Guided tours of the ancient Mayan culture, lost in the jungle of Coba and Chichen Itza

Pyramids created for sacrifices to the gods, observatories, ancient temples and hieroglyphs - all this is an ancient city lost in the ancient jungle - Coba, which is the heart of the disappeared Mayan empire. This city and other excursions to the ancient Mayan culture will be discussed in this article.

Be sure to read the previous article on travel to Mexico, in which I talked about the exotic life of the Caribbean coast and excursions in Xaret National Park.

Guided tours of the ancient Mayan culture

On an excursion to the ancient Mayan cities, I decided to go on my own with a Russian guide, who charges for an excursion in Mexico is not so expensive, but talked about everything that was interesting to me. Why didn't I take the tour from the tour operator? They are very expensive, the guides do not know anything and do not want to go to the city, they sit on buses, and the reviews about such excursions are very negative, so the ideal option is to find your own guide.

If you decide to book an independent excursion to the ancient cities of the Mayan civilization, then there will be no problems. A minibus picks up for you and you go on an excursion to the city of Coba and Chitzen - Itza. About one hour drive and you are there.

Excursion to the city of Chichen - Itza

The very first thing that you will see upon arrival in the city of Chichen - Itza is a shopping arcade with a variety of souvenirs. I advise you to come on this excursion very early, at this time there are few tourists here and there is something to photograph. The most important attraction of the city of Chichen - Itza is the pyramid (temple) of the god Kukulkan.

If you briefly talk about this place, bloody rituals were held here as a sacrifice to the gods, the sensations of the presence were of course bewitching, rock paintings and ancient hieroglyphs will tell you about this.

The pyramid of the god Kukulkan is a very interesting architecture, it is designed and built in such a way that if you stand at a certain point and shout, you will hear the cry of a bird (“Quetzal”), which in ancient times was hunted and revered as a god by all the Mayan tribes. Her feathers were so valuable that they cost several human lives. It was the leaders who had such an opportunity to decorate their headdresses with bird feathers.

As for all buildings in the city of Chichen - Itza, they are closed for a closer visit, you will not be able to climb. And I do not advise taking out the camera, very often, without explanation, they are not allowed to take pictures here, I did not risk it, since the fine for this is more than a thousand dollars.

You will also see another attraction of the ancient Mayan traditions - the Temple of the Warriors. The most memorable thing for me was that a huge number of columns of this temple were carved in the form of warriors (Toltecs).

Excursion to the City of Coba

If you wish, you can get acquainted with the entire ancient civilization of the Mayan empire for the whole day, many tourists stretch this pleasure for several days. I chose only what was interesting to me, namely the city of Coba and Chichen - Itza. It is also worth noting separately my trip to the Mysterious Cenotes, which was organized on a separate day and will be described in the following articles about Mexico.

Well, we got to the city of Koba, which is also a city very fascinating in its energy, it is so quiet here that you can only hear the wind in the jungle. And by the way, to get to this place you will need to travel a short distance on a pedicab.

In the city of Koba there is the highest pyramid located on the Yucatan Peninsula and it is called Nohoch Mul. If my memory serves me, the height of the pyramid is 42 meters and 120 steps up. You should definitely get to the top, you will have a very beautiful view of the valley.

All the steps of this pyramid in the city of Koba are not very well preserved, so there is a rope for tourists, holding on to which you can climb to the very top, and go down too, do not forget to wear good shoes, it will be very slippery in sandals.

Having descended from the pyramid and if you have time, then you should definitely drive around the city, a lot of ancient architectural structures of the Mayan empire deserve your attention.

All ancient cities have different ball fields in size. It was a very interesting game in which a two-kilogram rubber ball had to be thrown into a ring located at a distance of about 5 meters from the ground. The biggest prize in this game was death. A strange prize, of course, but it's a fact!

I advise you to immediately visit these excursions, I strongly recommend visiting them with a Russian guide on your own, the cost of such an excursion from a tour operator will be about $ 130, if you find a guide, you will save twice.

Be sure to find out about the best place where to go to Mexico will be profitable and interesting, the heading will tell you about all the nuances of planning a budget trip.

In the next article about travel to Mexico, I will talk about the mysterious Cenote, which is known throughout the world as the “devil's gorge”, do not forget to subscribe and follow the travels on travel-picture.ru.