Yucatán 🇲🇽

Holbox, Chichen Itza and Cancun

Holbox, a Caribbean island had to be done!

Since Chichen Itza, the Mayan pyramids, one of the 7 wonders of the world, were already on my list, I didn't want to miss out on the Caribbean either. Since Amber had booked her flight back home from Cancun after 8 months of traveling and Tino couldn't accompany me because his visa had expired, we joined forces and spent four nights on Holbox, a narrow, elongated, not-so-touristy island. The island is about 2 kilometers wide. It is located in the north of Yucatán. When pronouncing it, the X is pronounced as SCH. However, tourism has also significantly increased here in the last two years. This was very noticeable in the prices. However, we were lucky that we were there outside the season, so it was pretty quiet.

Here our daily routine consisted of sleeping in, preparing and eating muesli with fruits, as we wanted to save some costs here, and then sunbathing and finding beautiful beaches.

On the first day, we walked along the beach to the right until we spotted a sandbank a little further in the water. The water here was barely knee-deep. We carried our bags over our heads through the water and walked for about 1.5 hours on the sandbank. On the way, we met Argy from London in the middle of the water, whom we had already met on the ferry to the island. She joined our group, or we joined hers? Either way, our crew grew bigger.

Without knowing where we were going, we continued walking and were rewarded with a sandbank beach called Punta Mosquito in the ocean, which was bordered by a lagoon with flamingos. Here I really felt the paradise of the Caribbean! The next day, we walked to Playa Punta Cocos again for the sunset with Argy, who now strengthened our crew for every day. The path along the coast alone was fantastic! And the sunset, wow, just wow.

I found a really good travel buddy in Amber, with whom I could be myself right away, and we laughed a lot and talked nonsense.

Cancun totally surprised me. Due to many reports, I didn't expect much since it was supposed to be super Americanized. This is also true for some parts. However, I arrived in the old town and had my hostel here. Right next door, we had the Parque de las Palapas, where there were lots of street food stalls. The prices were super cheap and there were almost only locals there. The selection was huge. You had to choose between tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, volcanos, tortas, tostadas, tlayudas, churros, and many other delicacies whose names I don't remember anymore. Nevertheless, I'm glad I only booked two nights here. Because I also got to see the tourist side of the city. We only went out in the evenings, and our plan was actually to party if we liked it. However, since the strip in Cancun was so bad, we only stayed here for a beer and saved our energy and money for the next day. The prices here were even higher than on Holbox. Huge clubs lined up on one street, and you could tell that everything was geared towards American tourism. Strippers in the club windows, huge buildings, a touch of Disney or Marvel everywhere, and an attempt to make everything as grandiose as possible.

After 2.5 hours of sleep, I got up at 3:30 for the sunrise tour to Chichen Itza. Meanwhile, Amber started her return flight. Totally exhausted, I waited for an hour on the street of another hotel for my shuttle, as GetYourGuide did not inform me of a pick-up location with an exact time. Accordingly, I was naturally frustrated. Especially because I usually don't book tours. However, since the journey from Cancun takes quite a long time, I decided to do it this time. In retrospect, I am very happy because the two guides I had made up for the bullshit from GetYourGuide. Rodrigo guided us through his "home". He is Mayan, grew up in Chichen Itza, played soccer there, and knows the place inside out. He also demonstrated this to us frequently. Furthermore, he is the only trained Mayan archaeologist in Yucatán. Despite the little sleep, I was very receptive and received a lot of information. Since I already knew that there are many other Mayan pyramids that are bigger, I wondered why exactly this one was chosen as one of the wonders of the world. Afterwards, I understood it. On the one hand, the Maya used the pyramid as a very accurate calendar, clock, and even as a sound system. Furthermore, the pyramid was built on a cenote, a water cave, and this was possible by building an inverted pyramid into the ground at all four corners of the pyramid.

For example, each of the four sides of the pyramid has 91 steps, plus the last step from all sides. A total of 365 steps, for the days in a year. There is an interesting documentary called "Chichen Itza: Secrets of the Maya" on Disney+ by National Geographic, which I definitely want to watch in the coming days. I could tell you many more things, but that would exceed the scope here. Treat yourself to the documentary as well!

On the way back, we also visited another cenote where we could swim.

Now it's also time to say goodbye Mexico, beautiful country where I was able to spend 3 months, and off to El Salvador 🇸🇻, where Milena and Tino are already waiting for me. I will definitely miss your good cuisine.

To be continued...