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| Subject: Re: Cancun to Mexico City Tours
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Posted on: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:35:37 -0700
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"Alan S" wrote in message
news:ai2k73pj9t3tm5kr4jn7msngpam1tii8cq@4ax.com...
> Hi All
>
> I'm planning a trip for next April including Mexico. While
> there my main interest is the Mayan and Aztec ruins. I can
> either stay in Cancun district to visit the surrounding
> Mayan sites and then fly to Mexico City to visit the Aztec
> sites or I could take a tour in either direction over 7-9
> nights.
>
> I can find several tours on the net, but have no knowledge
> of their quality. I'd appreciate feedback from anyone who
> has done a Cancun-Mexico or vice-versa tour and any
> recommendations please.
>
> I'm a senior, not a backpacker, so I'm not looking for an
> "adventure" tour but it doesn't need to be luxury either.
The folks who follow this group tend to be people who travel
independently. You aren't likely to find anyone here who has done this
particular tour. I have visited quite a few of Mexico's archaeological sites
and have a few comments you might find useful. Eight to ten days is a very
short time frame. If you concentrated on one culture or the other you still
wouldn't have time to get a comprehensive view. Since a big part of the cost
of this trip is getting back and forth to Mexico I'd suggest that you find a
way to get some more time in Mexico and concentrate on one culture/region or
the other. If you enter and leave Mexico at the same airport you'll lose two
days just getting back and forth from the Yucatan to Mexico city.
The tours concentrate on the more popular sites. If you rented a car
and traveled independently you could see more sites. As Richard suggests,
using Mexico's excellent public transportation system is another good
option.
The archaeological sites are so widely scattered that you aren't going
to spend much time in Cancun and unless you're into modern resort cities
there really isn't any reason to spend any time there. In that general area
Tulum, Chichen Itza and Ek Balam are the most interesting sites. A lot of
tours get to the first two. Tour traffic at Ek Balam has increased, but a
lot of people miss this site. It's interesting because of the artwork that
was discovered farily recently at the entrance to a tomb. Some of the
artifacts from the tomb ended up in the INAH museum in Merida. South of
Merida Uxmal and some of the nearby sites are well worth visiting. Kabah in
particular has a lot of great artwork still in place.
There are two other general areas with a lot of great Mayan sites and with
careful planning you could squeeze one of them into your original time
frame, along with the sites I just mentioned. In extreme southern Mexico you
have one of the largest, if not the largest Mayan site, Calakmul. Because of
it's location it gets relatively few visitors. It also has the advantage of
sitting in a bioreserve. There's a lot of wildlife in the area. You can see
troops of howler monkeys wandering through the ruins and Tucans in the
jungle canopy. If you climb the biggest temple you look down on the jungle
canopy and out into Guatamala. In this general region Kohunlich, Becan and
Balamku are also particularly interesting. All three have some extraordinary
artwork.
The other area of particular interest is Chiapas. Palenque is one of the
most beautiful Mayan sites. Bonampak, Yaxchilan and Tonina are all well
worth visiting. The easiest way to see the first two is arrange a day tour
out of Palenque. For all but the most seasoned travellers I would not advise
driving in that area down near the border south of Palenque. Yaxchilan is on
the Usumacinta river, which is part of Mexico's southern border, and
requires a boat ride from Frontera to visit. Even though the British took
some of the artwork from Yaxchilan and haven't seen fit to return it all of
these sites have some wonderful artwork in place.
While you're visting Mayan archaeological sites you should also consider
visiting the Mayans themselves. Around Palenque you'll find the Lacondan
Mayans even though you won't find a lot of them. Around San Cristobal de las
Casas you'll find quite a few Mayans, many of whom still wear traditional
clothing that clearly shows which village they're from. San Juan Chamula and
Zinacatan are easy to visit and add an important element to the overall
picture.
Another place worth considering is Villahermosa. The museum there has
some beautiful artwork from a broad cross section of Mexico's precolumbian
cultures and the Parque La Venta has some beautiful artifacts from the Olmec
culture. There was a lot more to that culture than the stone heads that most
people are familiar with.
For anyone interested in visiting Mexico's archaeological sites I highly
recommend Archaeological Mexico by Andrew Coe.
TB
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