The show I saw last night was on Natl Geographic channel, and wa s called "Maya Underworld, the Real Doomsday."

Info and videos aboout the expedition, watch this:
http://interactive.archaeology.org/cenotes/index.html


info abt the underwater explorer"
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ex...e-anda-alanis/

Sorry but mailing your clothes ahead into Mexico is not a good suggestion at all. Mail service is extremely unreliable.

suze, lol. It's true, the saying is only mail something into or out of MX if it is something you don't ever want to see again.

Thanks much for the Maya links emd3, they look good, will spend some more time there. Looking forward to our trip!

Reporting back that the drive at night went smoothly. Our plane was an hour late departing so by the time we left Easyway with the rental car it was already dark.

My wife drives and I navigate. We immediately had a "Returno" to negotiate which was slightly stressful due to traffic volume near the airport, but not too bad.

After that the only confusions were the constant changes in speed limit (which had no effect on traffic), and the occasions where the road split and we had to decide right or left half. It didn't matter since they merged later on.

No doubt the topes are highly dangerous, but this section of road had enough traffic that we had plenty of advance notice. However the road to Mahahual had one that comes up suddenly without warning, and it was obvious from road damage that not everyone saw this one. At night you'd never know about it, the warning signs having been blown down by hurricane Dean.

Easyway car rental was great to work with, no hassles at all and no hesitation recommending them or using them in the future.

emd3, the picture you linked to of the Akumal turn on the highway was very useful, so thanks again for that.

We drove Cancun to Vaalladolid (ate lunch, swam cenote), then to Chichen Itza, stayed overnight. Toured CI, in afternoon drove to Merida, then to Temozon (tiny village south of Merida). Got there after dark. Only problem Hacienda has no outside identification. Just guessed it must be the place. It was. Stayed overnight. Drove to Uxmal next afternoon. Drove back after dark. Stayed overnight Hacienda. Next day drove to Coba. Toured and then drove to Akumal. Two days later, drove back to Cancun and found our hotel again. All the roads were excellent by any standard. Very little traffic anywhere. Good road markings. We had bought a good roadmap and it was useful and helpful. Absolutely no problem driving at all. On the highway (307) it can be confusing to find your hotel exit when driving south from Cancun since most are on other side of road and you could pass it but there are returnos. It was much easier than driving in many European countries.
Every Mayan site very different and all extremely interesting. We did try to do our touring before or after the heat of the day. Staying overnight at these places was lovely.

Elaineee, nice to see your post about your trip! You were ON THE MOVE! I stayed at Hacienda Temozon last July for a few nights, so I can laugh at your description of finding it.

Did you stay any nights at all in Merida? I was there for 4 nights in Nov. for the 1st time in many yrs and it was so wonderful, very full of culture, music, art, dance, a lot of it free like the concert in the park next to my hotel one night. Such a beautiful colonial city. If you didn't spend much time there, put it on the list for next time, esp in the winter months when the weather is great.

Did not get to Merida..just drove around it to Temozon. Temozon is quite a place. Taking the donkey train to the cenote was the highlight. Younger folk swam but I was not going to try that ladder.
Rooms and grounds, pool beyond lovely. Food ok.
Trip was busy but it always is when traveling with daughter and family.
We liked Western Yuchatan so much would like to spend most of another vacation there. Want to go to more Mayan sites. Also like beach.

Next time try to get to Palenque, it is quick and easy flight from Cancun to Vilahermosa then an easy 2 hr bus right from airport to Palenque. Great ruins and museum, in the jungle. Huge waterfalls to see and swim in, Misol-Ha and one other.
The beaches north of Merida are not like the ones further south by Cancun and Playa and further down, but you can see the pink flamingos there, in Celestun.

http://www.yucatantoday.com/en/topics/celestun

http://www.locogringo.com/past_spotlights/mar2005.cfm

Just got back from Akumal for a week, super easy don't worry. Our plane also got in at 3:30, and I who am the navigator had a migraine so couldn't help at all. But its easy, go south on 307, its about 40 miles I think, you'll see the Akumal exit you want to go past it to the next "RETURNO" make a u-turn there ( about 100 yds) then turn right right before the overpass. If you actually take the Akumal exit, no big deal it just takes you the "pueblo" section of town, do a uturn and go over the overpass to the "playa" section of Akumal. The most confusing thing about Akumal is that you go under the arch that looks like its an entrance into a hotel, its an entrance to the playa section of Akumal, just go through it.
I miss it already, have fun.

emd3, thanks for the info. Palenque is definately on the list. We decided to the the cenote at the Hacienda rather than the flamingos. Saw flamingos in Tanzania and had never been down a ladder like the one at the cenote.
This area in Mexico is a "find" as you know. So nice, so easy, so good!