Mexico we go 2012 - Part 2

April 22, 2012

Today is our third day in Mexico. Yesterday we achieved the status of beach bums and spent most of the time in the sun and the water. We discovered that one of the beach bars has swings around it and spent some time there swinging in the warm breeze, listening to the sounds of the waves break on the shore, and sipping our drinks. Those Coco Banana drinks are very tasty and nutritious - they have a real banana in them!

Today is our big adventure day. We are going on the Coba Maya Encounter Adventure tour run by Alltournative Offtrack Adventures, an ecotourism company. I have been eyeballing this tour ever since I read about it in a travel guidebook. During the tour you visit the Coba ruins, then are taken to an authentic Mayan village where you will rappel into a cenote (underground sinkhole pool), go ziplining over a lake, canoe through a lagoon, and eat an authetnic meal prepared by the Mayan women.

I love going to ancient sites and the Yucatan is full of them - Chichzen Itza, Tulum, El Balak, Uxmal, and Coba are some of the most popular Mayan ruins in the area. I've been to Chichen Itza and Tulum so Coba is a must for this trip. The Chichen Itza tour I took 13 years ago was a very grand affair. We took a huge air-conditioned tour bus to the ruins, got to swim in a very large cenote, stopped at a small village so we could purchase "authentic" souvenirs, and stopped at another village for dinner. Although I was totally in awe of Chichen Itza,  the tour was a little too touristy for me. On this trip I want to participate in something a little more intimate.

From what I've read on the Alltournative website, this tour will meet my requirements: the tour groups are limited to 12 people and they pick you up from your hotel in a small van. I've never been rapelling or ziplining before (neither has Jeff) and it would be great to knock those off my bucket list! Plus, I like the mission of Alltournative: to help various Mayan communities in Quintana Roo become self-sustaining and thus allow them to preserve their land and heritage.

Our Alltournative tour van picks us up in front of the lobby at 8:45 a.m. Our tour guide is a pretty young woman from Guadalajara named Isa. I'm a little dismayed to find out that most of our tour group speaks French. Not a deal breaker for me but I was hoping to make some friends on this outing. Plus, Isa will have to give us information in both French and English - I hope that she doesn't leave anything out because her voice gets tired!

Being in Mexico one would assume that you would hear a lot of Spanish being spoken. I studied Spanish in high school and college so although it is a little rusty I manage to understand quite a bit (and speak it too when I'm not afraid of making a mistake!). Not here though. One thing that Jeff and I noticed yesterday is that there are a lot of French-speaking people at our resort. On the beach we were surrounded by French speakers. Visitors from the US are far and few between. Canadians by far dominated the resort - many from Montreal-Quebec, others from the west side of Canada.

So we are not surprised to find out that our fellow English speaking travel companions are from Canada. As we drive to Coba Isa tells us about the history of the Yucatan pensinsula and about the flora and fauna of the region. I learn that one cup of water from a cenote contains as much calcium as 8 glasses of milk. This is due to the predominance of limestone that leaches into the water from the ground. This fact amazes me and I cannot wait to soak up that calcium during my cenote swim. I wonder if osteoporosis even exists here!

Coba is located about 30 minutes inland from the coast at Tulum. When we arrive we join another Alltournative group and are assigned a Coba tour guide named Juan who is of Mayan descent. He divides us into two groups, English on the right and French on the left. He is a wonderful guide - so full of information about the Mayan people and the Coba site. He's got quite a good sense of humor too.

Juan tells us that nearly 50,000 Mayans occupied Coba from 400 to 1100 AD. The heydays of Tulum (1200-1500AD) and Chichen Itza (625-925AD) took place much later, making Coba one of the oldest sites in the area. He tells us that although the site encompasses nearly 50 square miles, only one percent of its 6,000 structures have been excavated.

Riding a Mexican limo through Coba

Coba's claim to fame is its main pyramid, Nococh Mul or "large hill", which, at 138 feet, is the tallest in the Yucatan. After talking with us for 45 minutes, Juan sets us free in the jungle in search of this pyramid. We will only have about an hour to see Nococh Mul and the rest of the structures so we opt to take a "Mexican limousine" there. I am excited about climbing the pyramid. I climbed Chichen Itza's most awesome Temple of Kulkulkan (El Castillo) when I was there in 1998. I discover that I am lucky - not many people will be able to say they have climbed both since the government closed El Castillo off to climbers in 2006 and they may soon do the same with Nococh Mul.

Nococh Mul does indeed loom large out of the jungle, a massive tower of limestone bricks. Jeff looks a little unsure about climbing it but I start ascending right away. I always joke that I'm part jackrabbit and I guess it's true. I have no fear of heights and soon I am halfway up.

At the top I turn and look at the vast expanse of jungle laid out before me, broken only by the top of a ruin. The view is magnificent and I can see for miles.

Ball court

The oval temple

The other structures pale in comparison to Nococh Mul, although the ball courts are pretty impressive. We could have easily spent another couple hours exploring the ruins but our tour needs to continue on. Next stop, the Mayan village of Pac Chen.

The drive to Pac Chen is long and bumpy. Although it is only 15 miles from Coba, the road is unpaved and slow-going. While we drive, Isa maps out the rest of our day: first we will participate in a Mayan purification ceremony, rappel into a cenote, zipline, canoe, and then have lunch. Lunch? I think. It is now about 12:00, which is lunchtime by my watch and I am hungry. I regret not bringing any snacks.

Pac Chen is a traditional Mayan village of 125 people that, according to Fodor's website, has no running water or electricity (although I do see a few satellite dishes and wonder if that claim is true). The people live in thatch huts. Isa tells us that they sleep in traditional hammocks. The village's main source of income is the money generated by the tours that Alltournative brings through (only 80 people per day are allowed into the village).

When we arrive we are led to a hut with lockers. Isa advises the group to leave our backpacks in the lockers. I take my camera anyway. Rappelling and ziplining are once-in-a-lifetime things for me and there is no way that I'm not going to take the opportunity to document them!

Our adventure in Pac Chen begins with a 20-minute hike through the jungle. Isa is a fast walker so there is no time to linger and take it all in as I'd like. We arrive at a cleared area where a Mayan elder stands in front of an altar. In the air I smell the sweet scent of copal, a resin-like substance that is burned like incense and used in purification ceremonies.

Isa tells us that the elder is going to purify us before we go into the cenote. She says that the cenote is sacred to the village and they don't want any negative energies or entities to enter it. We stand and the elder begins the ceremony. He speaks in Mayan but I catch the intent of what he's saying. He is praying to the Mayan gods, the 4 directions, to above and below. He lights a sage-like herb and makes the Mayan cross in front of each of us. I don't know about anyone else but when he is done I feel lighter.


Now it's time to put on the rappelling equipment. We are all given harnesses to put on, then Isa demonstrates how we are going to make our way into the cenote. I look down into the cenote. The water is the most beautiful water I have ever seen - even more brilliant than the ocean by our resort. It looks like a turquoise gem.

I'm not really nervous but I still don't want to be the first one to go. Two men volunteer to go first. They make it look so easy that Jeff and I want to be next. Isa hooks our harness onto a large rope. We are told to hold the connected end with our right hand and the slack end with our left. To go lower we only need to slowly let up the slack end.

Sounds easy, right? It actually is. Soon we are at the bottom and are transferred to large, black inner tubes. The water is not as cold as I would have thought. It's refreshing, like Lake Michigan is refreshing (at least it is to me!), and feels good on my hot, damp skin. The tone inside the cenote is reverent and quiet. I see bats flit to and fro. I hear the rhythm of stalactites as their condensation drips into the pool, plink, plink, plink. Small black catfish swim around me and I try not to be bothered.

When we are all sufficiently refreshed, Isa tells us how to get out of the cenote. There are two ways: one is by climbing a ladder and one is via the "Mexican elevator", which essentially involves being pulled up and out of the cenote. I am feeling adventurous so I choose to climb the ladder. It's a long way up but I feel like I can handle the climb. Jeff opts for the elevator.

Next up is ziplining! We keep our harnesses on and hike a short way to what looks like a small lake. In actuality it is an open cenote. One by one we don our helmets. I want to be one of the last to go in order to watch Jeff. When it is my turn Isa helps me hook my harness to the zipline. She counts down from three and away I go! It is a thrilling feeling to be flying through the jungle. All too soon it is over. I wish I could have another turn as I was too focused on not losing my shorts (which were tucked into my harness) and trying to prevent from turning backwards.

Our last activity before we eat is to canoe the lagoon. Jeff and I both agree that we'd be happy to skip this activity because we are so tired and hungry, but everyone participates and so do we. The lagoon is pretty - the water is a yellowish-green in spots and the trees are very verdant. I do keep an eye out for crocodiles since they live on the lagoon.

Now for the food!!! We are ushered into a mid-size hut. There are two tables that run the length of the hut and at the front is a table with hot food being laid out on it by two young Mayan girls. Isa explains what the dishes are. There is chicken in achiote (a red colored herb), rice and beans, squash empenadas, salsa, spaghetti, and vegetables such as carrots, jicama, cucumbers and tomatoes. There is also hot vegetable soup made from carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. I try some of everything except for the spaghetti, since I can get that at home. Everything is delicious, especially the soup. Isa said that we could have seconds if we wish but the next tour group enters before I can do so, which is a little disappointing.

This is the end of our tour. We toast it with a tequila shot and then crowd into the van. It has been a long day full of adventure and exercise and soon the motion of the van lulls me to sleep.

Stay tuned for Part 3, where Jeff and I go exploring outside the resort on our own!