Ivan and David review - 6/8

Dis the Chaccobean ruins tour 6/8. Made it to Majahual via taxi and sasw the cats meow. They collected our money and off we went. There were two tour busses, one with IVan and one with DAvid.

We had Ivan as our guide and he definitely shows pride with his heritage.

He took the time to explain Mayan culture during our ride out.

Then after we got there, we were a small but inquisitive group and he explained everything in detail for as long as we needed. So much knowledge

and info he has to offer. Unfortuneately we only had two hours there. Luckily it was cloudy so the temp and bugs weren't too bad. They provide water once you are there and it was welcome. Afterwards they will drop you off at the dock or take you back to Mahajaul.

Two thumbs up. We really learned a lot .

We took this tour with David in the other Van, (i didn't even know there was another van...?).

Anyway it was extremely excellent, and David is a pleasure, he was so knowledgable and charming.

We got off the dock and were rushing as we thought we'd be late from the Zuiderdam. The port at Costa Maya, is kinda mahem, as after you get off the pier, you are brought to an area where there are dozens of tours lined up for the various sites, and hundreds of people (we had three ships there that day).

You have to keep walking and ask them where to get the Taxis....

You go thru all the people, past all the shops, until finally you are routed past the big mega tour buses, and you have to stand in line to buy a ticket for a taxi at $3 per person. Then stand in another line and they load people into either buses, vans, etc.

You tell them you want to go to the fishing village for shopping.

Once you get to the fishing village, they drop everyone off at the only road I saw and you just keep going straight until you see the cats meow, one of the first eateries. We were met there no problem they are right in front.

Everyone was chilling in the open air cats meow, having beers (for 1.50 yes!)

and cheviche.... we were running late but did the same.

The tour loaded us into ac van, with 6 others, they provided bottled water on the way out. The drive took about 35-40 mins, don't know, David told us so much on the way out about the mayan culture, history, local cultures....the wildlife....

When we arrived at the ruins, we were guided personally by David, and he knew so much and provided so many details it was incredible. He answered all questions....several times. Very patient. He was very considerate to stop and talk under shaded areas.

It was overcast, but still hot and humid, afterall we were in the jungle. The jungle was beautiful, the trees were fantastic. He told us about all the plant life, and picked various leaves of trees and bushes for us to smell, some like anise, one was a numbing agent, (it really numbed your mouth!!!), like the dentist use...others I forgot already.

The ruins were fantastic, it was a whole village.

Afterwards, we shopped in the little shops setup there. The little shops there also had drinks and snacks.

My husband got carried away with the local merchants and bought too much stuff and forgot this was a cash only city and didn't leave enough for our tip for David. We were stressed out about this, as he forgot to leave even enough to get our taxi back to port. Not used to doing cash only. David probably overheard us, as he offered to drop us back at the port, and others back to the village. We took his address and are sending him a very nice thank you.

David stopped on the way back from the ruins (almost forgot) at a local cantina, and offered to buy everyone sodas, or beers. The lady at the shop gave him a hard time about taking the beers to go, something about returning the bottles, so david told her he'd drive back and bring the bottles.

We had plenty of time to explore the village, but since we didn't have any more $$ we went back to port.

The port village is very commercialized and controlled. They need to fix the monopoly they have on this taxi situation, because taxi drivers are not allowed to pick you up, so you see all these empty taxis leaving, but you cannot get into one. What a waste. The taxi situation causes a major hassle and because of this alot of our fellow passengers won't leave the port center, they are really losing a lot of $$$ because people are afraid to leave port because of how this port is being monopolized by the local authorities.

On the flip side the commercial port is fun and safe place to stay, my teen and his friends went and stayed at the beach with the port pools that are free for everyone's use. They have plenty of shops and food there.

jj

Thanks for the posts. We are doing this tour in August and can't wait. Anything special we should look for?

We are doing this tour on 7/6. One question, do you recommend socks & tennis shoes or will sturdy sandals do? Thanks

Oops, posted twice! Darn computer!

We are doing this tour on 7/6. One question, do you recommend socks & tennis shoes or will sturdy sandals do? Thanks

I would recommend tennis shoes and socks, because you do walk through the woods/jungle around the temples, etc. If you don't mind things slipping in between your toes, then sandals will be fine. There is a lot of uneven ground, tree roots, etc.

HTH

June

Definately don't want anything wierd between my toes!:eek: Tennis shoes it is!

We just completed the tour on 6/23. David and Ivan were great hosts. Hardest thing was to find the cab stand among the shops at the end of the docks. You have to pay for the tickets at a booth instead of walking up to a waiting van or bus. It is the only taxi service in town as the unions we were told tightly control this business. The day we were in the village, water service and facilities were not available at David's shop, but we easily flound rest rooms a few doors down. Bottled water was supplied, so you could save yourself $2. Both guys are facinating guides that obviously have great pride in the Mayan people, culture and ruins site. They also give back to the local villages their time and money. We wore tennis shoes and sox as the walking paths for the most part are rocky or plain dirt. Bug spray was eally required and we can prepared with deet wipes. There was some food available at the site, but we just bought some extra water. There were also some handicraft items and other things for sale. Be prepared to barter and ask David and Ivan to give you some words in the Mayan language to use. It is fun if that's what you like to do. We were driven back to the Docks rather than the village. We highly recommend their services.

We toured with Ivan on 6/22. We had no trouble getting transportation into town, as one of the men working there took our money (gave his belongings as security) and quickly brought us our tickets and took us to an air-conditioned bus. Even though we were early, David was out there with his sign. We learned that Ivan's family actually owned this land where the ruins are located and not only was it just taken from them without any compensation, the politcos are doing everything they can to stop David and Ivan from giving tours as they won't join the union (mob?) David and Ivan were the first to start giving tours to these ruins, and who should have more right than the actual owners of the property? Excellent tour at very reasonable price. was the highlight of our cruise.

How hard is it to find the busses to town, I'll be there next week and I'm only worried about that part.

How hard is it to find the busses to town, I'll be there next week and I'm only worried about that part.

Pretty easy. You go into the marketplace area at the end of the pier. There is a taxi stand there(there is only one stand). $3pp gets you a voucher, which will in turn get you a taxi. Just tell them you are going to Majahual and you'll have no problem. :p

Just wanted to mention something about our tour with Ivan that was unique and I will bet money it didn't happen on the ship tours. He found two different artifacts. He said they often get near the surface after the rain. He used a pen from one of the others on the tour and very carefully dug it out. One part was broken from having been walked on, but the other was an amazing carving of a warrior-like face. (no, he absolutely could not have planted it there) He also found a piece of pottery but that was quite broken. He said he had to turn the carving into the archeological society. Just one of many reasons to go to these ruins and to do it with David and Ivan.

"We toured with Ivan on 6/22. We had no trouble getting transportation into town, as one of the men working there took our money (gave his belongings as security) and quickly brought us our tickets and took us to an air-conditioned bus. Even though we were early, David was out there with his sign. We learned that Ivan's family actually owned this land where the ruins are located and not only was it just taken from them without any compensation, the politcos are doing everything they can to stop David and Ivan from giving tours as they won't join the union (mob?) David and Ivan were the first to start giving tours to these ruins, and who should have more right than the actual owners of the property? Excellent tour at very reasonable price. was the highlight of our cruise." Posted by Solboz

Me and my buddy were on the same tour.. I would highly recommend them. He knows so much and probably could go on for hours. Very informative. You will not be disappointed at all with Ivan.

Salboz

I went on the tour with Ivan on June 29th and he showed us the idol that you are talking about. He also told us the story about finding it and digging it out with a pen.

Just to let you know he took the idol home and cleaned all the dirt out of it and put the pieces back together. When he was cleaning the dirt out of the inside of it he found it was hollow and found some very small rare gems inside the idol. Ivan believes that the idol was used for a sacrifice. Ivan said that he was going to turn the idol and its contents over to the archeological society.

While we were with Ivan he found several small pieces of pottery, along with a couple of people in our group. Ivan said all you had to do was look closely and you would find things that the archeologist had missed or not found yet.