Review of Chichen Itza, Ek Balam, Cenote and Tequila Factory Tour
Our family of 4 travelled to the Yucatan from the UK in October 2017. We only had one week in the area and chose this tour because in one day it covered several of the sites and activities we wanted to experience. As we were based in Tulum it made sense to visit Chichen Itza and Ek Balam on the same day to minimise the amount of time spent travelling even though this made it a fairly long day. But well worth it, and being picked up and dropped off at our hotel, and driven to all the locations, made it all very easy for us.
We were picked up from our hotel in Tulum at around 8am. Our guide was Raoul and the driver Adrian. Both were very professional. Raoul was extremely knowledgeable and Adrian got us there and back safely, having to drive through some difficult conditions in very heavy downpours.
Our first stop on the journey was at a co-operative run by local Mayan people, who sell a wide range of handicrafts there. I bought a hat which I really love, and wore it all the time for the rest of the holiday.
Next stop was Ek Balam, which means Black Jaguar a very special, atmospheric site, with ruins set amongst lush jungle vegetation. The first structures we came to were set around a courtyard and included an archway which was the entrance to the site. After climbing the Oval Palace, which gave us a good view of the other buildings, we proceeded past the ball court to the main pyramid, the impressive Acropolis. Before reaching the top you come to a level where you find the Jaguar Altar, with huge carved teeth at the entrance to the palace. At this level there are also many carved figures including winged Mayans.
Having descended and walked back through the jungle, we headed for our next stop Chichen Itza. As expected the site was busy I was pleased that we were part of a small group and not one of the huge coach parties we saw there. Raoul led us first of all to the ball courts and pointed out the key features and sculptures such as the serpents and skulls. We then walked towards the main pyramid, Kukulkan, and the Temple of a Thousand Warriors.
The next activity on our itinerary was a cenote swim, which we opted to do prior to having lunch. The cenote we visited was Ik Kil, located on a complex with a hotel and restaurant. There were changing rooms, lockers and a shower to use before descending the wooden staircase to the cenote. It was like a scene from a film a beautiful pool, open to the sky, with waterfalls and cascades of tropical vegetation. My two sons leapt into the 40 metre deep water from a stone ledge but I took the option of descending via some steps. After a cool and refreshing swim we ascended, changed, and had lunch at the nearby restaurant. There was a bit of a queue but it moved fairly fast and we soon had a good plateful of food each from the well-stocked buffet of both hot and cold food.
The last stop on our journey was the Mayapan Tequila distillery, which was fun and interesting as we learnt about the Blue Agave cactus plant and the different processes involved in making tequila. We also had the opportunity to taste and purchase tequila. We were there for about ¾ of an hour, which is plenty of time to do everything. We were back at our hotel by about 6.30pm.
As well as being very busy, Chichen Itza felt quite noisy at times. There are many stalls around the site, many of which were selling whistles which make jaguar sounds, and the stall holders insisted on blowing them every few minutes which was quite distracting. Otherwise, I found that the stall holders did not hassle us and seemed quite friendly.
We probably could have spent more time at Chichen Itza as we didnt see some of the structures such as the Caracol and Las Monjas, but we were quite tired by this time, having already been to Ek Balam, and were looking forward to our cenote swim and lunch. Overall though, the tour was excellent, informative, well planned and we packed a lot into the day.