Mayan Ruins and More

Our first excursion last week was with a company called "AlltourNative" to visit the ancient Mayan pyramid in a town called Coba.


We found the history to be quite fascinating.

Here is a ball court that would have had 2 players. They would toss around a 9 pound ball and try to get it into the rings on the sides. Sort of like basketball. Except you didn't want to be the winner. The winner was considered to be the best sacrifice to their gods so they would have to "self-mutilate" themselves and die. Better to be the loser and stay alive!

Here are some stone tablets that were like message boards for the people. It would get updated with various information until it was "erased" and a new message was inscribed.


Here is the main pyramid, Nohuch Mul. It was 138 feet tall and the highest in the region. Unlike other ruins in the Riviera Maya, this one is still open for the public to climb.

I didn't think that my fear of heights would permit me to climb very high, but I successfully made it all the way to the top. I just looked at one step at a time, and refused to look down!! Unfortunately right after we got to the top, it started to RAIN! This makes the rocky steps very very slippery so we waited until the downpour slowed to a trickle. Fortunately there was a small temple at the top where about a dozen people took shelter.


It was an amazing view from the top. At one time, this wouldn't have been jungle but instead the city of Coba.

After we left Coba, our group drove to a Mayan village called Pac Chen. Some of the ladies there made us a traditional Mayan lunch. We had vegetable soup, rice with black beans, empanadas, chicken, and for those who were less adventurous: spaghetti. We also drank flavored water that was made from flowers. It was very tasty!

After lunch, we canoed around a small lake. Then we walked into the jungle for a tour of our surroundings. We had to take a zipline across an open cenote, which is essentially a natural pool fed by underground rivers. I was absolutely TERRIFIED to do this, but I managed to survive in one piece. Very fortunate, considering that we later found 5-foot alligators waiting in the water at the end of the zipline. Seriously!! They took our pictures for various parts of this excursion but I was lucky enough to have shielded my face since I was thrashing around like a wild women trying to make the dumb thing stop going so FAST! (Can you tell that I really liked this?)

Next we walked through some more jungle until we got to the entrance of this closed cenote. This time we rappelled down about 120 feet into the water. Essentially this cenote was a large underground cave. The water was the clearest we had ever seen! We could easily see the bottom which was about 100 feet down. It was really amazing. And strangely enough, the rappelling wasn't anywhere near as scary as the crazy zipline. I could control my speed and take my time.


Later to get back up, the options were the rope ladder or the "Mayan elevator" where they pull you back up using the rappelling ropes. It was a little scary, but certainly much easier than attempting the ladder, which is what John chose to do.


We went back to our hotel room that night and crashed after we ordered in some room service. I just love all-inclusives! Even the room service is included!!