Chichen. It was a total zoo. There must have been 25 massive tour buses in the estacionamento. Since we had checked out, we dropped our bags in a large auditorium they use for checking bags. Once inside we passed through the rows of vendors that setup shop all over the complex. For the most part they sell the same crap, side-by-side -- I do not understand how they make any money this way. If I never see another "authentic" resin poured Mayan "carving" again, I'd be happy. We walked throughout the complex for several hours, besides the main temple (it forms a Mayan calendar and lights up a slithering snake on and around the equinox) which towers over the entire site, the highlights (for me) were the observatory, ball court and nunnery. These (and other Mayan) ruins are built with incredible precision -- they must have had means to measure and plan, but didn't even have metal tools. It is truly a wonder. The Chichen site is well preserved, but very commercial. I felt the buildings at Uxmal were in better shape in some cases and certainly is was a quieter site. By mid afternoon it was really hot and we got lucky when a small tropical storm dumped warm rain on us for 10 minutes -- at least we got the dust washed off. After regrouping at the entrance we got an ice cream for Hol and a Yucatan Cook book for David, including a recipe for grasshopper tacos. We headed back to Piste to catch the bus to Cancun. The bus ride took us through Villiadad???, which appeared to be a bit larger than Playa (but it's hard to gauge these things while riding along in a bus). We reached Cancun that evening and found un casa de telephono to dial the property David had read about in the "36 hours in Cancun" NYTs??? article. They'd moved. It turned out that they were in the process of selling that property and had expanded to a larger house north of Puerto Juarez. They only had a large room available for the first night, and said they could put an extra bed in it, then we could get another room in the morning. Our only other option was a condo unit directly in the "heart of darkness" (zona hotelera). We opted for the quieter bed and breakfast. We grabbed a taxi and rode out of Cancun, north about 5 minutes above the jetboat ferry port. Many cabbies put their nickname or handle on the back of their cab -- this one's was La Princessita, the first female driver we'd seen in our two weeks here. Hol and I had even discussed the fact that we had yet to encounter a female taxi driver earlier in the trip. David and her chatted on the longish ride out to the hotel. Cabs charge based on the "zone" they are in -- apparently the hotel was still in a relatively close/cheap zone, even though it was in the boonies. Before we figured this out and upped the tip, she was gone. The property was a converted 6 bedroom, four story (with elevator) private residence. It was directly on the beach, with the lights of Isla Mujeres visible straight ahead and the hotels at Punta Cancun twinkling just to the right. We spent a couple minutes enjoying the view and ocean breeze before dropping our things and heading back to Cancun to get some dinner. Alejandro the cosmopolitan hotel manager and principle business partner (he studied for 6 years in Colorado for the Olympic gymnast team, but decided he wanted something more stable) was kind enough to run us into town. Margaritas (with far less tequila than we wanted) were dos por uno (2x1) and Hol got the rice, beans and salad she wanted. Before heading back to the hotel we needed to change some money -- we still had about 300 USD on hand, but wanted to keep it in reserve, so we stopped at an HSBC ATM to withdraw funds. I was amazed to see a roughly $0.75 surcharge was the only transaction fee (OCTFCU does not charge fees for ATM use) for using the ATM. We walked back to the bus terminal to see if we could catch La Princessita to give her additional tip, but she must have been off duty. Photo Album: http://mehling.org/gallery/v/travels/2008_mexico/Day+15/ Posted by ben at March 28, 2008 10:00 PM		Bookmarks Ben's Resume Ben's Lists Mehling Photo Album Flickr Photo Album Recently Archived Cozumal and Playa Palancar Akumal Desperately Seeking Lodging See you in nine days Sian Ka'an Coba Ruins Tulum Ruins Finally! 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