Review: Tour of Chacchoben Ruins

[brentp]

My wife and I recently took a tour of the Chacchoben Ruins during our stop in Costa Maya. We booked this tour online prior to our departure through this website (booked via EMAIL). I know there is another thread related to the independant tours, . . . this is a review of the Ruins tour.

 

Chacchoben Ruins Tours

 

All I can say is this is EXCELLENT!!!

 

About the Tour Company: The above referenced website is run by a number of independent guides (I was told there were 7 currently involved). They set this site up in early January because they do not want to join the local union of tour guides. Keep in mind, the owners of the Costa Maya pier are trying to have a monopoly on all shore activities. It wouldn’t surprise me if the cruise lines get a large cut of the activities as well. This group offers a number of different tour options in addition to the ruins tours. If you are looking for an independent tour in the Costa Maya & Yucatan Peninsula area, . . . I highly recommend you contact these people. Also, . . . I highly recommend you ask for Ivan (see below) if your tour choice is either the Chacchoben Ruins or the Mayan Experience.

 

Brief Overview: Our guide’s name was Ivan. Ivan’s father stacked a claim to the land that is now the national park where the ruins are located in the early 1970s. Mexico was promoting settlement in the area at that time very similar to how the USA did with the frontier in the 1800s. Ivan is part Mayan and literally grew up with the ruins as his back yard. He is extremely knowledgeable about the Mayan culture and the local area, and really enjoys discussing this with his guests. If you enjoy the history and cultural aspects of other civilizations, then this tour is for you.

 

After getting a short taxi ride ($3/pp) to the fishing village of Majahaul, Ivan pick my wife and I up (yes, just the 2 of us) in a rental car. We were a bit apprehensive at first, being in a rental car and all. All this went away very quickly as he started to talk about the area, history, current culture, past culture, etc. When we got to the ruins, he was our dedicated tour guide for the site. As a side note, a couple of other guides (I assume they were working for the park) exchanged greetings with Ivan when they saw him and then mentioned to us that we were extremely fortunate to have Ivan as our guide. How correct they were. After close to 2 hours of walking through the ruins, it was almost time to come home. Before heading back, he asked if we would like to see his old home. We said sure, . . . he literally walked over to the side bank next to Temple #2. We walked down and there was what remained of his old homestead. There he showed us a couple of keystones above the doors of what remained of the house his father build. The keystones were carvings from the original Mayan village. Very impressive!

 

The Chaccoben Ruins are in the early stages of being dug out and restored. There are three Temples currently restored and a number of ‘royal’ home sites that you can see the original foundations. Mayan ruins in natural form today simply looked like hills with trees and plants growing out of them. This occurs over time when organic material collects on the steps and then the plants start to grow. The roots of the trees and plants start to shift the underlying structure (rocks), destroying the external structure of the original layouts. Because Chaccoben is a relatively new restoration site, it gives a great view of what the temples looked like way back (the restored stone structures), but also what they look like today (hills with trees, etc.).

 

What was different about this tour versus the tour offered by the ship? Plenty! To start with, we had a dedicated local guide for the 2 of us. The other ‘tours’ being conducted that were ship sponsored were groups of approximately 50 or more. Ivan really knew his stuff. It was not the canned tour commentary I overheard from the guides. He talked about the culture, why the temples were built the way they were, the life cycles the Mayans believed in, and on and on. It was much more interactive with him versus a speech type tour. We had taken a ship sponsored tour of the Tulum Ruins years ago, . . . and never got close to the information we got on this one.

 

On the way back, Ivan stopped to get us some beers (he also provided water during the ruins tour) at a local restaurant operated by a German couple. They had a Tucan and a few other birds out back that we took a couple of pictures of. Nice stop.

 

Unfortunately, our ship had to depart the port at 1pm, so on our way back we had Ivan drop us off at the pier. If we had a full day, we would have gone back to the fishing village and spent the afternoon there. Cost of the tour was $43/pp, . . . well worth it (the ship we were on was getting $62/pp). We tipped well, . . . because I felt we got much more than that.

 

Ivan also described to us ‘The Mayan Experience’ tour. What they have set up is a few real Mayan families that invite the guests into their homes for the day. There you can watch as they do their daily routines as well as prepare the family midday meal, and then enjoy the meal with the family. Ivan described a number of ‘cultural’ items of the Mayan people. I believe this too would be an outstanding experience.

 

All in all, this was a fantastic day. Again, if you are looking for a Mayan related tour when in Costa Maya, . . . I would definitely recommend you contact these guides.

[jenjens1023]

Thanks for the review. I'm looking up the website as soon as I stop tying this.

[brentp]

I went back through and read this post again and realized that Ivan's father started the farm much earlier than the early 70s. I don't remember the exact time frame, but it was likely in the middle 1900s. The ruins were 'discovered' in the early 70s, and that is when the first excavation work was begun.

[tricialee]

Thanks for the review. I am booked with them on the 15th of this month and appreciate hearing good things. This is my first cruise and I have been a little nervous about booking tours not thru the cruiseline. I have been counting on all the good info on these boards to guide me.

[hooked-on-travel]

tricialee- I'm booked with them on the 15th, too, and this gets me so excited! See you there.

[cherylandtk]

tricialee and hooked:

Would you both mind writing a short report of your experience with this same company upon your return? I will be on same itinerary much later and would like to use them, too. Thanks. Cheryl

[Apex Cruiser]

Interesting as we have a group of four also booked for a tour on the 15th. I am really looking forward to this tour. Hope to see everyone else there.

 

tricialee we have found that the tours you book yourself are usually the best. Just do enough research and you will not have a problem. We have had great tours on other islands like St Lucia, Antigua, Barbados, Cayman and Jamaica and on this cruise not one excursion is book through the cruise line. The local guides we have had are all very proud of their culture and islands/regions and want to share their experiences with you.

 

brentp thanks so much for the review. We lived in Littleton for a couple years in the mid 80's. Glad we are in the warm south now though.

[tricialee]

So, what time is everyone's tour on the 15th? We had originally discussed 10:00am with Ivan, but now I see on the web site that he has a much earlier time listed. I will be emailing him to confirm soon.

[Apex Cruiser]

We are on Splendour so we do not even get there until 10:00. We had arranged a 11:00 tour. I wonder if he will be doing two tours one early and one midday.

[hooked-on-travel]

I e-mailed with Ivan in early Feb and he said he had 9:00 or 11:00 to choose from. We chose 9:00. We'll be on the Grand getting in at 8:00. Earlier in the day sounded better for cooler weather.

[Apex Cruiser]

Actually we'd prefer an early tour if the Splendour got there earlier. I would rather have a 9:00 start but it should not be too bad for heat yet. Hope to bump into you and lets both make sure to post reviews on this so others will have good comparisons. We'll probably have two different guides for the tours.

[mac50]

We got back Saturday from our time on the Jewel of the Seas. I had arranged for a tour of the ruins with Ivan. His 9:00 am tour was full but he set up a 10:00 am tour for a group of us. He has an 11 passenger Ford van with A/C and it rode very comfortably. I took my 75 year old father on this cruise and it was his first time out of the country. Ivan made him feel very comfortable and at ease. Ivan spoke so fondly of his culture and the people that make up this region of Mexico. As mentioned earlier he grew up in a small house right at the mounds of earth that cover some of the ruins that still have not been unearthed. My dad made the comment that Ivan made everything so interesting he could spend days listening to him. I want to thank Ivan for making our time in the Costa Maya area so interesting and educational. It was the most interesting port we stopped in. You cannot go wrong with any of Ivan's tours. As I said Ivan is awesome!!!