RTW to Peru - Sacred Valley

In my previous post (RTW to Peru - Cusco), I blogged about our first day in Peru and so much has happened since then. I guessed we were lucky to be able to travel before the COVID situation became so serious.

Not knowing how difficult or expensive it is to book a driver for a day, we pre-booked a driver for a day through Official Cusco Taxi prior to our RTW departure at USD 85. Unfortunately, we realized Uber is super accessible here and there are an abundance of tour agencies at Cusco downtown which offers a full-day tour to the Sacred Valley (Ollantaytambo, Pisac) at a significantly lower price (approximately 30 SOL per pax ~ 9 USD per pax). Damn.

Pisac Ruins Entrance 

But anyway, we started off with our driver driving us to a ticketing place located near Pisac to purchase the Cusco tourist tickets to Ollantaytambo and Pisac ruins for 70 SOL per pax ~ 20 USD per pax. He then drove us to Pisac ruins which is located high above the valley floor, approximately 1 hr from Cusco.

Somewhere in the ruins

We don't exactly what was the history behind it as we didn't hire any guide and there weren't many signs in English to explain the significance behind the artifacts. Suggest readers to read up (e.g. Exploring the History Behind the Pisac Ruins) prior to going there if you are feeling KPO like us. Lol. Anyways, it was a large compound and took us approximately 1 hour to complete the place.

Pisac Market

Next up, we headed to the Pisac market which is a vibrant place selling the local products like the typical Peru cloth, Llama figurines, and some pottery. We liked the place as the items are generally cheaper than other touristy places. To put things in perspective, we bought a magnet there which costs 4 SOL. An identical magnet sold at Machu Picchu costs 10 SOL. I also liked a drawing there which costs 450 SOL but decided not to buy it first. Unfortunately, a similar drawing of that size costs much more in other places e.g. 950 SOL at Machu Picchu.

Somewhere in the market

We spoke to one of the locals subsequently who told us that it will be recommended to visit the Pisac market every Tue, Thu, and Sun as there will be a bazaar going on, which means more to see at a cheaper price. 

Ollantaytambo Ruins with Llamas

We then proceeded on to Ollantaytambo ruins which again, we don't know what is the significance as we did not pay for a local guide. For anyone interested in hiring one, you can easily find them inside the ruins itself. We basically only know that it serves as an administrative center and a stronghold/fortress for the Inca. For more information, you can read up here -  The Only Peru Guide - Ollantaytambo Ruins. I almost died at climbing the Inca stairs and needed to rest every few steps, probably due to the high altitude. KPO, on the other hand, definitely looks like he has adapted well to the climate.

The view from the top of the ruins

Temple of the Sun

We did not manage to finish covering everything in 2 hours as the compound is way too big. After that, we headed to some housefly-ridden restaurant at Ollantaytambo to have a small bite as I was feeling too bloated from the altitude before heading back. If you are wondering why that place, every other food place there looks infested with flies. Turns out there is actually not much difference.

Although it sounded like a short trip only, the entire trip out from Cusco to Pisac and Ollantaytambo took us about 8 hours, attributed to the small lanes and slow traffic. 

We will be heading to Machu Picchu next (and with a guide this time round yay). Stay tuned!

You might be interested in these articles too:
- Our KrisFlyer Star Alliance Round The World (RTW) Trip Planning/Booking
- RTW to Mexico - Chichen Itza
- RTW to Mexico - Coba Ruins
- RTW to Mexico - Isla Mujeres
- RTW to Mexico - Tulum
- RTW to Peru - Cusco
- RTW to Peru - Sacred Valley

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)

RTW to Peru - Cusco

In my previous post (RTW to Mexico - Tulum), I mentioned about our Mexico adventure. Today, we are heading to a place with one of the highest altitudes in the world - Cusco, Peru. In fact, the Cusco airport stands at nearly 3,300m and is said to be the top 20 highest airports in the world. To put things in perspective, the peak of Mount Everest has an altitude of 8,848m and Cusco is already more than a third of that.  Singapore has an altitude of 15m *facepalm*

To prevent altitude sickness from kicking in, we obtained a doctor's prescription and went to a pharmacy for altitude medicine prior to our trip. The pharmacist advised that altitude sickness usually kick in at 2,500 - 2,800m altitude. Hence, people going to places higher than that should start consuming the medicine 24 - 48hrs in advance prior to touching down. The side effect is diuretic, meaning it will cause you to want to pee more often. Oh well, still better than the symptoms of altitude sickness.

Anyway, we started taking the medicine the night before our flight to Peru. As there is no direct flight (Star Alliance) from Merida to Cusco, we had to layover at Houston first, then Lima. Lima is probably one of the more cui airports. When we touched down there at 10pm, it took almost two hours to clear the customs as there were simply too many people and too few counters. Once we crossed the customs, we see many tourists sleeping/sitting on the floors as the chairs were all occupied. Fortunately, KPO had priority pass so we managed to visit the lounge there to catch on some sleep before our next flight to Cusco at 5am. Oh yes, we also visited a sim card booth from Claro there which quoted us USD 59 for one week worth of unlimited data. And there wasn't any other plan available apart from that. Siao. So we decided to look for a sim card only when we reached Cusco.

It was a rather short flight and we touched down at Cusco at approximately 7am. As we stepped out of the plane, both of us were mentally prepared for the altitude sickness to kick in immediately such as experiencing throbbing headache. To our surprise, nothing happened! We had pre-ordered a taxi (emailed Felipe from Cusco Taxi) to fetch us from the airport to our hotel for US$8. The taxi was punctual and in fact, waited for us for some time as we needed to sort out some administrative stuff inside the airport first. 

We booked our accommodation at Hilton Garden Inn Cusco and were really glad we got that as most of the buildings appear to be pretty rundown. KPO managed to do the (BRG) best rate guarantee trick and managed to get it at a really good price of SGD 84 per night. And because we stayed for 4 nights, he can become a Gold Member through the Hilton Honors Visa Fast Track to Gold promotion (no longer available).

The moment we stepped into the hotel, we were offered coca tea by the staff, which we understand is the local way of overcoming altitude sickness. The taste is rather unique but not bad. I like it. Unfortunately, I don't think we're allowed to bring back to Singapore as it is only legal in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. This is because coca leaves contain alkaloids which are used to produce cocaine and can result in a positive drug test for cocaine >.<

Once we were done checking in, we decided to explore the town centre, which is located close to the hotel. We ate at this restaurant - Limo which serves Peru-Jap fusion cuisine with a view of the Plaza de Armas. It was by far the best food we have eaten on this trip! We ordered the chef recommended Trucha Yakimono which is basically fried salmon steak drizzled with their local sauce. The taste is very unique and almost felt like there's coca leaf taste in it too. We also ordered the local Peruvian sashimi Tiradito, Chizu Maki and ended off with their chocolate cake dessert. They are all fabulous. 

Inside the restaurant

Trucha Yakimono - grilled trout covered with some sauce

Japanese Tiradito - salmon and tuna with crispy fish skin 

Chizu Maki - crunchy prawn, avocado, flamed cream cheese and some sauce

Peruvian Cacao - Chocolate and coffee dessert

We also visited the Plaza De Armas, Cusco Cathedral and Qorikancha museum. All of them located in downtown and within walking distance. In fact, we managed to cover all of them by about 3pm and returned back to the hotel rather early to catch up on some sleep. 

Plaza De Armas

Cusco Cathedral

Qorikancha

Since we went back to the hotel pretty early, we decided to head to the restaurant to claim our welcome drinks which is a choice of either their local cocktail - Pisco Sour or lemonade.

It somehow became a proper meal/dinner when the waiter started recommending more local food such as chicharron (fried/crispy pork), alpaca meat (low/no cholesterol) and baked guinea pig. The food KPO wants to eat is almost as risky as his investment style and we ended up ordering alpaca meat.

I did not really like it due to its unique flavor (similar yet somewhat different from mutton) and the thought of how cute they are. KPO finds them alright but not fascinating, definitely not ordering it again...

Will be visiting Sacred Valley, Pisac market and Ollantaytambo ruins tomorrow. Update you guys soon!

Our Google Timeline

You might be interested in these articles too:
- Our KrisFlyer Star Alliance Round The World (RTW) Trip Planning/Booking
- RTW to Mexico - Chichen Itza
- RTW to Mexico - Coba Ruins
- RTW to Mexico - Isla Mujeres
- RTW to Mexico - Tulum
- RTW to Peru - Cusco

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)

RTW to Mexico - Tulum

Our fourth day in Mexico is planned for exploring the archaeological site of Tulum.

We checked out our hotel at Kavia first thing in the morning and drove slightly less than 2 hours to Tulum. We paid MXN 100 for the parking and MXN 80 per pax for the entrance ticket.

There was a poster at the ticketing counter which states "no change will be given". KPO exclaimed that it is such a smelly idea to earn more money. Lol. But surprisingly, the staff ended up giving us our change. Maybe that poster is to deter people from giving huge denominations.

Tulum is an interesting site located on a cliff leading to the beach. We realised that it was vastly different from Chichen Itza and Coba in that it was a lot more tourist friendly. It provides signs which explained the history in English, thereby eliminating the need for guides. The archaeological site had lots of iguanas roaming freely and they don't seem to be afraid of people. The tourists also don't seem to be afraid of them strangely, except for us. We even saw one ang moh who attempted to touch it, and the iguana hissed back at her. Talk about dumb blonde!

Next, we visited the Santa Fe Tulum which is a beach located on the left of the exit of the site. We were surprised at how soft the sand was. It really felt like white cool baby powder on the feet! We were attracted to how blue the water was and walked towards it. As we approached the shoreline, a guy came up and asked if we would like to join the snorkelling tour, all for MXN 200 per pax. We were shocked as the snorkelling tour was charging at MXN 600 right at the car park area where we parked the car! I was very tempted to join, but KPO is afraid of fishes and we have a very long journey back to the airport today (approximately 250km drive). Hence we have to give it a miss. Hopefully, we can try snorkelling another time. 

Mexico is full of cenote which is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. We came across this article - The Best Cenotes in Tulum and decided to visit Calavera Cenote. It costs 100 MXN per pax to enter the compound and a few minutes of walk before reaching the cenote. It was not too crowded, just a small cenote being surrounded by a few ang mohs diving/scuba diving.  We could see some tiny black fishes swimming in the cenote (remember KPO is afraid of fishes), and were concerned with the cleanliness of the water, so we decided against swimming there. Just took some photos and left. #typicalsingaporean

We are now on our way to the same airport hotel as we first started out in Mexico. Will be staying there for one night as we have an early flight to catch tomorrow. I definitely enjoy my stay here as the locals are so friendly and helpful despite the language barrier and it definitely didn't make me feel unsafe, unlike in Paris. The drivers here have good etiquette too. They will take initiative to move to the slower lane or even road shoulder to give way to the fast moving cars. The only downside is I haven't quite get used to the food here. Missing bak chor mee much. 

Will be touching down at Peru in our next stop. Can't wait to see Machu Picchu but also nervous about the effects of altitude sickness (touchwood). Keep you guys updated!

Total damage:
Tulum parking - 100 MXN
Tulum tickets - 160 MXN (80 MXN each)
Calavera Cenote tickets - 200 MXN (100 MXN each)
Some private road toll - 185 MXN

Our Google Timeline

You might be interested in these articles too:
- Our KrisFlyer Star Alliance Round The World (RTW) Trip Planning/Booking
- RTW to Mexico - Chichen Itza
- RTW to Mexico - Coba Ruins
- RTW to Mexico - Isla Mujeres
- RTW to Mexico - Tulum
- RTW to Peru - Cusco

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)

RTW to Mexico - Isla Mujeres

In our previous post (RTW to Mexico - Coba Ruins), we ended our day by checking in at Kavia hotel located in Cancun. Today, we will be visiting Cancun! Think of Cancun as a place with sunny beaches.

We started our day by driving about 20km from our hotel to the famous Cancun sign located by the beach along a stretch of atas hotels. Each of these hotels is located facing the sea and has its own private beach. I believe it will be amazing staying in this area. We did research on these hotels prior to our travels but they are all out of budget. =(

Anyway, back to our Cancun sign search, we thought parking would be difficult as the sign is located at a random spot just beside a fast moving road. But we were wrong. It was quite easy as there was a random guy directing us to park when we reached. As we alighted, he told me that he accepts tips. Lol. Ok I get it. We gave him 10 MXN. Parking at Mexico reminds me of Indonesia. If you have been to Indonesia, you will realize there are many people who will randomly station by the roadside to help drivers look out for parking lots and expect a tip in return. They actually do this full time for a living, seriously. This is the same in Mexico as well.

Cancun public beach

We walked along the beach and dipped our feet into the water. Spent about 30 mins before moving on to our next destination - Isla Mujeres! We drove down to the Ultramar Ferry Terminal to board a ferry to Isla Mujeres, an island near Cancun. The ferry costs MXN 300 (I believe this is the tourist price as we noted that there's a separate queue for locals).

Inside the Ultramar Ferry

KPO said the ferry kind of reminds him of the Tekong ferry. How unromantic. While queuing for the ferry, a random guy approached us and asked if we are interested in getting a golf cart to drive around. We read up online that the island is actually quite big and was already prepared to get one anyway. He assured that it will be cheaper to get from him than to get from the island. We managed to haggle down a little, from MXN 800 to MXN 750 but on a condition that we can only collect it from a shop a little far away from the ferry terminal. The MXN 800 one can be collected opposite the ferry terminal. We thought since it was just a 5 min walk, we don't mind that. The ferry ride took around 20-30 minutes and here we are!

Probably the slowest golf cart on the island...

We decided to do a little recce to see if our golf cart was indeed cheaper than the shops. Nope, the shops were also quoting MXN 800 as well (thankfully it wasn't more expensive though). We then headed straight to the ulu shop to collect our cart. We tried driving out and immediately understood why the cart was cheaper. A word of advice for other KPOs out there - 一分钱，一分货 (aka you pay what you get). The cart moves so slowly, basically all the other golf carts in the island overtake us with ease. Lol.

We drove using the cart to the Playa Norte public beach area and also the Punta Sur which is located at the tip of the island and has beautiful rock formations. We also stopped by the Dolphin Discovery where you can swim with the dolphins but were stopped by the staff at the entrance. Apparently, it is a private area and one will need to pay USD 29 just to enter the premise but this entitles you to have a buffet lunch too. Swimming with the dolphins will cost another USD 198. This place absolutely feels like Sentosa, only that it is more expensive and you can drive a golf cart around.

Golf cart on the road

Playa Norte

Somewhere at Punta Sur - 1

Somewhere at Punta Sur - 2

Somewhere at Punta Sur - 3. This is our favourite!

We also visited the Tortugranja (turtle sanctuary) to feed turtles. Entrance fee is MXN 60 (a lot more affordable) and the food for turtle is to be purchased separately but not too expensive too. We were lucky as an angmoh approached us and gave us her leftover turtle food so we didn't have to buy any.

Tortugranja

We stopped by Oscar's Grill to have our lunch. We deliberately chose this place which serves western food because I'm so sick of Mexican food by now. Noted that the food prices are generally steeper than other parts in Mexico and feeling a bit kiam pok, we ordered pizza, knowing that the portion will be huge and we can share. The pizza was really big as expected and we ended up feeling so bloated we didn't eat dinner that day. The owner was super friendly too, he shared that he had stayed on this island for more than 40 years and there were a total of ~25,000 residents living on this island. Not surprisingly, he had not heard of Singapore.

Too hungry! No Donald and Piglet too.

After driving around the island, we decided to return our cart, and explore the main shopping area by foot. Noted that the things sold here are mainly denominated in USD but you can choose to pay in MXN which will be priced lower in that case. This place really feels like a tourist trap targeted at the Americans. But we thoroughly enjoyed the view here, so will still recommend readers to visit this place but can skip buying souvenirs here. And we also highly recommend renting the golf cart (but get the good one please) because it would be impossible to finish exploring the island without one.

As the rain started getting heavy, we decided to head back. We were so tired we slept at 7pm that day.

Stay tuned to our next Mexico adventure!

Total damage:
Ultramar Ferry tickets - 600 MXN (300 MXN each)Golf cart rental - 750 MXN
Turtle sanctuary tickets - 60 MXN (30 MXN each)
Lunch @ Oscar's Grill - 250 MXN
7 hours of parking @ Ultramar ferry building - 140 MXN

Our Google Timeline

You might be interested in these articles too:
- Our KrisFlyer Star Alliance Round The World (RTW) Trip Planning/Booking
- RTW to Mexico - Chichen Itza
- RTW to Mexico - Coba Ruins
- RTW to Mexico - Isla Mujeres
- RTW to Mexico - Tulum
- RTW to Peru - Cusco

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)

RTW to Mexico - Coba Ruins

If you have read about our travel posts, you will know how overly ambitious we are during our travels. We woke up at 6am to continue our journey to the pink lake in Las Coloradas. Las Coloradas means “the red” in Spanish. The pink phenomenon is actually due to red-coloured algae, plankton, and brine shrimp that thrive in the salty environment. As the water evaporates, these organisms become more concentrated, glimmering pink in the bright Mexican sunlight. You can read more about it here - The Unbelievable Pink Lakes Of Las Coloradas In Mexico. To be honest, it was quite underwhelming as compared to what we were expecting (based on the article above) that we forgot to take a photo with Donald and Piglet!

In our previous post, we mentioned how bad our accommodation was. We basically could not find any place for dinner and had to sleep with an empty stomach. So right after our visit to the pink lake, we drove up to the nearest town - Rio Lagartos for petrol and to find breakfast. Rio Lagartos seems to be big on boat tour/ride to see animals such as flamingo as we were constantly approached by people asking if we wanted a boat ride. Anyway, we ate at some random place (no photos because we were too hungry) and continued our journey to the Coba Ruins.

Coba Ruins is less touristy than Chichen Itza, and hence, one of the very few ruins which allow tourists to climb up the pyramid. No history/background of this site for you readers as KPO being KPO, decided not to hire any local guide this time round. But we hired a trishaw for MXN 140 in the compounds as we were too lazy tired to walk. The largest pyramid at Coba, called Ixmoja or Nohoch Mul, is located 2+km from the entrance (so 5km to and fro). For people as tired as us, you can consider paying a small amount and save the hassle of walking. Lol.

The pyramid is 42 meters (138 feet) tall and similar to El Castillo, was lined with slippery and small stone steps. KPO decided to do his long overdue exercise by climbing the peak. I refused and insisted on staying below as it looks too scary. 

Look at all the people climbing it!

View from the top!

Once we are done exploring the place, we decided to have our lunch at one of the restaurants El Faisán located near the exit. We decided to try the "Regional Mayan Chichen" dish because we just visited a Mayan site. Lol. But wrong move. The chicken was so dry and the Mexican sauce is just bad. Imagine eating rice with the sauce which taste like red bean paste (sweet) and dry chicken breast (salty). I cannot explain how bad it is, but they just don't complement one another. So poor KPO had to finish my food as he believes we should not waste food.

We then head down to our next destination, Mercado 28, which is a flea market located at Cancun. The drive is approximately two hours long. Once we entered Cancun, we realised how big this city is. It felt even bigger and more crowded than Merida. Mercado 28 was a little disappointing. It mainly sells touristy stuff like colourful bags, keychains, magnets etc. Nothing much that we can buy. 

As I felt a little hungry (from barely eating anything during lunch), we decided to check out La Parrilla nearby which had really good reviews on Google. We ordered buffalo wings as a starter and enchiladas with mole sauce because KPO googled and said this is like the top 10 Mexican food and I wanted to try something local. Big mistake man. The mole sauce is the same freaking bean-like paste that I had for lunch! Almost puke and refused to eat after a few mouths. Poor KPO who was still full from lunch had to finish the rest. I was so upset I told KPO I will lose weight on this trip. KPO then mumbled that he will definitely gain weight. Lol. Sorry KPO. When we asked for the bill, the waiter asked for tip and KPO wanted to give a nominal 10 MXN but he rejected and insisted that it should be 10%! Although it is not much but to be forced this way, it didn't feel good.

Anyway, we checked in to Kavia hotel after that. We managed to get it at SGD 43 per night and will be staying there for two nights. Looking forward to exploring Cancun area tomorrow and updating you guys.

Total damage:
Coba Ruins Tickets - 160 MXN (80 MXN each)
Parking - 60 MXN
Tricycle Ride - 140 MXN + 10 MXN (tip)
Lunch @ El Faisán - 175 MXN
Dinner @ La Parrilla - 340 MXN + 34 MXN (tip)

Our Google Timeline

You might be interested in these articles too:
- Our KrisFlyer Star Alliance Round The World (RTW) Trip Planning/Booking
- RTW to Mexico - Chichen Itza
- RTW to Mexico - Coba Ruins
- RTW to Mexico - Isla Mujeres
- RTW to Mexico - Tulum
- RTW to Peru - Cusco

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)

RTW to Mexico - Chichen Itza

Our first stop of our Round The World (RTW) is at Yucatan, Mexico. Yucatan is a place with long Mayan history and also houses one of the seven wonders - the Chichen Itza. Since we are travelling around the world, we definitely cannot miss this!

As we only touched down at Merida Airport at night, we decided to spent our first night at a hotel near the airport - Hotel Hacienda Inn Aeropuerto. This hotel is just 3 min drive away and is very affordable. It only costs SGD 48 per night. It looks a bit old but good enough for anyone who just wants a place to sleep in. 

The next morning, we booked a taxi back to the airport to pick up our rental car at Hertz. Our car was very affordable too - USD 90 for 4 days. We happened to book it when Hertz was having a 20% promotion earlier around Jan 2020. With our car,  we drove to Merida downtown to change some Mexican peso. The money changers in Singapore did not carry this currency (or the other currencies in South America either). So we exchanged USD with an online money changer (Thin Margin, shall blog about it another day) and decided to change it into the respective currencies along the way. It was quite interesting that the money changer we saw in Mexico only carry very limited currencies like USD, EUR, CAD and MXN of course but do not carry currencies of its neighbouring countries. We changed a couple of hundreds and we were in our way to our first stop - Chichen Itza!

As we were about to reach our destination, we were stopped by some of the locals trying to scam us to park at some random parking lots. We ignored them and continue to drive on. There were also plenty of local guides stationed by the roadside. One of the guides there quoted us MXN 1,000 for English speaking guide. As the English is a bit cui, we said no. She then lowered to MXN 800 but we still declined. What's the point of engaging in one if you know you won't understand anything. Lol. In the end, we managed to find an English speaking guide (Henry Jose) with relatively good English for MXN 650 after we entered the premise. Not bad at all.

The guide started by explaining the Mayan's religion and beliefs. They have an uncanny resemblance to Buddhism/Taoism. They believe in Heaven and Hell and also reincarnation. There are 9 levels of Hell (unlike the 18 levels which Chinese believes). He then brought us straight to El Castillo (aka Temple of Kukulcan) which is a temple of the serpent deity. The pyramid has 4 sides, each side having 91 steps, when added together and including the temple platform on top as the final step, adds up to a total of 365 steps which represents the 365 days in a year.

In addition, the Mayans have designed the temple such that during spring and autumn equinoxes, the late afternoon sun casts a series of triangular shadows against the northwest balustrade, creating the illusion of a feathered serpent "crawling" down the pyramid. Given that the temple was built around AD900, we were simply amazed at how advanced Mayans were in their architecture back then!

The whole guided tour took about an hour. We were quite pleased with the guided tour actually. We did try reading up about the Mayan history on ourselves the day before, but the guided tour provided us with much more details such as the religion, interpretation of the carvings etc. It definitely was money well spent! After that, we decided to explore the area ourselves.

El Castillo

The sacrificial platform for the warriors

The Great Venus Platform used for ceremonial purposes - dances/rituals/public speeches

Carvings on the wall of the Ball Court of Chichen Itza

Mayan house

Random vendors which you can bargain with because we did

The opposite side shows the restoration efforts (before vs after)

We spent a total of around 2 hours in Chichen Itza, and by the time we left the place, it was already 4pm. Hence, we have to give our initial plan of visiting Ek Balam a miss and head straight to our hotel which is located at La Coloradas, about 157km away. By the time we reached our place at 6pm, the sky is completely dark. We initially planned to visit the pink lake at La Coloradas, but decided to leave it to the next day instead. We headed straight to check in to our next hotel - Posada Las Coloradas which costs $60 per night. To our dismay, it is such an ulu hotel, with super weak wifi, and barely hot shower. There are no food places nearby at 6pm - all the food places have closed by then. We could only sleep/hibernate and look for food the next day. Lol. What a day!

Stay tuned to our day two!

Total damage:
Expressway/Private Road Toll - 106 MXN
Parking at Chichen Itza - 80 MXN
Chichen Itza Tickets - 972 MXN (486 MXN each)
Guided Tour - 650 MXN
Random Souvenir - 150 MXN (we bargain from 350 MXN)
Fridge Magnet - 20 MXN (we bargain from 50 MXN)

Our Google Timeline

You might be interested in these articles too:
- Our KrisFlyer Star Alliance Round The World (RTW) Trip Planning/Booking
- RTW to Mexico - Chichen Itza
- RTW to Mexico - Coba Ruins
- RTW to Mexico - Isla Mujeres
- RTW to Mexico - Tulum
- RTW to Peru - Cusco

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)