Chacchoben Ruins

We finally get to the Ruins site and are handed over to our real tour

guide who is Diego.  We head off down a pretty lane of trees and come out in front of a very impressive Mayan pyramid.  Diego lets us loose to take our pictures and look around before meeting around on the back of the pyramid.  This is good

 thing, because none of us is listening to him while we're trying to see the ruins.  Around the back, he gives us information about the Mayans and this city in particular.  He's picking up pottery off the ground and hands it out as 

 "Mayan trash", so we get to keep this and take it with us.  We head around to the market area and I have to leave the group for the lessons because Oscar has decided to yell in his stroller, I'm assuming that John is listening to the information for me, but when I see him

 when we're released for pictures again, he's in a worse daze than on the bus and didn't catch a thing.  I'm just hoping that at this point, he makes it back to the bus to make it back to the boat.  I give him and Oscar some pedialyte (the

 gatorade for infants) and John responds well to it, but it tastes awful.  It's very salty and Oscar's not drinking much of it and I wonder if we got a bad batch.  I keep giving John water and pedialyte and Oscar some snacks to keep my men going and we head off through the

   market to the allspice tree where Diego gives us all a part of the leaf to taste, smell and see how it acted like a medicinal plant.  The other ships tours that came off the boats have left these places already.  We are the only ones that appear to be learning some more in depth information with some weird looking bees that are making a bitter honey that look

like ants.  We keep wandering through the jungle and you can tell that there are still pyramids and stone structures that are covered by jungle vines that they haven't even bothered to uncover.  Diego is telling us that the best is yet to come and he ain't lying.  He's saved the

best for last which includes huge stone steps that lead up to a plateau with two more huge pyramids on them.  We get to climb around and take all kinds of pictures, let Oscar climb up on his own and finally just feel like we're alone in a setting that is magical.  Diego gives us 15

 minutes up here and keeps the stroller with him.  We spend way more than 15 minutes there and the rest of the group has left, but Diego waits for us and lets us shop some before we load up on the bus.  This includes more of a stop for a diaper change and the rain 

starts as we get back to the van.  I'm able to use some pesos to get a couple of drinks and all of my packing for Oscar on these tours finally pays off.  Because on the hour trip back, we all get to snack on pretzels, peanuts, fruit chews, belvita's and water that the tour guide has provided us.  Our little family and the Schillims are the only ones on the return journey, so we get all the candy that Diego hands out and we get to ask him all kinds of

 questions about the Mayans and how much he has studied to do this and it's ending up being the highlight tour of the entire trip.  The kids that the ruins were great, even I was entranced with them, and John was just able to survive.  John and I and 

 Julie and Dave agree that we liked these ruins better than Chichen Itza or Talum and Kobah.  Deigo tells us about a new city that they are starting to have tours too, that he thinks is the best of all of them.  We 

will definitely come back here and come use Native Choice tours again.  Especially now that we know where tour office is....