Spanish Language Blog

Well, it’s been a fun couple of months sharing stories and videos from my trip to Mexico with everyone here on the Transparent Spanish blog. Before I say “adiós”, here’s a little wrap-up of my trip, with some basic information and links to my previous posts in sequential order.

For those of you hoping to take a similar trip to Mexico, I highly recommend it. Don’t get caught up in all of the media hype about how it’s such a scary, violent country. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Mexico certainly has its problems, but there are plenty of places to visit that are perfectly safe. Plus, it being 2012, there’s no better time to get out and explore the culture and history of the Mayans! In case you were wondering how we went about our trip, here are the details:

Duration: We were in Mexico for just about two weeks. One week was spent traveling around, and the other was spent in Puerto Morelos for the Mayan Holidaze music festival.

Itinerary: As our time was limited and there was a lot that we wanted to do, we really crammed a lot into one week. This is what we did: one day in Cancun, one day at Chichen Itza, two days in Valladolid (which included a trip out to Ek Balam), two days in Tulum, and then two days in Playa del Carmen before heading to the resort.

A map of our Mexico itinerary.

Transportation: We flew into Cancun, which has an international airport that connects to many cities in the US. On the way in we came from Chicago, and on the way out we flew into Dallas. In terms of getting around, we relied on the ADO buses. They were a reliable, economical, and comfortable way to get around, and we never had a single issue. We usually booked tickets a few hours in advance, but you probably wouldn’t have any problems simply walking in and catching the next bus. Stations are usually very centrally located, making it easy to walk to your hotel/hostel, which brings us to…

Accommodation: During our week-long trip running around the Riviera Maya and the Yucatan, we stayed mainly in hostels. In Cancun, we stayed at the Mayan Hostel, which was cheap and very convenient with friendly owners who cooked up a tasty free breakfast.

Near the ruins at Chichen Itza, we spent a night in the Delores Alba hotel, which has a nice little pool and great food.

Next up we stayed in the very quaint hostel La Candelaria in Valladolid. With a nice garden area that included hammocks and an outdoor kitchen with free breakfast, it was a great place to stay for a few nights.

Peaceful garden area at La Candelaria.

We then headed to Tulum, where we stayed in town at the Mama’s Home, which was more like a B&B than a hostel. Our spacious, private room was very reasonably priced, we were once again treated to a delicious, free hot breakfast, and they had nice bicycles available for rent.

Finally, in Playa del Carmen, we stayed at the Hostel Rio. Aside from a central location and a rooftop bar that provided free drinks for a few hours every night, it was nothing to write home about. Great if you’re looking to party all night long, but pretty awful if you actually want to get some sleep.

Of course, the highlight of the trip when it came to accommodations was the Now Sapphire resort in Puerto Morelos. For budget travel purposes, however, the rest of our trip was very reasonably priced and quite comfortable.

After a week of hosteling, this resort was beyond amazing.

Activities: Before dancing in the sand and taking advantage of all-inclusive accommodations, we did our best to get out and do as much as we could with the one week that we had. Our focus was exploring as much of the Mayan ruins as possible, and I’d say we were pretty successful –  we visited Chichen Itza, Ek Balam, and Tulum.

It's no wonder this is a New 7th Wonder of the World.

In Valladolid, we wandered the streets and stopped in a few of the colonial churches. We also took a dip in one of the cenotes, which had a rope swing and a nice ledge to jump off. In Tulum, we rode along the beautiful coast on bikes, stopping to sunbathe, swim, and eat. A trip to the Grand Cenote was a great way to beat the heat of the afternoon, and we spent our evenings in town eating, drinking, and being merry.

Grand Cenote in Tulum.

After such a busy couple of days, we didn’t do much in Playa but lounge on the beach, stroll along 5th Avenue to do some window shopping, and sample the nightlife a bit.

Cost: Since we flew in all the way from Beijing, our flight was the biggest expense, followed by the admission to the festival. As far as our week of exploring, it really didn’t put much of a dent in the old wallet. Bus tickets, hostel rooms, and local food were all quite cheap. Admission tickets to the ruins and cenotes were not too much, and in Chichen Itza we even got an amazing guide for a very reasonable price. Basically, if you’re alright with hostels, street food, and not going crazy in the big overpriced bars and clubs, you can swing a Mexico trip on a pretty tight budget.

In case you missed out on any of the stories from my trip, here they are in the order in which they were posted:

Overview

Cancun

Chichen Itza

Valladolid

Ek Balam

Tulum Ruins

Tulum Beach and Cenote 

Playa del Carmen

As for the videos, you can find all of my travel vids, plus a ton of informative Spanish lessons all on our YouTube page. Here are my two personal favorites:

A tour of Chichen Itza.

Wandering through the incredible ruins of Tulum.

Once again, I’d like to say a big “muchos gracias” to Transparent Language for giving me the chance to share my stories and videos, and of course to the wonderful readers who have made our page such a success. If you’re like me and your Spanish is basically non-existent, you’re advised to check out all of the resources that we have to help you learn Spanish. If you have any questions or comments about my trip to Mexico, feel free to leave them here. Adiós amigos!

In a follow up to my written post about the ruins at Ek Balam, here’s a short video tour that takes you through the ancient Mayan city.

After a day of wandering around the cobblestone streets of Valladolid, enjoying the architecture and the crystal clear water of the cenote, we headed out on a day-trip to explore the ruins of Ek’ Balam, another ancient Mayan city. As the ruins are a good 30 km away from the city, we took a collectivo to get out there – a shared taxi that locals used to get from the city center out to their homes in the countryside. Mayan for “Black Jaguar,” Ek’ Balam was once a thriving and influential city, having been founded sometime in the middle of the Pre-Classic period (100 BC to 300 AD). Although it was rediscovered by archaeologists in the 1800s, it took nearly a century for excavations to begin. Today, the ruins are open to visitors, with both Spanish and English speaking guides available for hire.

The entrance to the ancient city.

Arriving at the site rather early, it was clear that Ek’ Balam is not nearly as popular with tour groups as the nearby ruins of Chichen Itza, where we had just been a few days prior. If you want some more peace and quiet in your explorations of Mayan ruins, Ek’ Balam is definitely the place to go, and works great sandwiched in between the more popular and thus busier spots like Chichen Itza and Tulum. We strolled down the path to the entrance, which is connected to a sacbe, an ancient road that probably connected Ek’ Balam to other Mayan kingdoms. The city is also surrounded by the remnants of a city wall, which was used for protection and to show military strength.

"Twins" - clearly named after the Arnold classic.

Restoration at the site has been ongoing since 1997, and only the center of the city has been full excavated. With little ground to cover, a trip out to Ek’ Balam proved to be quite leisurely and enjoyable. After passing through the entrance, we came to the two identical structures known as “The Twins,” which feature mirroring temples on either side. We climbed to the top of the Oval Palace, which contained burial relics and was most likely used in special ceremonies. From atop the temple, we took in the view of the surrounding jungle, which stretched out in every direction.

The Oval Palace

Relatively little is known about the history of this city, but archaeologists are quite excited about what they’ve been finding in their work there. Even without detailed information about the structures, the stunning architecture and art on display here are enough, and it left us in awe of what the Mayans were able to accomplish in their time. We saw what appeared to be a few other temples, as well as another Mayan ball court.

The highlight of the ruins - the Acropolis.

For a prime example of the Mayan’s achievements, one need look no further than the elaborate Acropolis pyramid at Ek’ Balam, also known as El Trono (The Throne). This massive structure (it measures 480 feet across, 180 feet wide and 96 feet tall) is clearly the work of many generations, with structure built upon structure. Around the outermost layer archaeologists discovered a tomb, with an entrance shaped like a jaguar’s mouth. This represents a portal to the underworld, and its intimidating fangs certainly give you that feeling. It is thought that the Acropolis was the tomb of a Mayan King, called Ukit Kan Le’k Tok’, who ruled during the height of the city.

A portal to the under-world.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this temple are the incredibly intricate stucco designs that have been preserved. Featuring carvings of angels, animals, and other figures, these represent the Mayans attention to detail and their superior artistic skills.

Detailed desings of the temple.

The view from the top.

Unlike at Chichen Itza, visitors at Ek’ Balam are free to climb to the top of the main temple. Once we reached the summit, all other guests in the park had vanished – it was just us and the Mexican workers taking a siesta in their lawn chairs. Having traveled from the insanely busy, crowded, and noisy streets of Beijing, we thoroughly enjoyed a few minutes of solitude, staring out at the vast jungle and breathing in the raw energy of this historical Mayan city. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but tree tops and open sky. Looking down on the once thriving city that had been buried for hundreds of year was a reminder about the fleeting nature of life and how easily everything can change. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and we had to power on with our trip, as we headed back to Valladolid to collect our belongings and hop the bus to the final stop on our Mayan tour at Tulum.

*NOTE: This is a re-post since we updated the format of the blog.