Beware, this tour wasn't entirely what was described in the program. What was supposed to be a fun day of sight-seeing, ended up turning into a private shopping and pampering trip for the only other party that was in our group. The first stop was a clothing shop in a small village, where the other party spent 30 minutes shopping. But I thought, "Okay, let them have their shopping stop." The second stop was a pyramid in Izamal, which was a nice surprise, and I really enjoyed, but here the other party wasted another 30 minutes shopping. But our mood once again got better when we arrived at the convent, which was absolutely stunning! But from here, it really started to go downhill, and the final straw came at the next stop. We stopped off in a traditional Mayan village to visit a local healer, which wasn't listed in the program, though I'll admit was a cool experience. But what shouldn't have been more than a 20 minute stop, turned into a 2 hour stop, when both our guide and the other party in our group decided to get a massage. About an hour in, our guide told us we can go to the cenote that's in the village. The main reason I booked this tour was because it was supposed to stop at Cenote Ik Kil, but the cenote we were taken to was NOT the one that was listed in program. We got charged 300 pesos for two people, even though both me and the guide told the guy that I was only gonna go by myself. When I finally found a decent place to change my clothes (mind you there's no safe place to leave your clothes if you go by yourself), our guide had abandoned us to find our own way to the cenote. We ended up on the otherside from where the stairs were to the swimming area. I saw the condition of the cenote and decided I'm not gonna swim here or waste time trying to find the path down. We went back the healer, and the other party had STILL not finished with their massage. Our guide tried to get us a refund for the extra person that got charged, but to no avail. He also offered to take me to another cenote later for no extra charge, but there was no way we would've had time. When I mentioned to the guide that we were supposed to stop at Cenote Ik Kil, he said, "the lunch stop will be there." The lunch stop was NOT there. It was a buffet in a run-down Mayan village. We told our guide that we weren't gonna eat there, and at this point I think he felt bad, as he ended up leaving the other group at the buffet and taking us to Chichen Itza, so we would have an extra hour at the site, which we were grateful for as it allowed us to see the entire site, instead of just the north section. Though we still felt rushed as we got there two hours before closing time. It was dark by the time we arrived in Valladolid, and we literally just drove through. I think it was around 9:00 by the time we got back to Merida.
I have no resentment towards our guide, but he should have been more firm with the other group when they were wasting so much time. Instead, he basically allowed them to run the tour. That was a whole 3 hours that could have been used to visit Ik Kil, Valladolid and spend more time at Chichen Itza. Had it not been for that, we would have been perfect on time. That being said, I still give it 3 stars because Izamal and Chichen Itza were very beautiful and interesting and the guide DID make it up to us with that extra hour at Chichen Itza. Just be warned, that the actual tour wasn't entirely what was described in the program. I hope this was a learning experience for the guide and the company.