Chacchoben Ruins, Costa Maya, Mexico

“If I destroy you, I destroy myself. If I honor you, I honor myself.”

Hunbatz Men – Mayan quote

We took a cruise on Royal Caribbean to Mexico this past February. What an amazing trip. I will speak more of this on my next blog post. Today I want to tell you about an amazing tour with took to Chacchoben Ruins. We got off the cruise ship and walked to where we were meeting up with our tour. All the locals were very helpful with guiding us to where we needed to be. It was a pleasant walk and we got there early for our tour and checked in. As we were waiting for our tour, Patrick, a pure blooded Mayan pointed to us and said, “Come with me.” We jumped up excited that he was to be our tour guide. We got in a small air conditioned bus and got settled in for our drive with a cold bottle of water for each of us.

Patrick started talking as soon as we were leaving and gave us great information on being Mayan. He talked about how when he was just a baby, his mom practiced head binding. She strapped a block of wood on his forehead give him the shape skull the Mayans thought attractive with a sloped by forehead. This practice was thought to make one look noble and different from the main population and is what the Gods told them. It was said by doing this their skulls were more attractive and better able to bear burdens. It was apparent he was very proud of his Mayan heritage. He spoke very clearly and with a calmness that made us all relax. He stated by the end of the day, he would know everyone's name on the bus and that was about 16 people. He did by the way. I'm not sure how. He said our minds are full of so much that is not important and that is why we don't remember things like names. The ride was very interesting just seeing how the land looked with swampy and wooded areas, and scattered homes along the way. The ruins were a 50 mile pleasant ride from the Costa Maya Port on nice paved roads.

When we arrived, he allowed time to look around the shop on the outskirts of the park. The shops were run by Mayan women and men, selling their wares. None could speak English, but all smiled and were glad we came. We gathered up and started walking down the path through the tropical forest. We stopped at the sign about Chacchoben and Patrick let us know the earliest human settlements in the area were suspected to be 1000 BC even though though evidence points only to 200 BC. This site was occupied and then abandoned and reoccupied a few times. A significant date is 700 AD which is when the structures were built. It is hard to imagine how it was that many years ago.

He also told us about the Cohua family owned a farm near this site in the 1940's. In June 1972, Peter Harrison, an American archaeologist flew over the area in a helicopter and saw the site and reported it to the Mexican Government. They started the restoration of the site in 1994 and was closed to the public till 2002.

We walked down the trail and saw the largest of the ruins. How amazing. We were not allowed to walk on that one but Patrick took our picture in front of it. The size was amazing and it looked so beautiful with the blue skies above. Then we continued walking on the circular trail, past tropical plants and banyan trees to the next ruins. This ruins we were allowed to walk up and it was spectacular. We so enjoyed walking around and taking pictures.

When we finished and came down to where Patrick was sitting, he explained how the Mayans count. He showed us how they use sticks and stones to do the counting. It was an amazing lecture and I am still not sure I understand it. Watch the video and see if you can. I'm sorry the video wouldn't load but you can see where he has the stones, sticks and leaves he used for counting.  

We continued walking around to the next section. We were deep in the jungle and got to see the Spider Monkeys swinging in the trees. What an amazing thing to see. We enjoyed looking at all the different flora and fauna of the area with everything so different looking here in the jungle of Mexico. What a great tour this has been with Patrick.

We finished the tour by first stopping at the restrooms and shop where we started the day. We bought Joe and nice hat and enjoyed looking around at all the pottery, blankets, and Mexican wares. On our way back to the port, Patrick spoke about how the Mayans live, him included in a small thatched hut where they just sleep. They cook outside and keep their life simple. He said, “Do not feel sorry for the Mayans as it is a lifestyle we chose. We love our life and all that enter into it.”

We stopped on the way back to buy pineapples from the Pineapple ladies at their stand on the side of the road. They sold honey pineapples which was truly amazing. You could buy it whole or cut up. We bought a bag of cut up pineapple and it was the best I ever ate. So sweet and delicious.

On the way back to the port, Patrick continued talking and we had questions and answer time. We learned so much and just loved his calm demeanor. This was a special tour for us that we will not ever forget. Thanks Patrick for a great day.