From the wild Chiapas to the tourist Yucatan

Mexico was one of my dream since the medium, I was fascinated by the vicissitudes of the peoples of the Maya and Aztec warriors. Their knowledge of the stars, accurate counts of site, architecture and contrast with the lack of "discovery" of the wheel.
My plan to start traveling with a tour operator and sleeping in "...." Members of the family and local coach foundered in the face of glaring hole at the time of booking the flight.
Fortunately, even my parents were keen to visit this fantastic country but on different hotel and transport already booked through an agency. I had to give in but I found a really smart that I organized an ad hoc travel.
I studied the map and the guidance to decide the steps to organize the move and so I submitted the package for me to do a quote. According to the estimate we have decided to delete or add more stages, according to the present day and the amount requested.
Once the trip have quoted, this meant the possibility that others adhere to the package, it would only been able to travel, in fact I am the agency has supported a local tour.
At the end of the story you will find all references to addresses, costs etc..

Tuesday 16 March 2004. Milan - NY - Mexico City
Wednesday 17 March 2004. Mexico City - Villahermosa - Palenque
Thursday 18 March 2004. Palenque - Villahermosa
Friday 19 March 2004. Villahermosa - Campeche
Saturday 20 March 2004. Campeche - Kabah - Uxmal - Merida
Sunday 21 March 2004. Merida - Chichen-Itza - Playa del Carmen
Monday 22 March 2004. Playa del Carmen
Tuesday 23 March 2004. Playa del Carmen - Tulum - Playa del Carmen
Wednesday, 24 March 2004. Playa del Carmen
Thursday 25 March 2004. Playa del Carmen - Cancun - Miami - Milan

Here are the expenses incurred for travel,
Caution: These expenses were incurred by three persons, the calculation is to head a division pure mathematics therefore purely hypothetical. Expenses in the three persons are proportionally lower, for example in the transportation and hotel stays.

calculated by dividing the amount spent on 3 people for three people:
1650.00 Euro Tour travel agency purchased in "The cucaracha2"
140,00 Euro Hotel Playa del Carmen (Quinto Sol 4stars)
35,00 Euro Travel insurance
6.67 Euro Practice
17.33 Euro Parking Malpensa agency agreement with
1849.00 Euro TOTAL TRAVEL COST

Consider also the following items:
30.99 Euro Passport (annual stamp - now more expensive)
153.00 Euro purchases during the trip / sundries, from souvenirs to food purchased during the trip


? Here the classic INFORMATION:

¤ Climate: The climate is variable appears moist and warm along both coasts and more temperate and dry inside and when you climb in altitude. The rainy season, during which temperatures are too high, running from May to October, while the months from December to February are the coldest of the year.

¤ Time: The time zone in most of the country is 7 hours behind Italy

¤ Language: The official language is Spanish, there are no problems if you speak in English or simply in Italian especially in tourist attractions

¤ Festivals and traditions: Holidays are numerous, you only care in organizing the following days: Carnaval (late February / early March), Día de los Muertos (November 2).

¤ viewed: E'necessario a passport valid for at least 6 months and while the tourist card for stays longer than 3 months to be issued a visa extension which costs 205 pesos, Attention: if the Americans crossed from airports will need to adapt with the regulations (passport )

¤ Vaccinations: There is no compulsory vaccination. Officially recommended the vaccine against hepatitis A and B. Risk of cholera, hepatitis, measles and salmonella in rural areas and suburbs of major cities .... So nothing is obligatory, but if you expect to go to a place lost in the jungle to live in a village, eating local food, then try to be covered. Find out, perhaps by your tour agency, etc. for a health insurance coverage.

¤ Phone: To dial the phone by 0052 followed by the district without the zero and the number to call. Italy To call dial 0039 before the number to call. There are also public telephones some of which work with prepaid cards. The phones work regularly but must be triband.

¤ Currency and exchange: The official currency is the New Mexican Peso, obviously check before you leave or change exhibited in the "shops" in return. In the Yucatan you pay quietly in U.S. dollars, unless the Euro. International credit cards are almost always accepted.
Difficulties may arise in the take from ATMs of peripheral locations

¤ Security: I have not seen, nor heard about, but difficult to report what I just officially declared: "The problems for the security may be given the high crime and the bandits if you turn in your car. In Chiapas, we must pay attention to the presence of guerrillas and army units even though they are not usually dangerous for tourists. The use and trafficking in drugs is punished severely. "

 

Milan > New York > Mexico City

The start is at home to go to Malpensa airport, off to New York with AIitaIia flight AZ 604
It is recommended to arrive at the airport for the procedures on acceptance by the other 07.15 and to label your luggage on Mexico City MEX. This is to prevent release of the luggage in New York and the board again.
Landed in New York to 13 in the middle of a snow storm. In New York, malfidenti, we check the luggage arrived on the tape to check if there are ours too ... and how if we find them and we must also undergo customs inspection and then loaded for the next flight.
The staff in this room Alitalia Immigration will assist in this regard, I have not seen anyone ... Fortunately we have a look and we know English! After many flights I confess to be very biased on compagnia nazionale .. is that they have never been disproved by the facts, unfortunately.
By the immigration officer a chubby and smiling to us a good journey and hopes to sign a "good morning" as well as warn the return of passports scanned, printing a nice 'notice, by $ 100 next year if no entry to change the "due well kind will be done.
Expect at the airport 3-4 hours without being able to see anything except the white snow that eddies, making it impossible any kind of view oltr large glasses. The airport in New York is beautiful, orderly, clean, but it is not easy to find something to do: the shops are full of colorful gadget with the American flag, with the statue of liberty, with the white house and the writing I love NY .... And extremely expensive. So, you too un po 'di fantasia, Come!
But will decide to leave room for purchases Mexicans.
The next question is with the Mexican airline Aeromexico (AM 403), I must say very good. Attention, if you make use of the card thousand miles, as the flight Milan-Mexico City has been purchased with Alitalia forget, I replied spades, only actual Alitalia flight that is.
Off with several minutes of delay after the men in orange overalls were clean snow from the plane, with us on board, and sprayed a fluorescent green liquid. Take-off on a runway full of snow slipping a bit. The thick snow falls, the track has at least 20 cm of snow constants (including cleaning continues to fall), but no plane takes off with more of M30-minute delay. This makes me think: here or use the wheel or spike are our airports can not handle that situation. In Milan, where in winter snows, and thus before the laying of the foundation stone of Mediolanum (thus invented centuries before the airport) because if two flakes fall all hangs? We can not steal the secret of the Big Apple to avoid encampments in reverse at Malpensa, Linate, Orio etc.?

The arrival in Mexico City, Kennedy airport is quiet and beautiful especially warm despite the local time 23:00!
The meeting with our representatives now over customs gate is nice, a little round man with a sign with our tour awaits us, is actually the driver that leads us to the hotel. E 'simpatico e disponibile. The Hotel Marlowe is nothing special compared to the three and not four stars (as they had my choice). After all those hours standing collapsed from exhaustion at 24:00.

Mexico City - Villahermosa - Palenque

? MARCH 17: Mexico City
In the morning we have recovered quite well the time and we are ready and excited for the first day. The appointment is quite late, around 9:00, but maybe for the time at 7:00 we are already in operation.
L 'American Breakfast at the hotel is plentiful but the groups are usually thrown on brioche buns so fortunate that the fruit is not appreciated as much, so enjoy it is always fresh and succulent.

? CITTA 'DEL MEXICO Our guide, a tall and distinguished gentleman magro is a professor of history from the state, preparation available and friendly. Will be with us for all the days of touring the capital. The historic center is the "Zocalo", all the main squares in Mexico are called so because here, in the main square of the capital the president had decided to put a statue huge and majestic, so important that it has never managed to built for lack of funds thus stopping the pedestal, which is precisely the hoof "Zocalo" from here, a little 'how to take a little ride' as this habit has been extended to name the country.

The square is so immense that they barely come down there and face the Palacio Nacional with important frescoes by Diego Rivera (stop! With all the history of Mexico to the present day) and the Metropolitan Cathedral is decorated with Mexican ultrabarocco. This style of decoration is very rich, born of the desire to appear local clergy have found here the ideal because the local population could, in the midst of the "mass" of angels, saints, etc., also make no pagan idols dressed without priests did not know it: here's how to survive colonialism trying to save a bit of identity!

Driving mini-van (driver + guide + the three of us) we go to the Museum of Anthropology. E 'overtime, all the exhibits here are Mexican. All findings of Palenque, Chichen-Itza originals here are admirable in a well reconstructed with a really good history. The museum at El paraguas is full of priceless treasures: the different rooms of the complex are dedicated to different civilizations pre-and post-Colombian who have made great history of Mexico. Permanent deserves a thorough visit!
Then UNL City Tour with a guided tour of the main points of interest in the city: the great boulevard Paseo Reformation with the monuments in Colombo, the last ruler atzeca, Rosa area, the monument to independence El Angel and the forest Chapultepec.
Here already closed our visit to the capital, I must admit, at the end of the journey, which would have been better to spend a day in the city to spend some more hours in the city, and above all to visit the site of Aztec Tehotihuàcan (for instance the one with the temple of the sun and the moon)

? Aztec - According to the myth, the Aztecs or "people of Aztlàn" (from the name of the original homeland of the group, Aztlàn, but more properly called Mexico, by the name of the god Huitzilopochtli or protect Mexitl) arrived in the Valley of Mexico at the end of a long mi ¬ gration from the desert areas of north-west of the country and in 1325 founded México-Tenochtitlan, which became the capital of the powerful empire until 1521, when he fell under the blows of the "conquistadores" Spaniards.

? Teotiliuacani - They were the inhabitants of Teotihuacan that developed between circa third century. a.C. and half of D.C. Became the Classic Period the most important cities of Mesoamerica from an economic, political and religious cradle of civilization un'evoluta whose influence extended throughout the area, leaving deep traces in very remote locations such as Yucantan thanks the Toltecs, Teotihuacan inheritors of the tradition.

Your guide to accompany us over to the airport takes care of check-in etc. (excessive kindness or does not know that the Italian linga is similar to Spanish?). Safe Start, and then to Villahermosa with Aviacsa flight, air new, clean and spacious, 6A 313 of 15:46. The arrival at destination is at 16:56 and transfer to the car to Palenque. Arrival and accommodation at the hotel MAYA Palenque, really beautiful, with a swimming pool shaded by palm trees.
In the evening (preferably with the light) we have to explore the village, very poor, consisting of many houses with wooden shops that overlook the main road in the entire hard climbs and descents. It is everything from restaurants to take away from local shops for those typical for tourists. We dined with the tacos in a kind of restaurant.

PALENQUE / VILLAHERMOSA

After a hearty breakfast with fruit and sweets being achieved by the various guides that will accompany us for the remainder of the trip. With the usual mini-van, passing through the streets a little 'rough surrounded by lush vegetation. We are in the region of Tabasco, which takes its name from the "spice" of Tabasco, very original and cultivated area. Moreover, the very fertile soil and abundant rainfall also creates a dense jungle allows the cultivation of many fruits, among all the cocoa. E 'possible to follow the "ways of taste", that theme when you visit the plantations, farms working products with a tasting. From tasty good, while at the hotel we had breakfast, I glazed with a watering brochures. I brought them home, if you need info ask)
Our route, however, was another: Palenque, site of 20km!

This time we are not alone: our mini-van will stop at another hotel and discover that three other gentlemen Romans who joined us for the day with a tour slightly similar. Arrived at our guide gives us another reason for the quotas. The new guide is wonderful: a professor of history and art, I saw the ideal place. At the entrance there are the usual sellers of fresh fruit sold in strips of plastic cups ... but then covered chili! You can also find fabrics and other souvenirs.

? Palenque The site is well cared for: huge stone constructions (not just steep pyramids) dominate large areas rasatissimo a lawn and framed by tropical jungle. It will be time for the (good-morning hours) or for the period (March), but there are almost no tourists. Climb all the pyramids outside even the most passing in the middle to high vegetation and the guide also explains the usefulness of different plants - from the hallucinogenic mushrooms that grow on the trunks, the colorful orchids that live in trees ustionanti peperoncini to try to believe ... !

The site, spectacular voyage ended confirm: the most visited site in beautiful Mexico!
He had to look great at the time of its peak (615-702 AD), with the pyramids painted red shrouded by dark green vegetation, comparable only to Tikal in Guatemala and Copan in Honduras.
The use of stucco, which covers the entire building, has allowed local artists to create decorations of high aesthetic level.
The party visited, or rather, the discovery is small compared to the actual size (almost 20 square km) and archaeologists are constantly working to bring to light new buildings.
The most important buildings, like the Group of the Cross, the Temple of Inscriptions and the Palace, are all dated to a period that goes from the seventh century to the middle of the eighth century, when Palenque and its rulers dominated a vast territory, interesting are the Torre del Palacio and the Temple of Subscriptions with his hidden tomb. Palacio, residential building of the sovereign, is divided into many rooms, corridors and courtyards, and is equipped with drainage facilities connected all'Acquedotto of the city, the high battlements pierced that adorn buildings, seize the buildings Tozzi taking a lightweight formal higher that granted by the thick walls.
E 'bello read the story of Paleque on stone: the world of mortals is the Palacio and the world of the gods from the Temples of the Cross Group, and the Temple of Subscriptions is the place where man is god.
Palenque is a true masterpiece of pre-Columbian.
Speaking with the guide, however, we discover the first of a long series of bitter observations.
The population is not very secularized and no longer have any memory of their past. The guides themselves, to learn and to deepen understanding of Maya and other pre-Columbian peoples, studying books about American or European.
The archaeological excavations are made by Nestle and weekly payments are withdrawn on time just converted into beer. Moreover, the lack of consideration of those stones which are of interest to tourists "turns into" abuse "them. The situation, he says, is not simple, and the progressive cultural divide is bringing ever greater consequences, such as the exploitation of each resource type of the forest regardless of the species from extinction. Unfortunately, the cultural uprooting was caused by Europeans which has engaged the American culture of the dollar. This situation has led to even more bad situations in the Yucatan.
During our visit we have approached children selling simple jewelry, one of these about 10 years was without ears: the parents, again depending on the story of the guide, live in the nearby village and are proud of the fact that it is because he is deaf sign purity of blood obtained by continuous crossing between close relatives. This is a custom Maya that brought the Statesmen to have physical deformities. E 'particularly as some traditions have survived, however, dropped by a knowledge of its past.

For lunch we moved in the Romans, then continue up to Villahermosa where we accompany our temporary traveling companions at the airport. We continue up to MAYA TABASCO.
The hotel is clean, ordered modern and highly maintained. We decide to leave immediately to visit the city on foot. It 'very colorful streets with "a hill" in the sense that the steep climbs and descents ...
The town is beautiful, we do not understand if it is a special day of celebration but the entire center, pedestrian, is in turmoil, people in the street chatting, shopping or simply "the struscio". Exits from the shops and music all seem very relaxed and cheerful.
It is often said that this town in spite of the name (= beautiful city) is ugly, chaotic and polluted. We were lucky but we have found very nice, yes it is poor but not as described in the guide.

Eat fruits and sweets bought in various shops and end up dining in this way, only then my father decided, once arrived at the hotel for dinner again.

VILLAHERMOSA / CAMPECHE

Breakfast in hotel is simply spectacular, the best of the whole vacation ... and more!
I am not accustomed to eat much, in fact usually do not eat anything, in this hotle breakfast is sensational. The guide had warned us to take at least 1 hour of time to devote, and News Media, I know that we have used throughout!
First, just sitting with a room with its buffet exposed behind a beautiful glass with waiters serving (symptom hygiene) comes the waiter who asks us, tea, coffee or chocolate? Chocolate? Yes, yes fantastic, it fills a cup full of that sweet chilli cream. Ah, the chocolate "Maya", but it is good! It has a different taste from ours, more enveloping, more aromatic and spicy with a touch that makes it taste more "round", short, enjoy with your eyes closed. Of course I managed to get a double ration asking nicely and doing Occhini simpaticissimo the waiter, on 60ina little minute and cordial. A small note: I believe that Mexicans are a little 'tired of being "abused" by tourists arrogant and hasty. It 'true that the tourists pay but the fact remains that they are working and it is unfair not to consider the people with whom you come into contact only the tools. Just go with education, with a smile and some words in the local language and you will see that there will be open all the doors! (This obviously applies everywhere, including from us ...)
Returning to the mythical buffet, I recommend you to try everything from fried plantains (like bananas) to the savory, filled with strange roulades Tabasco and spices wrapped in leaves and whatever else inspires you: amazing.

? After a delicious breakfast with the leadership we went to Parque Museo La Venta, where you can admire the gigantic heads carved with connotations negroidi, testimony of the Olmeca civilization. In humid tropical forest among marshes and rivers in the regions between the Tabasco and Veracruz, were built around the eighteenth century BC the first settlements of Olmeca, a people of mysterious origins, discovered by archaeologists until the end of the nineteenth century. The art of Olmeca is expressed primarily through the monumental sculpture: allegorical portraits known as the "colossal heads", the "altars" or "thrones" of great plasticity, and the anthropomorphic statues in which the feline character.
This population is a little 'underrated by tourists but still retains the mysteries of their own civilization: its enormous stone heads are designed with great attention to the features so similar to those in Africa, because look at the sky and why they are coming very large blocks from distant quarries (and did not know the wheel).

The park is also the zoo and, therefore, the visit. The zoo is full of animals from cats to Mexican colorful birds.
Tip: Bring mosquito repellent especially, there were many.

? Olmeca - The Olmeca inhabited the coastal plains of the Gulf of Mexico region in the lush vegetation and rich in rubber (hence the name of the people, "inhabitants of the village of rubber). Olmeca culture, which had its heyday in the Middle Preclassico Period (1200-500 BC), is identified as the "mother culture" because they considered the most ancient of Mesoamerica, the one that laid the foundations for the subsequent development of Mesoamerican civilization developing a system calendars and giving life to the monumental sculpture and the first ceremonial centers, among which were the main La Venta, Tres Zapotes and San Lorenzo.

Fresh start at a time of Campeche. The route always done with our brand new mini van is a little ' "risky." The drivers have the habit of always eating, especially the usual striped fruit in plastic cups and occasionally distract our gaze from the road. Moreover, the roads have only one lane for roadway and trucks here are huge, not like our TIR Fattostà risk that an accident slip and end up in the center of the zigzag path. I banged my head violently against the metal pillar in the window (luckily not against the window because it would break) and try to explain that I need to drive in ice. Does not understand and will stop in a pharmacy along the road so not. People who live next to the pharmacy, which are on the veranda, we bring it inside the house and break a piece of ice-block from their refrigerator. They are kind and we can not debt relief, do not accept anything. Obviously, driver and guide will excuse, I will remain a headache for two days. Boys botta!
The way we stop to eat in a restaurant on the sea, (immediately after Ciudad del Carmen) in which we do almost the bathroom. Fortunately because I raises some 'morale a bit distracting from the pain.
We arrive for the afternoon at the Ocean View. Simply beautiful!
Imagine: a small house with long front of the ocean and the beach with huge glass windows, inlaid marble floors, ventilated but warm climate. In short, the climate perfect, the feeling of freedom given by the infinite space the ocean ... the houses el'immenso low long-Ocean (between the road and the beach were built: 1 pedestrian track, cycling track 1, track 1 to race! ) that surrounds the whole city.

The visit to Campeche is provided with the guide, unfortunately not as competent art that learns by reading our guide concepts unknown to him!

? Campeche Campeche you remain in my heart, visiting understand why in 1999 was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The colorful houses and joined the Spanish stamp definitely give the impression of the past. And 'This is the great secret of Campeche, has managed to modernize without losing the charm of another era.
Lose yourself in the streets at sunset when the colors of the colonial houses are flammable and stay even later. I think that gives the best Palenque after 5 PM. Enjoy the Nachos with melted queso in front of or on a bench in the main square with the cathedral in the background and the illuminated night life that finds its center here.

The origin of the city is to be found in the foundation (destroyed and rebuilt several times) in 1540 de Montejo the Younger, which promoted the port development to the point that it is important, even the port in the Yucatan in May. On the opposite, however, install the pirates (French, Dutch and English). For two centuries the fortifications built with a lot of guns are still visible to defend themselves. In the end, to solve the decision problem "in person" in the sense that attacked the island of pirates and all Rasero ground!

CAMPECHE / UXMAL / MERIDA

The awakening was sweet, breakfast a bit less: Assisi with its look in the lobby breakfast room to find a place free. There is a tour of the French who occupied it. In reception we recommend that you wait, so should all go together in minutes.
Waiting ... and finally get rid of the posts, but everyone. The problem is that it was not anything to eat. They emptied the buffet going on (pockets, backpacks, etc.) everything from fruit to the brioche toast etc.. no longer a piece of bread, not a glass of fruit juice, not a marmellatina ... ask the waiter for something to eat or drink, I am still shocked, they do not have anything! Us at the end of the e basta ... Behold, I say to all the participants of the tours that do not need to Razia, that there are other people in the hotel!
In the end we consulates by a short walk along the ocean.
The direction of our journey is Merida but the itinerary includes an interesting stage in Uxmal. We are in advance and, perhaps because at the bottom feel guilty about the incident in the car the day before passing in front of the Kabah guide tells us "if you want to make time to visit. We pay the ticket, a few dollars, and we enter, we are the only, the site is completely desert.

? Kabah Fortuna driving my paper was excellent and thanks to that I decided to go exploring discovering, on the back wall richly carved with masks of the god "Chaac", the god of rain recognizable nose curves.
Kabah was an important Mayan center connected to Uxmal by a large Sacbé, a traditional white road that went through a monumental arch marking the access to places of worship.
The most spectacular building is certainly the Codz-Poop, a Mayan name that means "mat rolled up" and refers to the curved nose of the God of Rain, Chaac on the front with 250 carved masks. The building style appears Puuc extra decorations. On the same platform Codz-Poop is the Palazzo (or Teocalli) built in pure style Puuc - with double columns on the facade and pillars of the doors in vain - and with altars and numerous indoor distributed on two floors. In the same style were also erected the Temple of Columns, which has in the upper large panels inserted between columns protruding frames.
The visit is not long and take the mini-van to the more populated site of Uxmal

? Uxmal The town, originally founded by the Maya occupation also suffered from other people who have added to the god Chaac also the cult of the plumed serpent god Quetzacoatl of Tlaloc
Called "Maya Baroque" style Uxma, said Puuc is characterized by abundant decorations that adorn the top above all the buildings.
A curiosity is a rope molding, which covers the buildings and see that the strings used to hold the walls of huts.
. For a long time, Uxmal was one of the most populous cities and flourishing of Yucatán, because the water was so scarce in the Yucatan, through the construction of numerous tanks chiate chultunes.

The most important buildings and beautiful are:

- The Palace of the Governor in which he lived the highest authority of Uxmal, is oriented towards the rising of the planet Venus which is dedicated to the Altar of the Jaguar with two heads placed in front of the palace, and is perhaps one of the most beautiful architecture and perfect of all Mesoamerica. The lower part of the facade is simple and straightforward, while the denser upper cornice decorated style Puuc so that the frieze can count 260 masks of the god Chaac, as many as there are days in the calendar of the sacred.

- The Pyramid dell'Indovino, according to legend was built in one night by a dwarf, considered magical character, with the help of his mother, a woman with supernatural powers. The Pyramid is an imposing building in the form semiellittica, 35 meters high but, unfortunately, very steep to the point that is now prohibited because too many tourists go up without the physical incident had

- The Quadrilatero nuns. The huge courtyard in front of the Pyramid dell'Indovino is closed on four sides by magnificent buildings Quadrilatero nuns, named by the Spaniards for the presence of numerous cells and the decorations that characterize grateful. In truth the grate symbolized the mats, only the ruling class, whose representatives were also called the Lords of the mats. This building is the demonstration of high technology and refined taste achieved by Maya carvers in the art of working stone. The complex was built around the tenth century according to the vision of the Maya: the buildings are oriented toward the four cardinal points at the center with a column of stone that symbolizes the Tree of Life ....

- Also a very interesting field for the Game of Pelota well preserved, in which were found three rings engraved stone bearing the date of 649 AD and the home of the turtles that sustain the universe.

After this amazing visit we continue the road to Merida direct.
? Merida
The city is not attractive to Spanish stampo lived golden age thanks to the trade of textiles here products strictly white. Several factories are located (I have sold and bought a hammock rough) and for purchases there are different "social houses" which are our cooperative artisans. It 'basically an industrial city. The single monument, a Christ saved from the flames several times is simply a curiosity.
Our hotel Del Gobernator, is simple, clean and decide to leave the evening to "visit" the city light. We noted in the Local of the city, which as usual is at the heart of all life, a stage and we were curious about direct there. The evening party was great on stage playing a famous sauce and I know a university volleyball team traveling to dance, as everyone in the middle of the road. The whole area is transformed into a big party!
The tired but fun night at the hotel collapsed.

MERIDA / CHICHEN-ITZA / PLAYA DEL CARMEN

E 'on 21 March, is the day dell'Equinozio Spring!
The trip was organized to be at Chichen-Itza in this very day, the day that the plumed serpent descend on the earth!
This time with us we are the lords 3 Romans already encountered before. With great excitement we reach this place as "astrological magic" by the people from different religions and related to the new age. Arrive on foot along the road from the parking lot crowded with tourists and local and animated by the stalls and musicians, along the road, strong color hues of the environment.
Thus, we arrive at the site: Aiutoooo! But how many people there? It seems that the Yucatan has been found here. Group of twenty white people sing and play, others dressed in costumes from other Maya and Aztec. Two stages set up for concerts occupy the two opposite sides of the plain that is dominated by the great pyramid. The vegetation is full of hammocks and picnic improvised. The air of festivity is palpable. To tell the truth seems to be in a real hippy gathering of several generations (from 70 years guitar and gaudy shirts, in with new age bells and white coats). But the pyramid is bounded by a temporary enclosure made for the occasion and it is not possible, then go up and not even close.
In the front row are pointing the "gun" of television reporters and newspapers of all sorts.

The event is scheduled for 17:00 and then take advantage of the waiting time to visit the archaeological site.
The site, despite the crowd, it is very interesting and you can see well. "The mouth of the well of Itza", this meaning,
Maya is the best site restored and most famous, thanks to the majestic Pyramid of Kukulkan, the one not open during the equinox. It has the field to the pelota larger and impressive of all of Mexico, the details of which are very well preserved. Equally impressive is the group of a Thousand Columns, placed behind the Pyramid, which includes the Temple of the Warriors and the Temple of Chac Mool and the adjacent Templo de los Grandes Mesas. The "cenote" sacred, Oram greenish color is not as scenic but we imagine, is what is making it important.

During our tour the sky, a little uncertain, and becomes, suddenly, a tropical storm is poured upon us. All take refuge in the temple of Coca Cola "is called here as the bar-hut and the streets are transformed into real streams in full. E 'proprio il classico shower water to dry for about 15 minutes and then again varying with the sky that opens and closes continuously and disturb the celebrations on the site with continual removal of people, tools, etc..

Are now 14 and finished the tour we go to eat in a restaurant near the site. The food is not the most, we are in the middle area of mass tourism, but it is acceptable. Seated at the table with all the driving we decide what to do I push to stay up till 17:00 to see the famous snake, the Romans do not want to stay because they prefer to get to sea before. My parents and the leadership are faltering because the weather is very uncertain.
In the end I up and decide to proceed further, sigh sigh.
In any case COUNCIL NOT TO VISIT THE SITE DURING THE EQUINOX. In the end, I liked a lot more Planque and Uxmal. The site is open daily from 08.00 to 18.00, the ticket: 87 pesos

Resumed their journey along the way we let our fellow travelers to Cancun as we continue to Playa del Carmen.
Our accommodation is in suites of Quindo Sol (http://www.hotelquintosol.com/it/info.htm). There systemic and leave immediately for a first reconnaissance, in particular along the 5th avenida.
The impact is devastating, not Mexico is Disney World! Everything is so fake, so constructed. The language is not Spanish but the U.S., so prices are in U.S. Dollar and not in pesos. Shops called the people to attract attention for selling "gringos" official, just because we are clear!
Arrival at the hotel with the stomach closed nervous ... but from what I do here? Where have happened? I would like to return the plane to not ruin the end of the holiday!

PLAYA DEL CARMEN

Personal considerations:
Luck that the night is good advice ... in the morning are more relaxed, more positive and willing to understand this strange world called Gringoland (nickname given by the Mexican azzeccatissimo).
In fact it seems to be in a "colony-park" American.
Everything is extremely artifact and it seems that Mexicans are part of the environment. Also because of the house do not appear: they are not owners but employees and look with admiration and a sense of inferiority of their owners and tourists in size ehm, imposing the gringos.
It 'easy to see scenes of Americans who act as "superior" for docile Mexicans who try to copy in clothing, in the Americans. Attention, are not anti-American but what I saw, coming from Chapas has left me bewildered.

? Playa del Carmen
The country is actually very nice, all built with respect for the great trees included in the buildings that surround, emerge from every part simulating the jungle. I must say here that the architects have started with the necessary imagination and creating a unique and very beautiful.
The main road, then the 5th avenida, shops are all local products, from the typical bar with swing seats and SPA. The premises (bars, pubs, restaurants etc.) are reconstructions on stage really. The atmosphere created is warm, cozy and spectacular.

¤ sea & sun, the sea is beautiful, long white beaches dotted with palm trees are washed by the crystal sea!

Caution: Remember that although the temperature is not too much sun is tropical: USE PROTECTIVE HIGH! Start with guards not less than 50/30 after only understand the reaction of your skin, ok that I am a phototype mozzarella but know that I have never dropped more than 25.

The blue sea's not forget that it is ocean, and with a force different from that of the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, depending on the time the week before there was no wind and the sea was piattissimo while I was when I was lifted up by the wind waves, not very high but powerful. In a few we took in water and, I must say that I was also scared, because the waves were so strong to drag on the bottom (I assure you that swimming) but I was "supported" by a boy "local" (an Israeli who has moved to live there and opened a local) that I was close by telling how to deal with those waves. After 30 minutes I left exhausted. Official, it is not right, usually the sea here is calm and transparent so that you can see the fish.


Also because of the wind we have given up on the front walk, Mujeras Isla (island of women) considered very beautiful.
We rebuilt, however, going day to Tulum (see below).

While the day is devoted to sports activities related to the white beaches from sea, in the afternoon and evening a multitude of American and European tourists are poured along the 5th Avenue hunting for souvenirs and fill the rooms with cheerful voices.
Not able to escape from even shopping because they are colorful Mexican ceramics and the dominant theme of the street, a symbol of the country very beautiful, and a multitude of culinary products including (from spicy sauces format spirits travel on all the Tequila.

There are restaurants of all kinds: from the typical Mexican, to those "natural" for every taste and every pocket. The prices are more similar to Americans than to those experienced elsewhere in the country. Everything is dedicated to tourists and, therefore, also the prices are adjusted. If you want to shop I recommend them for a tour and not in vacation areas where the tourist is willing to spend more.


? Tulum
From Playa del Carmen just go to the bus station and catch a regular bus line (2nd class) I would advise you not to 1st class because it costs twice, and above all there is air conditioning manetta create a significant bump termino with the heat outside.
With a few pesos and 15 minutes by road to reach the site, the only Mayan settlement of the sea.
To return, however, we used a mini-van, a collective taxi for the same price of the bus has brought us back to Playa del Carmen.
The stops of Tulum are three: the archaeological site, the pueblo and the city tourist.
Tulum is not only the archaeological site is a city divided in two but the poorest internal pueblo, and the tourist town along the coast. Obviously the prices of the hotels are very different!

Tulum is the site with the best visual impact along the coast the high seas on a crystal stand out buildings Maya, breathtaking! The location of monuments to the sea, the white beach access for swimming (bring your costume) the color of an intense blue, the palm card to the Caribbean, the well-kept lawn ... in short, all this makes this place memorable.
L In 1518 landed in this place the troops of Juan de Grijalva. Built in the Maya-Toltecs, was inhabited until 1544 and then abandoned in the hands of Spain. The current name of "Tulum" (strength) comes from the thick walls that surround it on three sides, while the fourth is naturally defended by a steep cliff overlooking the sea, access to the beach is a bit more forward.
Unlike many other archaeological sites Tulum is very spoiled and consumed by tourists, to protect, so the sights now, many can not pick up and too close.
The most important is the Castillo composed of a terrace and a small temple, which is accessed via a steep staircase. The windows overlooking the slits open sea suggest that the building was not only used for ceremonial functions, but also worked as a lighthouse. The Castillo and twenty-two other smaller buildings are enclosed in the so-called Recinto Interior, a kind of wall which probably defines the core of the original city. Outside the fence the most interesting is the temple of the frescoes decorated with stucco masks. Inside of the room you notice the remains of frescoes representing human figures. To the north of the temple, on a platform, there are the ruins of a building a wing consisting of two parallel tunnels, one of which opens onto a south facing porch.
? OTHER TOURS

Exactly half of the 5th Avenue is a tourist office, a kind of banquet, in which they provide for free the map of Playa de Carmen, all of the material as possible on the city, all the material for excursions both through the media and through public packages offered by agencies.
In addition to parks where you can watch shows such as the reconstruction of the game of pelota and shows in costume even nature reserves in which to immerse themselves in the midst of colorful fish.
Away if you want a bit more, you can achieve beautiful Cenotes where done the bathroom (huge round holes of the ground several meters of crystalline water springs, usually can be reached directly from the top and the light that penetrates to the bottom makes it even more suggestive of the environment from "the cave".
The archaeological sites of Chichen-Itza and other less known, are at your local bus, but if you are interested there are tours that offer a package of 1 or more days with visits to sites + + Cenotes trip to restaurants etc..
You can also af

PLAYA DEL CARMEN / CANCUN / MIAMI

After you have eaten breakfast at the hotel upon check out and early morning we transfer by taxi sent by the agency, all 'airport is Cancun. Safe Start, and then to Miami flight with Mexicana MX 311 in 09.50. A Miami luggage is loaded directly for Milan and arrived in Miami at 12.20. Boarding in Miami is very critical to the long inspection personal. The journey continues towards Milan with Alitalia Flight AZ 637 in 17:15. Meals and overnight on board.

MILAN

We arrive at Malpensa at 08.15 with Alitalia and arrive home with a temperature still hard and the journey from the end tears ....