Teotihuacan

The first old wonder i saw was Teotihuacan- Las Piramides. While they technically aren’t pyramids with a pointy top like those in Egypt, they are still referred to as such. I chose to do a self guided tour. To get there, I started in North Mexico City. If you go to the north central bus station and walk all the way to the very end/left you will see a ticket booth for “Las Piramides/ The pyramids.” You can buy round trip tickets for about $10 USD. There are buses going to and from Teotihuacan/CDMX all day, but the last bus time should be posted (9 pm i believe). The bus ride was about 2 hours I think, so i bought some snacks in the bus station to bring with me. There were really good chocolate conchas, pan de muerte, and really cheap beer and Gatorade. Even if you are not hungry, make sure you at least buy something to drink because walking around the pyramids can leave you exhausted and dehydrated. The bus will stop several times along the way, picking up locals, so make sure you pay attention when it stops in a circle drive outside of the parking lot to the pyramids.

The Pyramid of the Sun is climbable, and where you will see a lot of tourist gathered. While it may look daunting, you can climb it in a matter of minutes. I found it easiest to turn to the side and side-step jog up the stairs. Once i reached the top, a thunderstorm broke out; I checked the weather beforehand, and already had a rain jacket in my backpack. Since I got my photos in, I decided to head out. There are many entrances surrounding the pyramids; if you exit the entrance nearest the pyramid of the sun and cross the street, you will come to an underground restaurant in a cave called La Gruta. Be advised you should make reservations ahead of time on open table. The prices are a bit of a splurge, but they do have some crazy local food including caterpillars and ant larvae. The food is really delicious and rustic, like what you would imagine people ate there long ago.

Chichen Itza

For Chichen Itza, i chose to book a tour through Viator. For about $40 USD, I was picked up near my Cancun hotel for an all day guided tour. The Day started at about 7:30am and we loaded an small van that brought us to a larger charter bus. I ended up making friends with a nice travel couple while I was there. After about 3 or 4 hours on the bus, we arrived at a little gift shop with a cafeteria where we had a buffet style lunch. While the food was included in our tour, drinks (water/pop) were extra. For entertainment a woman/man duo danced on the stage while balancing various objects on their head. After lunch, we headed to the ruins. We had some time for photo ops on our own before our guided tour started. Our tour guide was very thorough and explained in great detail everything about El Castillo, from the reason there are a certain number of steps, to the acoustics. We then moved on to an are where warriors were sacrificed for their gods. Before we were able to move on to the game of death court, a huge rainstorm broke out. We hid under some tarps for a while until the rain let up. We had maybe a half hour more to explore and take photos before it was time to head back to the bus for our cenote visit.

Cenote

Cenotes are these swimming sinkholes all through the Yucatan region of Mexico. In ancient time, they would bury their dead by dumping bodies into the cenotes. Now, they are just naturally cool water swimming holes. Outside of the cenote you can rent life vests, as these cenotes can be 100 meters deep. There will also be showers where you are expected to bathe before you enter the water.

Tulum Ruins

Tulum was another self guided tour. From my hotel in city center Cancun, i walked to the Ado bus station. Form there i bought a ticket to Tulum Ruins. They also have buses that go to Tulum city center, so make sure you get the right one (the walk from the city center to the ruins is about a mine or two). The ride was maybe an hour or so on an air conditioned charted bus. At the drop-off zone for the ruins, they will offer you a free map. Past this info booth is a large area filled with souvenir shops and a few cafes. Once you make it past the 100 gift shops, you’ll eventually get to the ticket booth for the ruins. Make sure you bring a swimsuit as you can enter the beach from the archaeological site. When you first walk in, you will see a family of furry Coati running around. You will also see an endless amount of iguanas. The ruins are all a beautiful grey stone with beach backdrop and endless amounts of green jungle in between. If you go down to the beach, make sure to watch out for the tiny little sand fleas or insects crawling around when you set your stuff down. After i left the ruins, i decided to talk to the city center and visit some gift shops as well as eat lunch. The city center is literally just a single street about a mile long. When you get to the end, there is an amazing little burrito shop on the left.