It’s getting dark and cold after 4:30 pm in Denver in early December. There isn’t even any snow. Somehow, snow is making winter more manageable for me. I wouldn’t say I like it when it’s cold, and there is no snow at all. Luckily, my family and I are leaving for Cancun, Mexico, in a few days. That should give us some boost to get through this winter! The plan is not to sit at an all-inclusive resort and soak up the sun on a beach. It’s going to be a family road trip across the Yucatan peninsula full of adventure and Mayan history exploration!

We left our house early in the morning. It took us a whole day to get to Cancun as we had to change flights in Houston, TX. The first challenge in Cancun was getting our rental car. We booked a standard vehicle as we would drive a lot and needed to fit my wife, myself, and our two kids, 11 and 13.

Rental Car Hustle

I was prepared for a hassle at the car rental office since I researched and asked a few friends who rented cars in Mexico. Europcar at Cancun Airport gave us a sweet deal, which I expected was designed to lure customers and sell overpriced insurance. And I was right!

$170 for 11 days of car rental and $400 for insurance! What a deal! An agent explains: “Driving a car in Mexico is very dangerous, you know?” “And that insurance you say you have through your bank and credit card will not work!” “Our system does not see your insurance! That’s bad!” “You will be charged the entire car price ($16k) on your card,” and so on.

Anyway, after making a few phone calls to Chase credit card support and two hours with a very intense car rental agent, we happily loaded our stuff in a car. Our Chase car insurance was good. We got an excellent Nissan in which we all fit comfortably. The car rental agent did not look very happy, though.

Playa del Carmen & Cozumel

It was already dark and raining. The good thing was we only had to drive to Playa del Carmen on a decent highway. It all went seamlessly to our hotel with an underground parking lot. We even managed to get a nice dinner in a lovely restaurant nearby!

Our next hotel was on the island of Cozumel, and we needed to take a ferry to get there. We failed to get any information at the hotel front desk, so we decided that the best would be to drive to the ferry port and see for ourselves. We could swing by, get tickets and go exploring, right?

Not too fast! A ferry was leaving in about three hours. A guy at a gate told us to get in a line and wait unless we might not even get on board! Alright, we waited and boarded the ferry a few hours later. It wasn’t smooth, but we all felt we were on vacation already. It was a lot warmer than in Colorado!

Cozumel

We arrived at Cozumel and our hotel in the late afternoon. It was a nice place, although an annoying salesperson was bothering us with a kind of revamped timeshare for hotels. We got rid of him quickly and explored the available restaurants within the all-inclusive resort. As my wife and I suspected, the food was OK and reminded me of a better cafeteria. We thought this incentivized us to explore local food outside of the resort.

My plan here at Cozumel was to engage in scuba diving and finalize my open-water certification. I first dove about fifteen years ago together with my wife during our honeymoon trip in Thailand. I tried convincing my wife to pick up the scuba diving together. “We cannot both die and leave our kids alone in a foreign country,” she declared. However, I haven’t turned away after this clear exaggeration of the risks associated with scuba diving, and I was determined to follow through with my plan.

And yeah, I was extremely grateful to my wife for all the support she gave me during my struggles with MS and with my scuba diving endeavor here!     

Scuba Diving at Cozumel Coral Reef

I hoped to use my Padi certification from my first scuba diving experience. A guy at the hotel front desk and their adventure specialist was not very helpful. I soon realized that I must find some dive shops myself online and got a bunch of responses in no time. I quickly booked a refresher course with Pepe Scuba the next afternoon and a two-tank boat dive the following day! We will dive to see the second-largest coral reef in the world!

I came to the dive shop as requested and had to fill out some documents. There was a health questionnaire, of course. I was wondering if I should declare that I am taking medication due to my MS. I was also aware that some of the symptoms due to MS could mimic the sickness associated with scuba diving and depressurization. I better ask, I thought. A guy at the desk winked at me and said I should deny all of those as this only adds unnecessary paperwork! “Alright,” I said and started to put on my gear.

My diving instructor, Abdias, was a grumpy guy. “You do not remember anything,” he shouted whenever I asked or was unsure about the gear and scuba diving details. “Don’t worry, it’s like riding a bicycle!” added the front desk diving shop manager to boost my confidence. We walked down the beach into the sea and swam about 15 feet deep. Basic safety drills were alright; we even saw a vast Stingray.

The Large Coral Reef

I was getting picked up at a pier next to my hotel. Abdias, with his boat and a bunch of divers, showed up about 30 minutes late. “Mexico, you know,” proclaimed the pier support person. This could happen in Colorado, I said to myself, and at least it’s warm here, and I jumped into the boat.

The diving was spectacular; I saw myriads of fish, giant turtles, sharks, and many stingrays! The reef itself was very interesting, too. We passed through multiple caves and crevasses. Everything seemed full of life. The only sad thing was that it was obvious the corals were dying.

I got a little nauseous after I got on board the boat. The wind and wavy sea did not help, either. So I got to feed some fish, which is a diver’s expression for puking. I even considered that maybe I couldn’t do the second dive. We parked the boat at a bay where the sea was calm. My stomach stabilized, and I did the second dive, too!

My mission was accomplished! I thought MS was not interfering with this endeavor, and I promised to keep doing more scuba diving. I must convince my wife to join me next time, though!

She was very proud of me and did not forget to advertise my success to the kids. “Daddy was diving to see the largest coral reef in the world!” she exclaimed. “The second largest,” our son corrected.      

 

On the Road Along the Mayan Yucatan Coast

So, our family continued our Mayan adventure road trip down to the south of Quintana Roo – the eastmost state on Yucatan. We took advantage of the car and drove around the island to explore. The weather was not perfect, but we saw some excellent museums, a lighthouse, and a bunch of tiny Mayan ruins. The highlight was a small restaurant called Miss Deleites run by a local couple. It was a small place; only we and the owners cooked in the same room where we sat. We felt like visiting friends cooking for us some delicious local foods! I tasted vegan lasagna out of curiosity and learned that vegan cuisine can be delicious!

We boarded the ferry back to the mainland refreshed and filled with good vibes. So far, we feel very safe and have not experienced any signs of crime or danger. This is something we were warned about a lot in advance. Could it be that people in the US tend to exaggerate the dangers of Mexico? We arrived in Tulum a few hours later and soon explored the next resort by a beach nearby.

Maya Tulum

The Maya Tulum resort was a beautiful set of cozy cottages with hay roofs, situated by a lovely beach with just a few people. Everything looked perfect in the afternoon, although I thought the music from the beach restaurant was a bit too loud. We did not care about that as long as the beach and sea were noisy and we could jump the waves.

The music seemed to get even louder in the evening, and we learned that it came from a beach club called Balabamba next door. The thump, thump, thump sound was prominent, but the hotel front desk reassured us that it would cease at 10 pm. It did not, and eventually, we moved to another cottage at 11:30 pm to escape the noise and sleep in peace.

Cenote Snorkeling

The next day, we visited a lovely Cenote, an opening in the ground with access to water and a connection to underground caves. We did not realize that a tour would involve swimming for one hour in a dark cave. The cave was filled with crystal clear water about ten feet deep, although there were openings to a massive cave system going very deep and miles and miles far away. We got wetsuits and life vests, so it was easy to stay afloat! We could see everything underwater through a snorkeling mask.

Our daughter was terrified, especially when she saw a bunch of small fish swimming in the water. We got worried and showed her a way out. She could get out of the water and wait for us at the entrance. “No, I can do it and will stay with you,” she said and got applause from the tour participants. We felt proud of her! Later, she confessed that the true reason for her bravery was that she was frightened of standing by the dark cave entrance alone even more!

Before our trip, I was curious about the system of underground caves and rivers underneath the Yucatan. This Cenote and cave exploration has greatly satisfied my curiosity! But there are hundreds or even thousands of Cenotes like this one across Yucatan. There is so much to explore!

The following day, we were about to continue to a place where this underground cave-river system comes to the ground and eventually enters the sea. We were traveling to Bacalar and the Lagoon of Seven Colors.

Bacalar Lagoon

It took us about half a day to get from Tulum to Bacalar. Our hotel was situated right at the shore of the lagoon. We could take a kayak to explore a little, which was nice. The lagoon is large, and we needed a motorboat to see it and learn more about the origins of the seven colors. We paddled a little near the shore around the hotel. Though, there was no colorful magic visible from the kayaks.

The next day, we jumped on a motorboat with a guide and rode around the entire lagoon. The colors of the lagoon are caused by the clean and warm water coming out of the underground caves. Another aspect of the different depths of the lagoon is that the shape of the bottom is formed by the numerous caves that pour water in from different depths, creating sand banks and so on.

The color changes into several shades of blue, which is most noticeable under direct sunshine. I always thought that the salty water of a sea is needed to produce these colors. The lagoon contains only fresh water and yet produces quite a dazzling show. I think there is no other place like this elsewhere where rivers bring a lot of mud. The only comparisons I can think of are lakes with clean glacial water.

Xpujil and Calakmul

Our next destination was a city called Xpujil, situated in a jungle in a different Mexican state – Campeche. We intended to visit an archeological site called Calakmul. Calakmul is one of the oldest Mayan heritage sites in Yucatan and was one of the key destinations of family adventure. It was a long drive to Xpujil, with heavy traffic and many dump trucks supporting the construction of a new railroad system – Maya Train. An exciting project that should make this place more reachable in the future and should connect the entire Yucatan by a railroad loop!

We hired a guide to take us to Calakmul the next day. We embarked early in the morning but had to drive another 60 miles to get to the middle of the jungle. Calakmul was a magical place where dozens of Spider and Howler Monkeys greeted us. We immediately appreciated having the guide as he started to explain all the details of the Mayan site with such passion. You could tell that the guide was a descendant of ancient Mayans!

Mayan Civilization Decline

The effort the ancient civilization made to create these buildings is awe-inspiring. The Mayan civilization was very religious and built numerous temples to follow the sun’s cycle throughout the year. There is a dedicated temple for every notable sun cycle event: winter and summer solstices and equinox. And, of course, the calendars of the Mayans were impeccable as they were watching for every possible sign or omen that the Gods could have given.

It’s only sad that, as is often the case in human history, this enormous activity led to their doom. Most of the forests and wood available were sacrificed partially to farming and mainly for the heat conditioning of limestone used to build all these impressive structures. That was probably one of the main reasons why it wasn’t sustainable. And so one day it went; puff! And everybody just left suddenly. I guess the religious superstition that gave this civilization the boost to rise has also fueled its decline when so many bad omens must have been clear signs of an end. Was it God’s command to leave?      

Valladolid

We were very impressed by the story of the Mayan civilization. We stopped at another archeological site on the way back. It wasn’t as large as Calakmul, but it was spanning about half a mile squared. Even more impressive was that dozens of archeological sites like this one were just in the jungle nearby. The whole peninsula is filled with these structures!

We continued our journey north of Yucatan on the 21^st of December, the winter solstice. And sure enough, this meant massive celebrations in every village along the way. I guess that the solstice celebrations are more important than Christmas here. I thought the Mayan heritage still lives in the hearts and habits of local people.    

Finally, we arrived at Valladolid in the evening. Valladolid had a lovely colonial charm, and many of the streets there reminded me of cities in Spain. Our hotel was in the city center of Valladolid so that we could soak up the atmosphere there and, of course, continue with the solstice celebration. A parade of allegorical cars and crowds of happy, screaming, and dancing people were included!

Riviera Maya and Cancun

After a morning stroll through Valladolid, we took off toward the coast and Cancun, as this was our last day. We visited some of the beaches there but weren’t too impressed by the crowds on the hotel-surrounded waterfront of the Riviera Maya. We left for Cancun after a while, dropped our stuff at the hotel, and went to explore Cancun. There was a pleasant pedestrian zone with lovely Christmas decorations, and we grabbed dinner while watching our last sunset on the Yucatan peninsula.   

Rogue Police Stop

OK, this would have been a nice finish line. We were driving down a highway to return to the hotel when I heard a police siren behind us. We pulled over and waited for a police officer to show up. I knew something was off when I noticed he had a massive golden ring on each of his fingers. “You were speeding,” the officer announced, “you drove 70 km/h when the speed limit was 30 km/h!”

To cut this short, they demanded that we pay $400 on the spot, and we could have paid by a credit card. Our bank declined the credit card payment, and we had only 100 pesos in cash. What do we do? They started theorizing that they could confiscate the license plates while the crowd of random bystanders grew. Somehow, I felt that time is on our side. How much time can you afford to waste with a bunch of losers while there are so many cash-loaded tourists driving by? “You can go,” said one of the cops. “What?” I asked. “You can go, but only because it’s Christmas!” “Gracias, officer. Merry Christmas!”

We left about 20-30 minutes after we got pulled over. I am sure we did not break any rules; the 70km/h markings were written on the road and pavement signs! It was a happy ending, after all!

Family Adventure Wrap-up

Overall, we all had a great experience during our adventures in the ancient Mayan home in Yucatan, Mexico, and we all felt perfectly safe for the entire duration of the trip. The only slightly negative escapades happened in the heavily touristic areas such as Cancun and Tulum. These places were also charming, apart from a few exceptions and the constant reminders that most businesses are there to make as much money from tourists as possible. Everywhere else was even better, and we felt very welcome.

On top of that, my family and I had a great time, and I have not had any issues with MS. The downside was that I wasn’t able to follow my exercise routine that much; I have some catching up to do! However, I finished my scuba diving course and completed two tank dives at a massive coral reef! It’s OK with me that the reef was only the second largest in the world. I hope we will get a chance to revisit Yucatan and Mexico soon!