Day 319 – Xpujil
Calakmul Ruins
Today we woke up and had a quick breakfast before going outside to wait for our 7am pick up. We were greeted by grey clouds all around us. As we waited outside, there was another couple of people waiting from our accommodation, Hotel Chaac Calakmul. Once we started talking to them, we found out that they were also going to Calakmul with us. The pick up van, arrived on time, and since the couple were from Spain, they could easily communicate with the van driver.
The Entrance Tickets of Calakmul Ruins
We had a 45 minute drive, passing the sites we saw yesterday including Becan and Chicanna (Day 318). After turning from the main road, we met our waiting tour guide, Lois. He was very friendly and his English was perfect. We had to pay the first of three entrance tickets, which cost 50 MXN / $3.81 AUD per person (pp). This fee is for the community, according to our guide.
After another hour or so of driving, we made it to the site’s museum. Due to the thunderstorms from last night, the museum was flooded and thus closed. Entrance is normally an extra 20 MXN / $1.52 AUD pp. During the drive we had to pay the second ticket, which cost 72 MXN / $5.49 AUD pp to cover entrance into the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. The final ticket was for the Archaeological site itself, which cost 75 MXN / $5.72 AUD pp.
Various animals our tour guide pointed out to us
At the closed museum site, we were able to buy some coffee to wake us up. We then found out that the Spanish couple, were not part of the tour. They had only paid for transport, but after talking to our guide, they agreed to come along with us on the tour.
The total entrance price was only 197 MXN / $15.01 AUD pp (excluding the museum).
Calakmul Ruins
Calakmul Archaeological Zone is massive. There are informational signs all around, but compared to all the other sites where we didn’t have a guide, we were glad to have one here. Lois was able to give us such detailed information and show us things that we would have otherwise missed.
Ancient chewing gum tree
Lois took us through the Residential areas, where we were given a Tamale that his grandma had made. It was delicious. Surrounding some of the residential areas were a large impressive wall.
Tamale
We then walked to the Central Plaza, which is surrounded by massive temples. The various Stelas (Estelas in Spanish) were explained to us and then we were allowed to climb the massive pyramids. There are a lot of stairs, but the views are worth the effort.
Stella 66 – 731 CE Structure 7 at a height of 25m Original wooden supports
After several hours of walking around we had a late packed lunch. Then we got back into the van and drove back to the main road, where we said goodbye to the tour guide.
Xpujil
Our driver then took us back to Xpujil. We had to pay the rest of the payment to the tour agency, Experience Calakmul. We were really happy with the tour and we believe, it was excellent value for money, with everything that was included. I highly recommend doing what we did, which was the tour with Experience Calakmul, without entrance fees.
We then walked to the ADO bus station and booked our tickets to Campeche for tomorrow, which costs us 245 MXN / 18.68 AUD pp. Following this, we once again had dinner at La Pizzeta.
Bus times out of Xpujil
Below is just a copy of the information we found out yesterday as we tried to work out how to go to Calakmul.
Various options for getting to Calakmul Ruins
1. Collectivo at 8am from in front of a pharmacy which is opposite Willys supermarket on the main road. Cost is 400 MXN / $30.38 AUD per person (pp) and you can spend approximately 3 hours before coming back on the same collectivo. This price excludes entrance fees.
2. Private transport to the site for 1,000 MXN / $75.94 AUD pp, which includes transportation, lunch, entrance tickets and two additional sites.
3. Private English speaking guide, with lunch, 3-5 hours on site, transportation and entrance tickets for around 1200-1350 MXN / $91.13-102.52 AUD pp.
4. Experience Calakmul Travel Agency, offers a guide, lunch and transport for 800 MXN / $60.02 AUD pp. This doesn’t include entrance tickets. Experience Calakmul is located near the main roundabout. This is what we did and we highly recommend it.