Uxmal ruins excursion through Carnival.....Just returned

[vital1]

Since there wasn't a lot of info on this tour before we left I thought I'd post on it for those considering this excursion. I've always wanted to see some sort of ruins and after reading about how crowded Chitzen Itza tours were I did some research and decided on Uxmal. The lines for the CI buses were longer than the lines for the women's bathroom at a sporting event. This was my 8th cruise and first time to book anything through the cruise line itself but since it's an hour and a half drive inland to the ruins I'd rather be safe than sorry.

With all that said, let me give you some background on myself. I'm 37 (*****!) and have lived in Mississippi all of my life. I've traveled all over the Caribbean and have been to Cozumel before. Usually I just hit the beach, drink beer, snorkel and shop. This time my wonderful boyfriend was with me and wanted to see the ruins also. He was the reason I decided to do this excursion instead of hitting the beach. I'm so glad we did!

We got off the boat and headed straight to the end of the pier to meet up with our friends (3 of them) to board the "bus with bathrooms" and head to the ruins. Well, come to find out there was a van with no bathrooms. BUT before you turn your nose up, read on......The guide, Hener (sp) took the first lucky folks off of the ship with him. There were 11 of us total. We joked about the bathroom not being in the back. There were buses lined up so I'm sure the others had the luxury of a bathroom but didn't get the awesome, intimate tour we had. Nobody had to go on the way there so I'll stop with the bathroom comments now.

As we drove to the ruins he told us about himself. He is of Mayan and Mexican descent and has lived on the Yucatan Peninsula all of his life. He said on the way there we could ask anything we wanted and tell jokes but once we got to the ruins he's very serious about his heritage so he wouldn't be joking so much. As we went through the streets of Progresso we were all taking in the sights and how close we were coming to the pedestrians and the other cars (oh, I forgot to mention that I rode in the front passenger seat b/c I tend to puke in the back of cars). We went through the suburbs of Merida and out to the country-side. I was amazed at how flat everything was. We laughed and joked about things and I asked enough questions for the van (most of whom were snoring). I have a wild imagination and ask some bizarre questions at times :D . I asked about crime and he said it was almost zero. We went through a small city that had the most beautiful church I've ever seen in the middle of the town square. Now that I think about it, I don't know how a chartered bus could've made it through that small town. Hmmm, maybe one perk of an early bird and a small van?

We finally get to the ruins around 9. It's humid, but tolerable. Remember, I'm from Mississippi. We start at the first temple and he tells us that the larger busses won't arrive until around 11 or after so we'll pretty much have the place to ourselves for a little while. We certainly did, except for a few groups here and there. It was the most amazing place I've been in my many years of travel. He was very precise in his history and told us a few times that some things were legend so nobody knows for sure what the truth is. He led us all around and gave us ample time to take all of the pics we wanted. When we reached the end of our guided tour he gave us an hour to roam on our own. I asked him a question about the Temple of the Turtles and while the others in our group headed to climb another temple, he took just me and my boyfriend to see the turtles. He also showed us how the doors to several structures lined up in a straight line. Then off we went to explore on our own.

Holy hell it was getting hot! Remember, I'm from Mississippi. We took some awesome pics from the turtle temple and then headed to climb the temple the others were leaving. That meant we'd have fewer people to deal with when we were gasping for air at the top. Now, I exercise frequently and my boyfriend is a fire fighter so I'd like to think we are in decent shape. While we were climbing the stairs to the top, I had to pause a few times b/c of the humidity and my calves burning. We finally got to the top and it was well worth the climb. While we were up there we saw some ruins off the beaten path and headed that way. HINT: when you are going down the temple stairs, stay focused on what you are doing. As I said before, I have a wild imagination and my mind had wondered off to wherever it goes when I realized I needed to be paying attention to the stairs I was on. When I tried to focus back on the steps, they all blurred and looked like one giant step and I almost fell....60ft down steps, in the middle of nowhere. Trust me FOCUS! HAHAHA! We all met back at the entrance at 1115. True to what he said, the massive buses full of people were just arriving. We were sweating bullets, red as beets and chugging water and we were THROUGH! Those poor folks were looking at us like they were dreading what was about to happen to them. I can't imagine doing that tour during the heat of the day. We had a sandwhich, chips, apple and cake waiting on us for lunch back at the entrance. I took the gallon bottle of water from the room and it was the best $4 spent on the cruise.

On the way back to the ship, Hener (sp) took us by his hometown. He lived across from an old factory that used to make horse reigns from Sisel but now that synthetic fabric is used the factory has been closed for years. We saw his mother's house and she gave away some authentic corn tortilla's. It was amazing to see that he was born in that same house, went to school across the street and his family still lived there. I'm sure nobody on the buses with bathrooms got to see that!!! It was true Mayan/Mexican living and not something you'd see on a chartered bus tour.

As you can see, I highly recommend this trip. I had an amazing time and it was very spiritual to me. No, I'm not Mayan, but the way he explained why everything had significance from the number of doors on a building to the snakes on the side made me go back in time and imagine life there before all of the modern conveniences.

Please go see Uxmal before it's secret is out!!!

[YucatanToday]

Vital1,

What a GREAT review of our trip to Uxmal! I'm so glad you were able to see the runis with an intelligent guide and without a lot of crowds - definitely one of the advantages of Uxmal! Read more here: http://www.yucatantoday.com/destinations/eng-uxmal.htm

[vital1]

Vital1,

What a GREAT review of our trip to Uxmal! I'm so glad you were able to see the runis with an intelligent guide and without a lot of crowds - definitely one of the advantages of Uxmal! Read more here: http://www.yucatantoday.com/destinations/eng-uxmal.htm

 

 

Thank you! I was really impressed with our guide and his knowledge of the area. He said he also takes tours to Chichen Itza and Dzbe...(can't even begin to spell it:o ) and that Uxmal was the prettiest. I asked why the secret isn't out about Uxmal and he said that more money was spent on advertising Cichen Itza. Makes sense to me. I'm so thankful I took this tour. Now that I'm home, I've been looking up things about the Mayan culture and have found it most interesting. I hope it's still in great shape when my son is a little older and can tolerate the heat there. He's almost 9 so hopefully in a few years we will return to tour the area. My only wish was that we had more time. I fully understand that we were pressed for time since our ship was leaving at 4. Maybe one day when we go to Cozumel for a dive trip we'll be able to make some time to go to ruins on the island. I hear there are some interesting ones there.

[vital1]

I had to add a link to the "factory" which I now know is called a Hacienda :o . This is across the field/street from where our guide grew up. I still need to download my pics from the camera and I'll post some on here if anyone seems interested in seeing them.

Here is the link:

http://www.yaxcopoil.com/default.htm

[kjunea]

Thanks for the review!! We are doing this next week. Guess we will be off the ship early to try and get him too!

[LA Lady]

I LOVED Uxmal! We had Carlos for a guide, and he too was wonderful! Very proud of the Mayan heritage. We were the only bus heading to Uxmal, while Chichen Itza had about 7! We were not crowded, or rushed. Hubby and I climbed that *%^$*! pyramid also! We are from Louisiana, but man was that humidity bad! We were both panting, sweating, and swearing by the time we got to the top! And I agree, going down you MUST pay attention on where you step. I walked down sideways, with my hand out for balance. What did you think of the iguanas! They reminded me of squirrels here, everywhere! I took over 100 pictures that day. The close up shots of the birds, and diamonds and snakes are amazing. I bought the ruins dvd on the ship, and it is so cool, seeing where we actually were.

[vital1]

I LOVED Uxmal! We had Carlos for a guide, and he too was wonderful! Very proud of the Mayan heritage. We were the only bus heading to Uxmal, while Chichen Itza had about 7! We were not crowded, or rushed. Hubby and I climbed that *%^$*! pyramid also! We are from Louisiana, but man was that humidity bad! We were both panting, sweating, and swearing by the time we got to the top! And I agree, going down you MUST pay attention on where you step. I walked down sideways, with my hand out for balance. What did you think of the iguanas! They reminded me of squirrels here, everywhere! I took over 100 pictures that day. The close up shots of the birds, and diamonds and snakes are amazing. I bought the ruins dvd on the ship, and it is so cool, seeing where we actually were.

The iguana's and I "bonded", well one anyway. I was exploring one of the many open doors and saw a giant lizard LUNGING at me:eek: . I screamed, the iguana headbutted a rock and my boyfriend laughed. Poor iguana was just trying to hide under a rock and I guess when I screamed he flinched to see what the noise was and missed his hole. It was a much needed adrenaline rush since we still had 45 minutes to tour:D .

[Grits53]

A friend and I went on the Carnival tour to Uxmal this past Feb., and I LOVED that place! My only complaint was that we didn't have enough time to explore it as I would have liked to. Since we went in early Feb., it wasn't unbearably hot. Now, I am looking to book a land tour, just so DH can go with me to these fabulous Mayan ruins, and so I can have more time to explore them. I've been to Tulum and Chacchoben, both of which are wonderful in their own ways, but they can't even compare to Uxmal!

[spleenstomper]

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

 

I read on wikipedia and at CI you can't go up on down the stairs because a woman from San Diego fell to her death in 2006.

 

Since I'm spastic on steps, I'll pass....

[LSUcajunmom]

We loved Uxmal also. We did the tour through autoprogresso but now I hear they no longer do that particular tour. Myself and DH were the only ones from the ship to do that tour through autoprogresso. We had our own tour guide, Manuel, and he too was very proud of his Mayan heritage. He even brought us to a restuarant for as he put it "my people's food." It was absolutely wonderful. Another great thing about Uxmal compared to the other ruins is the fact that you can still climb most of the ruins in Uxmal. The other sites have most of the public spaces roped off, no climbing at all. We were so glad we did this tour.

[CathyG]

Vital1 - Excellent review. We're going there in March on RCCL and was wondering if you used Carnival's excursion or an independent one. Your guide sounded good and I'd like to book with him if possible. Thanks.

Cathy

[vital1]

Vital1 - Excellent review. We're going there in March on RCCL and was wondering if you used Carnival's excursion or an independent one. Your guide sounded good and I'd like to book with him if possible. Thanks.

Cathy

It was Carnival's excursion. First excursion in 8 cruises that I've booked through the ship I was on. I always saw the people packed on those snorkel excursions and said "no way". I was leary b/c of the distance inland so I bit the bullet and booked. I'm so glad I did!!!

[djacobson]

We loved Uxmal also. We did the tour through autoprogresso but now I hear they no longer do that particular tour. Myself and DH were the only ones from the ship to do that tour through autoprogresso. We had our own tour guide, Manuel, and he too was very proud of his Mayan heritage. He even brought us to a restuarant for as he put it "my people's food." It was absolutely wonderful. Another great thing about Uxmal compared to the other ruins is the fact that you can still climb most of the ruins in Uxmal. The other sites have most of the public spaces roped off, no climbing at all. We were so glad we did this tour.

 

I went to Uxmal on July 7 with AutoProgreso. There were eight of us total for the tour, so I felt like it was a private tour. AutoProgreso charges $55. Manuel was also our tour guide and was very good. I'd recommend AutoProgreso to anyone to tour the Mayan ruins.