Celebrity Equinox's Chichen Itza Excursion

Our next port of call was Cozumel. While there’s so much to do on the island, Mom really wanted to see Chichen Itza, so after a few questions about the buses - (Like, do they have bathrooms. The answer was yes and it was lies.) - we committed to doing the full day excursion. We chose to make our reservations through Celebrity, as the ship waits for its own excursions if they run late, and this one would be cutting it close.

Chichen Itza is probably the best known and most-visited Mayan site. As I mentioned in my post on Dzibanche, Mayan culture moved north toward the end of the Classical period. Chichen Itza grew from about 600 CE until its decline around 1200 CE and contained several pyramids, temples, a ball court, and an observatory, and was dotted with cenotes. The main pyramid - the Temple of Kukulkan (also known as El Castillo) - was built around the 11th century CE.

Our alarms went off at 6:00 and room service dropped off our breakfast 30 minutes later. I didn’t finish my coffee, as we had a long bus ride coming up and as accommodating as our guide had been, I didn’t want a repeat of Dzibanche. We walked to the theater with our tickets for the Chichen Itza excursion and were given numbered stickers. When our number was called, we disembarked and walked the short distance down the dock to the ferry. (We never set foot on Cozumel proper.) 

As we boarded the ferry, I imagined I could see blast marks in pavement, but I wasn't sure which side the recent ferry bomb was on. (Ed. note: It was on the PDC side.) A police dog sniffed our bags as we got on. We sat up top to enjoy the fresh air. It was 45-minute long, bumpy ride. In the last 10 minutes, I went to the bathroom. Someone had puked in the sink, ick.

At the ferry port in Playa del Carmen, Mom and I made a bee-line for the bathroom, paying 2 US dollars instead of 20 Mexican pesos for entry (being a cruise, we never bothered to get foreign currency). Once we got out, our group had already left and a sole guide wearing an Aviomar Adventours shirt hurried us through the port and up the street to a dusty bus lot where we were given sandwiches and drinks for lunch, then piled into a dozen different minibuses.

We weren’t 100% sure we were still with the Celebrity group till we spotted a few people from our ship, who admitted to being just as confused as we were. First we were taken to a crowded bus where a lady was arguing to be allowed to go back and use the bathrooms – so glad we took the opportunity when we did, as the guides were trying to convince her to wait 45+ minutes till we next stopped! Seeing this, the guy directing us took us to a bus that still had four free seats in the back, where Mom and I were able to spread out.

Our guide, Jorge Solis, passed back tablets with a slide presentation on them and gave us a 45-minute talk on Mayan culture and the local ecosystem. (He pointed out tiny rope bridges across the highway, for monkeys to cross safely!) An hour in, we stopped at a rest stop for a bathroom break, and he moved to another bus to give them the same spiel. We ate some of our bag lunch and Marcos (the college-aged assistant) passed out headsets to everyone. As we got closer to Chichen Itza, we drove through the small town of Pisté and saw the circa-1500s church.

When we arrived, Chichen Itza was super crowded. We were each handed two tickets to present for entry and passed through the area like a row of unruly ducklings. We entered the site and could see the main pyramid through the trees almost immediately. (So cool!) There was a quick bathroom stop... with the headset on, you knew exactly how much time you had left, lol. Then Jorge Solis talked a bit more about the Temple of Kukulkan. It was interesting, but somewhat repetitive. Quickly I figured out I could wander and still locate the group via the headset.

I took some photos with the pyramid – Mom and I snapped a few selfies – then we wandered a little farther to the Temple of the Warriors and its thousand columns. I hurried back to the group just in time to hear the Quetzal bird call created by clapping. It was really cool – a squawking sound. I tried to recreate it for Mom and failed. Youtube!

We moved on to other, smaller temples – the Temple of the Eagle and the Temple of the Jaguar – and the tzompantli (skull rack). We ended the tour at the grand ball court. It was large and gorgeous, with blue skies – the pictures looked absolutely unreal. As we finished up, Jorge Solis apologetically said that this was a very basic look at Chichen Itza, just what could be seen in the cruise excursion window. We missed seeing the southern part of the site and all the cenotes, but given the time restraints (and the ability to wander a bit thanks to the headsets), I think he did a great job.

That said – my wonderful job, that allows me ample vacation time, is teaching visual art. My degree is in illustration, so my teaching background is almost completely experiential. Over the last few years at my current school, I’ve had the opportunity to do some great professional development and learn so much more about educational trends and theories. I’d love to see more tour companies take on a see-think-wonder approach instead of just lecturing. That may have been part of why I enjoyed learning about the Mayan counting system so much!

As we headed toward the exit, Mom and I hurried a little ahead of the group – she bought a magnet and I bought a t-shirt with Frida before getting to the exit. An older lady from one of the other buses slipped the stone path on the way back – yikes! The guides were there to help immediately and she seemed okay, just a little shaken. Knowing that we had a long bus ride ahead, Mom and I chose to use the facilities one last time. Again, when we got out, our group was gone. We exited to the parking lot and still didn’t see them. A guide from a different company saw us looking around, checked our stickers, said, “Ah, Jorge Solis,” and led us right to our bus. Points for being well-known, Jorge Solis!

We drove back through town and Marcos popped in 'Apocalypto'. The movie is in Mayan and the subtitles were in Spanish, so between that and it being directed by Mel Gibson, no one was really paying attention. About five minutes in, Marcos asked if we’d prefer 'Coco'. There were several enthusiastic “Yes!”-es, including my own. Best movie of 2017 by a mile. Even though the volume was a bit low, I was so happy Mom would get to see it. She usually doesn’t watch animated movies, but I knew she’d love this one. Halfway in, I realized the flaw in this plan – we both ended up crying in the back of the bus, lol.

'Coco' was perfectly timed, as ten minutes after the credits rolled, we were pulling into PDC. We tipped Jorge Solis and our driver Hugo, and I made sure to tip Marcos too. We were quickly led back through the port and onto the ferry (we rode below, in the blessed AC, this time) and boarded our ship directly. Docked across from us, Royal Caribbean had a line to board – it was so nice to be offered a fruit-infused cup of water and a cold towel and walk right onto the Celebrity Equinox.

Dinner in the dining room was an 'Evening Chic' night, so we decided to skip dressing up after our long day out. Instead, we went up to the Sunset Bar, sat out on the lawn, and got Margaritas to toast "Hasta Luego," to Mexico.