Coming to the Yucatan Peninsula and not visiting Chichén Itzá is like going to Paris and not visiting the Eiffel Tower. World famous and rightfully so, Chichén Itzá is nothing less than astounding, powerful and unexpected. Depending on your level of interest you can spend a couple of hours and visit the “Temple of Kukulkan” which today not only connotes everything Mayan but also everything Mexican. Spanning many centuries of habitation Chichén Itzá is at once purely Maya as well as very heavily Toltec. Starting with the Great Sacred Well or cenote at the North end of a huge sacbe, all the way to the Southern most structures of the area of Las Monjas and not even counting a visit to Old Chichén, one can spend a couple of days exploring. Many thousands of pages have been written about this incredible world wonder, movies, videos and web sites abound. Let your interest be your guide.

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There is something palpably special about the energy at Ek Balam. A short 20
minute drive North of Valladolid and a little East, you’ve arrived to the site of the Black Jaguar, one of the jewels of Mayan heritage, small and precious. Recent and ongoing archaeological work at the zone continues to reveal fascinating sculptures, colors, designs, architectures and energies you’ll want to savor, especially early or late in the day.

Rising from one of the largest construction platforms in all of the Yucatan the mystic and majestic pyramids provide evidence of habitation for over two millennia. An astronomic observatory, several temples, a ball court, stelae, sacbes and chultunes await your gaze.

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From your breakfast table in Valladolid you’re only an hour from an incredible spectacle of nature where thousands of hot pink wings flash against a backdrop of deep translucent turquoise blue, Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve, home to the largest concentration of pink flamingos in the Western Hemisphere. Where the waters of the Mexican Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico meet, the sacred Mayan estuary flourishes virtually untouched. Rio Lagartos Biosphere Reserve is home to more than two hundred different species of bird life and provides the feeding and breeding sanctuary not only for the flamingos but also for the crustaceans and algae in the lagoons upon which the flamingos feed, the high carotene content of which is responsible for their fantastic hot pink plumage.

You’ll want to make a day of it because the real experience lies in hiring a boat captain to take you for a fascinating two and a half hour boat ride through dense mangrove forests to see the birds in their natural habitat. Along the way you’ll see
many different fish species, crocodiles and of course all different kinds of birds.

Upon arrival to the flamingo nesting/feeding grounds you’ll see literally hundreds, and depending on the time of year, even thousands of them together. You’ll want to finish your tour with a stop at a fresh water Cenote for a most refreshing dip.

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