Help us plan a Mayan Ruins plus Wildlife trip

Old Dec 7th, 2015, 09:37 AM
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Help us plan a Mayan Ruins plus Wildlife trip

We are beginning to plan for November 2016. We may be trying to do more than is wise, so don't hesitate to say so.

We are thinking about a week in Costa Rica for wildlife, then 10 days to two weeks in Mexico - Yucatan - for Mayan ruins. It would be great if we could choose two or at most, three places in the Yucatan to base ourselves. We like to take time to explore. We want to find great hotels that are atmospheric. We have no interest in Cancun. After some quick research, it seem the Yucatan is the place to go in Mexico for Mayan ruins, but if you have other recommendations, we are open.

Our usual November destination is SE Asia, so looking forward to trying out somewhere new.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 09:53 AM
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The best Mayan ruins in Mexico are in Chiapas (Palenque, Yaxchilan, Bonampak), not Yucatan.

Mayan ruins at (relatively) nearby Tika, Guatemala also have great wildlife--not as good as Costa Rica, but you will see howler and spider monkeys if you stay inside the park--we had two species of toucan fly right over our heads while we were in the pool at Tikal Inn. Also, crocodiles are pretty easily seen there.

Belize also has great Mayan ruins--Caracol and Lamanai--that have wildlife around them.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 10:13 AM
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Are you flying into Cancun or bussing into some other place?
From Cancun, you can make a kind of circle, first going to Valladolid as a base for Chichen Itza and Ek Balam, up to Merida if you wish to see Uxmal and the other ruins on the Ruta Puuc, and on to Tulum and Coba.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 10:16 AM
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Wildlife could include flamingos, whale sharks (depending on time of year), monkeys, and turtles and rays, along that general route.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 10:17 AM
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Agree with RAC; we loved the Lamanai Outpost Lodge if you're open to Belize. The lodge is right next door to some nice ruins, and we saw howler monkeys very close to our cabin almost every day.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 11:16 AM
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I've been to many of the major ruins except Palenque and Calakmul, my two favorites were Coba and Ek Balam. They all open at 8am and close at 5pm (but stop letting in tourists about 4 or 4:30pm). If you go to Tulum or Chichen Itza, get there early when they open, these are probably the two most visited and get overrun with hordes of tourists visiting via bus tours later on. CI is especially annoying since they now allow these pushy vendors to setup their stalls, but they are usually not setup at opening time.
You might enjoy The Jungle Place, a sanctuary for rescued spider monkeys near Puerto Morelos. Reservations needed a couple of months in advance as they only allow small groups of visitors a couple of days per week. Minimum age is 8.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 01:49 PM
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I appreciate your thoughts about this. We aren't locked into the Yucatan, could opt for another area of Mexico or Belize. I want to separate out the wildlife and ruins, as, in my experience, trying to get both with one destination means you get the best of neither.

If you were to choose a place to see at least three Mayan cities - where would you choose?
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 04:17 PM
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Don't be too quick to discount the Yucatan. As mentioned above, Valladolid is an off-the-beaten path colonial city offering excellent access to CI and Ek Balam. Uxmal, near Merida, and its Puuc route are among the finest ruins in Mexico. Tulum (meh, except for the setting) and Coba are also nearby.

This is not to disparage Palenque, etc -- merely to note that you will find plenty of merit in the Yucatan sans Cancun.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 05:11 PM
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Having seen three Mayan cities in three different locations, I would probably say:

1. Chiapas--Palenque can be seen in one day, and you can take a day trip from there to Bonampak (those murals!!!) and Yaxchilan

2. Belize/Guatemala--Tikal and Caracol can be visited from the same area (San Ignacio, Belize) (though I really recommend staying inside Tikal National Park) and Lamanai is also a great site. As a bonus, there are several lower profile sites you can visit within 15 minutes of San Ignacio, plus the Mayan caves such as the ATM cave.

3. Yucatan--others have described the various sites above.

To me, the top two are Tikal (grandest) and Palenque (best architecture/aesthetics).
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 05:50 PM
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Wow, Kathie, difficult challenge! I think my favorite sets of ruins were:

- Palenque for the ruins of Palenque (with its howlers), the museum there, and the nearby waterfalls (Aqua Azul and Misol-Ha in particular; Agua Clara is usually part of the same tour).

- Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc, but the problem there is that you can't really see the whole route as a day trip from Merida (which is a lot of fun and has an excellent archeological museum), and if you stay along the route (perhaps at the delightful Flycatcher Inn), there really isn't that much else to see, although I thought the Lulton Caves interesting. If you are willing to make several long trips from Merida, visiting just 2 or 3 of the Ruta Puuc sites on each, that might work. And then depending on when you are going, you might be able to take a day trip for the flamingos of Celestun or to visit a few other interesting locations.

- Maybe Calakmul -- which is truly extraordinary, IMO, and where I saw howlers and spiders and toucans and various other critters, and where jaguars had reportedly been spotted in the weeks before I was there, back in 2008 (but the site is much more built up now, so I wouldn't count on any big cats). And there are some other remarkable sites in the area. But there REALLY isn't much else to do in this area.

- or perhaps basing in Valladolid (which I loved) to see Chichen Itza (very grand, quite overrun by tourists) and Ek' Balam (well worth seeing, IMO).

I know you prefer to base, but I'm not sure that will serve you well if your goal is to see several different Mayan ruins. If you are willing to work even a few 1- or 2-nights stays into your itinerary, I think you have a much better chance of developing a reasonable itinerary. JMO.

Hope that helps!
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 06:08 PM
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P.S. I should note that I've been to the Yucatan Peninsula and Chiapas; I have not yet been to Costa Rica or Guatemala.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 06:10 PM
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Lots to think about here - thanks! I need to do some more research and I'll come back with more questions.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 06:16 PM
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I know you said you wanted to separate out the wildlife from the ruins, but monkeys near ruins are the same as monkeys in a strictly wildlife reserve. The closest we've gotten to howler monkeys was at Lamanai, and having spider monkeys playing in the trees above us in Tikal was amazing.

Given your strong interests in wildlife and Mayan ruins, quite honestly Tikal really seems like a no-brainer--only site to be named a UNESCO world heritage site AND a UNESCO natural heritage site.

And it's one of the few places on earth you can see an orange-breasted falcon.
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 07:39 PM
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PPS -- My reference to "spiders" at Calakmul was to spider monkeys. I glimpsed both howler monkeys and spider monkeys frequently while there -- sometimes just one or two; other times in groups. But again, I was there in 2008, before the current tourist infrastructure was built. I'm sure that could make a difference. I heard howler monkeys through much of my day at Palenque, but only saw them late in my visit there, at which time a was delighted to see one ... oh, another! ... OMG, its a whole troop!

RAC gives such consistently excellent information that I hate to question it, but I am surprised by the comment suggesting that ONLY Tikal has both world and natural heritage status: "The ancient city [of Calakmul] and the tropical forests were declared officially [sic] as a World cultural and natural Heritage by UNESCO.... . Calakmul has the second largest tropical forest in America and it gives home for many types of mammals, birds and dozens of species of reptiles, as well as more hundreds of butterfiles live here." Of course, Tikal ALSO has that dual status....

To my knowledge, I did not see an orange-breasted falcon anywhere during my time in Mexico. I did see 57 oscillated turkeys on my way into and out of Calakmul. ;-)
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 08:52 PM
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You're right--Calakmul joined the club last year.

Hiw fitting that the rivalry between Calakmul and Tikal continues to this day!
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Old Dec 7th, 2015, 08:56 PM
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Well said, RAC!
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Old Dec 8th, 2015, 07:12 AM
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Hi Kathie - I leave the Asia board and check in here from time to time...

Jeane and I have visited Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala, Panama and Nicaragua. Of those, the best place for wildlife for us was the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. During our short time there in 2001, we saw 4 different types of monkeys and a wide variety of birds. We stayed at Lapa Rios which is a luxury eco-lodge (so there is no a/c). It still gets good reviews today. Undoubtedly, other places have sprung up in the area since we visited.

While Cancun may not have much appeal, nearby Cozumel may interest you. We enjoyed our stay there (again many years ago) and flew back and forth to Chichen Itza on a day trip. More recently, in Belize we visited Caracol. We were based in the jungle where there are a variety of good lodging options. Caracol is not particularly touristy, which is why we chose it over Tikal for our short time there. Obviously, you could do both if you wanted to. We stayed at Mariposa Jungle Lodge, which like other properties in the area, offers a variety of day trips and activities, including the aforementioned Mayan ruin sites and a day trip to the ATM Caves, one of our most memorable travel experiences ever.

We have researched Chiapas and found that it is not easy to get to from New England, at least with our limited time to travel. I mention this because you may find that the logistics of going to one place for wildlife and another for Mayan ruins to be daunting. I do agree with your approach though.

Good luck - I know you and Cheryl will put together the perfect trip for yourselves.
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Old Dec 8th, 2015, 07:18 AM
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The Osa Peninsula has the best wildlife we've ever seen as well. We stayed at Bosque del Cabo, and it was fantastic. We saw all 4 species of monkeys from the front porch of our cabin, and it has beautiful views looking out over the water.
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Old Dec 8th, 2015, 07:54 AM
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Wonderful information, everyone! Many thanks.

The info on seeing wildlife on the Osa Peninsula was what led us to want to go to Costa Rica. And I have long been interested in the Maya, so it seemed like combining the two was a great idea. Now it is not so clear that combining the two works well... it may just make things more complicated.

We are novices in terms of central America - we've both been to Mexico, but that is it. So all of this is new territory for us.

More ideas and suggestions are welcomed.
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Old Dec 8th, 2015, 08:24 AM
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One thing to consider is that November isn't an ideal time to visit the Osa Peninsula--rain, rain, rain and more rain will be the weather forecast every day you'd be there. See this chart:

http://www.costaricaexpeditions.com/.../tempchart.php

Torrential downpours, poor roads, remote locations--I'd save the Osa for when you have time in January or February.

The key to flying into Chiapas for the ruins is not fly into Chiapas itself. When we visited, we flew into Villahermosa, in the next door state of Tabasco, which is a little over 2 hours from Palenque. For that trip, we flew into Villahermosa, then took a bus from Palenque to Campeche, Yucatan, and picked up a car there and drove to Tulum, and flew out of Cancun.

There are shuttle buses that run from Palenque to Flores, Guatemala if you want to combine Palenque and Tikal.
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