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43. Mexico. Travel from the Gulf of Mexico, to Chichen Itza, to Cancun on the Mexican Carribean

come on a real adventure In this last instalment of our three part Tripadeal Best of Mexico tour.

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We start in the city of Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico.  It is the only walled city in Mexico.

Then we go the UNESCO World heritage archaeological site of Uxmal.  We tell you all about the legend of the witch and the dwarf.

I tell you about Lyle’s brave attempt at a downing a massive tequila shot before arriving at the capital of the Yucatan peninsula – Merida.

We tell you all about this wealthy city and what we saw there before heading on to the bus again for our final day of bus travel.  It’s like we have kept the best for last.

We visit one of the seven wonders of the World Chichen Itza and then take a surprise visit to a cenote where we float in the clear waters many metres below land.

Finally, we end up the tourist area of Cancun for a peaceful couple of days – although Lyle had a bit of an experience on a short bus trip that he shares with you.

Enjoy our last instalment of our trip through Mexico in Episode 43.

Be sure to click the link below for the bonus Mexico tips PDF - you definitely won’t want to miss it.


SHOW NOTES AND PICTURES BELOW

Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico

We arrived in Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico just in time to see the sunset.  Our hotel was in a great location in the old town. After we put our luggage into our room we wandered down to the ocean front to watch a light and water show.  Next we wandered the streets to see the cathedral and found a spot in an outside seating area on the cobblestone streets for a well earned drink.  We were all too full from lunch to eat dinner.  We were up bright and early the next morning for a walking tour of the old city and waterfront.

Uxmal - an UNESCO heritage site

We were then back on the bus for our drive to the UNESCO heritage ancient Mayan site of Uxmal (Oosh-mahl). It is one of the top Mayan archaeological sites in the world.  We had a guided tour, which was very interesting and we climbed to the highest point for some great photos of the site.

Merida - the capital of the Yucatan Peninsular

Back on the bus for our trip to Merida – the capital of the Yucatan peninsular.  It is a pretty city with some impressive monuments.  It was once a very wealthy city – and you can see that in some of the estate style houses on the main boulevard.  We did a short walking tour of the local square at night before eating a pizza in a German pub while in the capital of the Yucatan peninsular in Mexico. 😊

Up early again for our last bus trip of the holiday.  We were on our way to Cancun – but first - two amazing stops.

Chichen Itza - one the Seven Wonders of the World

The first stop was at Chichen Itza one of the 7 wonders of the world and easily Mexico’s most famous archaeological site.  There were a lot of tourists – more than we had seen anywhere else in Mexico.

It was very impressive as it was one of the greatest Mayan centres of the Yucatan Peninsula.  Several buildings have survived such as the Warriors’ Temple, El Castillo and the circular observatory.  The ancient ball court was one of the highlights as well and you could definitely imagine a game of “Mayan football” being played here – where the winners were sacrificed to the Gods!

Ik-Kil Cenote

Chichen Itza was a pretty good way to end our final day on tour – however, a few of us had been asking about going to see a Cenote.  Cenote’s are large holes made by meteors over 55 million years ago.  They are part of an underground river system and absolutely spectacular.  Our guide took us to a cenote very close to Chichen Itza and those who wanted could walk down the many stairs and enjoy a swim – or float in your life vest.  It was another absolute highlight of our tour. 

Cancun - the Mexican Carribean

Finally, we headed to Cancun.  There was a lot of traffic, so once again we arrived quite late and just dumped our luggage before heading to the restaurant on the beach for dinner.

Our hotel – the Beachscape Kin Ha Villas and Suites - was lovely and the pool and beach areas were the perfect place to spend a couple of days relaxing after our full-on tour.  We did wander around the streets a little bit and explore, but we were so happy to be able to sleep in and just chill out – and of course record a podcast. 

Cancun is certainly a beach paradise with the fine white sand and turquoise waters of the Mexican Caribbean. 

So this is the end of our three part podcast series travelling nearly 2,500km all over Mexico. 

You can listen or see all the pictures to part one here where we started in Mexico City.

You can listen or see all the pictures to part two here which had one of our absolute favourite places in all of Mexico.