The compulsory Mexican story

So it happened: we finally got to see one of the 7 wonders of the world — well, one of the new 7 wonders of the world, as per a new somewhat official ranking they quite actively told us about there. I’m talking about Chichen-Itza, photos of which you are bound to have seen pop up on Instagram — provided you have an Instagram account, of course. Otherwise, Facebook works.

As is often the case, it had been planned well by my wife: this was our 5th site visit (or 6th, depending if you count Mexico City’s Templo mayor foundations, the only part the Spanish didn’t obliterate), after Teotihuacan, Palenque, Edzna and Uxmal — in that chronological order (you don’t care, it’s just me making sure my memory still works). And it was also the most celebrated, with good reason: it is quite simply splendid. Although some of the other spots were arguably striking in their own rights: visiting Edzna virtually by ourselves, seeing Uxmal’s highest pyramid tower over the trees… The point is, it was worth the hype.

As is often the case, it had been planned well by my wife (the repetition is no accident): our hotel was the nearest to Chichen-Itza. Better yet, we got ourselves a private bungalow; not entirely because we were looking for one, but rather because regular rooms were already all booked. When we got there, in that car of ours we finally managed to pick up, they told us at reception that our hotel was so close to the site that we could actually get early access to it. Like, 5am early. And we could hire a guide for a (semi) exclusive tour before the place opened to the general public. You know, normal people.

It was expensive, we were not alone (there were a couple dozen more people, basically our entire hotel) but, sometimes, you have to go for the most touristic option, because it actually is the best one there is.

Now, we’re off to the beach.