Visiting Chichen Itza is a must when you are in Yucatan, however, our trip to Chichen Itza turned out to be a little adventure.

We bought a trip to Chichen Itza again in the Italian travel agency Caribe Viaggi located on the 5th Avenue. The price was $45 per person and we were supposed to travel by bus. (Generally, you pay between 40 and 90 dollars for an excursion to Chichen Itza depending on the means of transport and type of lunch.)

We were to be picked up between 7:20 – 7:30 am from Aventura Mexicana, however nobody showed up. Nice start we thought. Then Marcin decided to go on the corner of the street and look for our transport. And yes, there it was, a mini van waiting for us. We got inside the van ready for a visit to Chichen Itza.

First, we had to change our means of transport. We were ” delivered” to a bus, sat down comfortably and began our journey. Very quickly there was a “five-minute” stop to use toilets and buy some food and beverages. The short stop was prolonged to about 30-35 minutes. We were losing precious minutes but we did not complain. After 35 minutes we started driving again. Ufff…

Unfortunately, our journey was not too long, in Tulum (about sixty kilometers from Playa) our bus stopped again because it simply broke down. We and the other passengers had to change into mini vans but the whole process took ages. We were late and all plans changed. There was no information what was going on so I had to ask in Spanish.

The driver told me that we had to change the means of transport. Finally, the mini vans arrived and from that moment our journey started for good.

The people who travelled with us in the van spoke mainly Spanish, there was also a German couple and a girl from Russia.

After a long drive we arrived at Chichen Itza which was very busy despite the late hour. (A ticket to Chichen Itza costs about $20, we had our tickets included in the trip.)

We got our guide with funny pronunciation and peculiar grammar. All past forms simply got ending -ED and the numbers were pronounced in such a way that we did not know what dates he (the guide) was talking about. All in all, it was quite ok.

The Chichen Itza complex was magnificent, especially the El Castillo
Pyramid.

We manged to see more or less everything and it was becoming darker and darker. There were lots of clouds and the vendors from Chichen Itza stateted covering their goods with plastic bags and covers.

We decided to go to the exit. We reached the exit when the first heavy drops of rain began falling. Then I saw a mail box. I said to myself “It is your chance to send some postcards home, that is the first mail box in Mexico you have seen.” I bought some postcards and stamps, wrote some greetings and threw the postcards into a mail box. The rain intensified but it was time to be back in our mini van. We began running and quickly reached our mini van.

Then it was time for very late lunch. We got to a bar and were offered some typical Mexican food and fruits. The food was OK but the best was a chance to talk to some Mexicans and practice Spanish. I was so excited that somebody wanted to talk to me in Spanish.

Well, after lunch there were still two places to stop and visit. A Cenote which is a kind of natural hole in the ground full of water and surrouned by plants and a city of Valladolid.

Unfortunately, it was raining in Cenote and it was cold, so we just took some photos. In Valladolid, the sun appeared so we had a short stroll. Then our long return to Playa began for good. We set off to Chichen Itza at 7:40 am, we came back at 9 pm. It was a long but fruitful day.