Christmas Day in the Yucatan

"Building 24" at Chacchoben.

For our final port, we stopped at "Costa Maya," a made up tourist town near the village of Mahahual in Quintana Roo, Mexico. It was a very windy day, and all of the water-based excursions like snorkeling were cancelled. We were glad we had done Snuba in Honduras, and fortunate to have booked an excursion to Mayan ruins for Christmas. Our tour company didn't provide the best information about the departure time so we felt a little rushed getting off the ship, but once we made it past the many shops we took a short taxi ride to the meeting point for our "Mayan Experience" tour. We had a really good guide named Maria as we drove about an hour into the countryside to the Chocchoben ruins.

Another guide showed us around the site where we learned some of the history of the former city and the people who lived there. The Mayans started building monumental structures here about 2000 years ago, and the city reached its height around 600-900 AD. We saw several temples in two locations. The second spot was built on top of a massive foundation, so we had to climb up to see the structures on top. It was a serene place in the forest, and the temples were impressive. No one explained where the stone came from; it must have been quite a feat to build them - especially given their advanced knowledge of astrology which factored into their construction. I also couldn't help but wonder how the city became abandoned after the arrival of Spanish conquistadors. Before leaving,we spotted a monkey.

Steps of the Great Platform, on top of which are found some impressive temples.

Benny and Barry on the Great Platform. The structure behind them is called las Vasijas, but I don't know why.

Temple 1.

Our next stop was the village of Chacchoben, a Mayan village where we enjoyed a garden and a traditional lunch prepared by local women. This was one of the best meals we had, with chicken, empanadas, beans, rice, vegetables, tortillas, fruit, and some fantastic flan.

Many of the local ingredients used to prepare our meal.

Christmas Day Lunch.

Posing with the women who made out lunch, and who embroidered the souvenir towels. The decorations that look like Tibetan prayer flags were for Christmas.

After lunch we headed back to Costa Maya, where we had a little time for shopping before boarding the ship for the last time and returning to New Orleans.