Cancún, Mexico
Getting to Cancun required a 4am wake-up for a 7am flight to Atlanta, then another flight down to Mexico. By the time I arrived I was running on fumes and bad airport coffee. To make matters worse, it was absolutely lashing down rain - the kind of tropical downpour where you can’t see three metres in front of you and your clothes are soaked through in about four seconds. So much for the Mexican sunshine.
With the weather ruling out anything remotely ambitious, I ducked across the road from the hostel for some quesadillas and called it an early night. Which was actually a blessing in disguise, because the next day was the main event: the all-day Chichen Itza tour.
And what a day it was. The tour kicked off early and the first stop was a cenote - one of those natural sinkholes filled with crystal clear water that the Yucatan Peninsula is famous for. Swimming in a cenote is one of those experiences that genuinely lives up to the hype. The water is cool, the light filters in from above, and you’re essentially swimming in a cave that’s been there for thousands of years. It makes the local pool back home feel a bit inadequate.
From there we visited a small Mayan village where the locals were selling handmade trinkets. I picked up a few bits and pieces, probably overpaid, but it felt like the right thing to do. Then came the main attraction: Chichen Itza itself.
I’ve seen plenty of ruins and historical sites on this trip, but Chichen Itza is on another level. The main pyramid - El Castillo - just dominates the landscape. It’s massive, perfectly symmetrical, and when you stand in front of it and think about the fact that the Mayans built this thing over a thousand years ago without any of the technology we have today, it’s genuinely humbling. I took about a hundred photos and still don’t think any of them captured how impressive it is in person. Some things you just have to see with your own eyes.
By the time the tour bus dropped us back at the hostel around 7pm, I was absolutely wrecked. A quick beer, some dinner, and I was out cold. Not the most exciting evening, but after a day like that, sometimes the best thing you can do is just let it sink in.
