Mexico: Yucatan and Teotihuacan

Group gathering in Mexico City, at a pre-agreed hotel. The guide and part of the group arrive at 10:50 am directly from a trip to Baja California and Copper Canyon. They will first pick up a rental van at the airport and arrive at the hotel by 1:30 p.m. Around 14:30 we leave the hotel and drive to the center of Mexico City. Let's see the Palace of Fine Arts, Zocalo Square, the Cathedral, and the Torre Latinoamericana skyscraper.

You can arrive at any time convenient for you. Please note that most transatlantic flights arrive in the evening. Therefore, it may make sense to fly to Mexico the night before, get some sleep, and in the morning, before the group arrives, go to the National Museum of Anthropology. This is an amazing collection of artifacts - treasures of the Mayans, Aztecs, Toltecs, Olmecs and other peoples of Mexico, collected under one roof.

In the evening we go to a restaurant somewhere in the center and introduce the group.

At 8 am, immediately after breakfast, we check out from the hotel, board our minibus and drive (1 hour) from Mexico City to the town of Teotihuacan, where the famous Pyramids of the Sun and Moon are located. We will explore this stunning complex for several hours with a local guide.

In the afternoon we leave (2 hours) for the city of Puebla de Zaragoza or simply Puebla. There you can:

• Descend into the mouth of the world's smallest volcano. It is only 13 m tall.
• Look into the tunnels of the Great Pyramid of Cholula. It is considered the largest in the world (by volume, not height).
• Go on a safari ($15). There is an unusual zoo in Puebla, where animals roam freely, and visitors drive among them in their cars.
• Just take a walk around the historical center - traditional colonial buildings, a little baroque, many restaurants (this is where almost all Mexican cuisine was invented)

How much of this will we manage? Depends on us and on the traffic jams leaving Mexico City. Overnight at a hotel in Puebla.

At 8 am we leave for the mountains. Between Mexico City and Puebla there is a wall of the Popocatepetl volcano (5426 m). The volcano is active and periodically sneezes fire. We will go to Cortez Pass (3900 m), located on the bridge between Popocatepetl and the neighboring Iztaccíhuatl volcano (5230 m), to take a closer look at them. We walk a little and head down.

Our next destination is the Cacahuamilpa Cave (Grutas de Cacahuamilpa). It's more than 3 hours away, but we'll manage somehow. The cave is large, so a tour of it will take 2 hours (an hour going there, an hour back). Lighting is turned on for each group, but you can take a flashlight just in case. By the way, while we explore the dungeons, it will most likely get dark on the surface. We will return to Mexico City no earlier than 20:00. Let's not stay late - we'll get up early again tomorrow.

Our flight to Cancun leaves at 6 or 7 am. Therefore, we will have breakfast and sleep at the airport. We also rent a minibus there.

The flight to Yucatan is approximately 3 hours. Upon arrival, we rent the next car and drive through the central streets of Cancun. If you are interested, you can swim to Isla Mujeres (Island of Women) and there take an excursion to the museum of underwater sculpture (from 50 to 70 dollars for 3 hours). There are two possible viewing formats: diving with a mask (snorkeling) or a boat with a transparent bottom.

In the evening we move to the resort town of Playa del Carmen. It's cozier than Cancun, and located in the right direction. Tomorrow we are leaving for a big tour of Yucatan, and tonight we can just sit by the sea and relax.

The day will begin with a visit to several cenotes near Playa del Carmen. Perhaps it will be Chaak Tun and Dos Ojos. Or maybe we’ll choose others - fortunately there are a lot of cenotes here. A cenote is an underground river or lake in a cave with crystal clear water and stunning photogenicity. You can swim, dive and of course Instagram in them.

Then we see the ruins of the city of Tulum. Unlike other Mayan cities on this route, Tulum is located on the seashore (the Indians had a trading port here), which gives an amazing combination of azure water, palm trees and ancient buildings. After Tulum we make a 220 km drive to the Bacalar lagoon, where we stop for the night. There are also small cenotes here, and just a pleasant place to relax and swim.

In the morning we drop in for half an hour in Chetumal - a small modern town on the border with Belize. Then in 2 hours we reach our today's pyramids. Hidden in the middle of the endless forests of the Calakmul Nature Reserve is a complex of three Mayan cities (Becan, Xpujil, Chikanna), between which there are literally a couple of kilometers in a straight line. The buildings here may not be the largest, but there are few tourists.

After lunch we make a long (5 hour) drive towards Palenque. If we don’t get stuck anywhere, then there is a chance today to make it to the Misol-Ha waterfall (Cascada de Misol-Ha). Otherwise, we'll postpone it until tomorrow. Overnight in the town of Palenque, in close proximity to the Mayan city of the same name.

Palenque is a special Mayan city. It is both large and remote. There really is something to see here and at the same time there are no crazy crowds like at the ruins near Cancun. High towers, green jungles, terrifying bas-reliefs - Palenque is beautiful and we will devote at least 2 hours of our precious time to it. Then we drive (1.5 hours) to the Agua Azul waterfalls (Spanish: blue water). This is a whole complex of cascades and baths and creeks. In good weather, the water here is really blue and you can take a beautiful swim as a souvenir))

In the evening we turn north and make a long drive (4-5 hours) towards the Gulf of Mexico and Campeche. Most likely we will spend the night somewhere in Escarcega or another insignificant village on the highway.

With fresh energy, we fly to Campeche (San Francisco de Campeche) in a couple of hours and walk around the center. It consists of incredibly cute one-story colorful houses. You can also visit the fort and the embankment. Then another 1 hour in the car and we are at the ruins of Edzna. In the afternoon we get as close as possible to Uxmal. If possible, we visit several “minor” ruins - Sayil, Labna, Kaba. The difficulty here is that most archaeological complexes are open only until 17:00, and we work much longer))

Uxmal is an important site on the same level as famous complexes like Palenque and Chichen Itza. The unusual Wizard's pyramid, a well-preserved stadium and the large palace of the "governor". Lots of decorations in the Puuk style and scary masks of the god Chaaki. When we’re done with Uxmal, we’ll stop by the Loltun Cave (Grutas de Loltún).

After lunch we drive 3 hours towards the sea. We stop in the town of Celestun and at sunset we go for a motorboat ride on the lagoon of the same name. Mangroves, hundreds of pink flamingos (I wish), pelicans and other wildlife.

In the morning we go to Merida (a large city) and walk around the center for a couple of hours. Then 2 hours in the car and we are in Chichen Itza - the most popular Mayan settlement. There is the stunning Kukulcan Pyramid, the Temple of the Warriors, an ancient observatory, the Sacred Cenote and many other wonderful locations. However, there are also a lot of people in Chichen Itza, so you will have to be patient (for the sake of magical photos, of course).

Near Chichen Itza is the famous cenote Ik-Kil with photogenic hanging vines and a wide vent. We simply cannot help but look into it for a minute. It’s also advisable to swim in it, in order to completely complete the gestalt of classic Yucatan attractions.

In the evening we head along the highway to the sea. We spend the night in Playa del Carmen.

There are several excellent amusement parks near Playa del Carmen. The most famous of them is X-Caret. Entrance costs a lot (about $100), but there is plenty of entertainment here for the whole day. Stunningly beautiful area, palm trees, mangroves, own cenotes and beach area, large collection of animals (manatees!) and birds. During the day, real Indians in colorful costumes perform skits, and in the evening a big show begins, introducing the culture and history of Mexico over the last couple of thousand years. There will be Indian football, charros and mariachis, a lot of songs and choreography. Overall, the show is worth the money. But if you want, you can go to another park. For example, to the more adventurous Xplor or to the new cenotes. Or you can just go to the sea or take a ferry to the island of Cozumel.

The program is completed. You can fly home (directly from Cancun or via Mexico City) or stay a couple more days at sea. The guide and part of the group go to Cancun, return the car and fly to Miami, where a new tour of Florida will begin tomorrow (a US visa is required to participate).