Chacchoben Ruins

It's a new day in the Atlantic... or so says the elevator mats that reminds guests that time passes on cruises by displaying what day it is at all times.

Today's stop: Costa Maya.

Costa Maya is a unique port for cruises. While the more established ports such as Cozumel and Cancun have hotels/tourism infrastructure built up all around them, Costa Maya does not.

It's not due to lack of interest though.

The local community and officials saw what happened to the surrounding cities. While they were interested in sharing their jungle and sites with visitors, they prohibited most developers from building tourist shops beyond the gated tourist port. They wanted to share their area without completely changing everything about their land.

We were able to check out the ruins. This turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip as it was very interesting to experience them in person.

Fun facts: Mayans are still around.

While the ancient Mayan empire is no longer around, the area where the Mayan empire existed still has people who can trace their ancestry back to the Mayan empire. The language (Maya) was preserved throughout the generations and is still around today (just not widely spoken).

Historical Facts (just a few quick ones- there are many more on the tour)

The ruins have been well known to locals in the area for a long time. The discovery date often seen online is actually the official "report date" to academic journals. This means that it was reported to academic journals/historical societies which is the equivalent of discovering them in the eyes of history books.

The Mayan pyramids were built on top of each other in order to make it a taller platform. This makes them different than the Egyptian pyramids of Giza, which have tunnels, mummies and uses inside of them.

Trail difficulty

Easy to moderate. Surprisingly enough, it is a well-marked trail even though it's in the middle of the jungle. It's not paved, but the pathways are fairly easy to navigate.

Wildlife: Spider Monkeys

Spider monkeys are magnificent animals to watch. If there weren't a ship to catch, it would be mesmerizing to watch them climb and jump trees for hours. Fun fact: Spider Monkeys use their tail as a limb to support their weight when swinging in addition to their arms and legs.

Trees

The trees in the area were extremely unique. There were many different kinds of trees in a small area.

Junk Food

In order to combat obesity, Mexico recently implemented regulations for snack food companies to list whether or not the snacks had an excessive amount of calories, sodium or sugar.

I thought this was a pretty creative way to educate people instead of sticking to the nutritional values that people might not be familiar with from a scale standpoint. See a bag of chips with it listed below (Salsa flavored chips are also unique).

Overall, this is a highly recommended excursion for visitors who would like to see a historical site and enjoy light hiking. Going through a local tour company also allows more time at the ruins and more information is given to you at the sites.

It's not difficult to get to, but does require a little bit of navigating outside of the port area (take a screenshot of the map and follow it- you'll find it).

Adios!