Day 4 – Tuesday – Costa Maya
We were due to dock in Costa Maya approximately mid day. Tracy, my dad, and I were scheduled to go on an excursion to the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins (my mom wanted to shop), and the meeting time was around 1pm. So, with that in mind, we were able to sleep in a little bit. We woke up, got dressed, and then we met my dad for lunch at Cabanas. After lunch, we went down the Walt Disney Theater, where we presented our excursion tickets (which had been in our rooms on the first day when we boarded the ship), and were told to have a seat, that we’d be leaving shortly. They also gave us detailed directions on where to go once we got on shore (“The pier is basically an “L” shape. When you come to the corner, go to the right. Do not go straight. If you go straight, you will get wet. Go to the right. Walk down that part of the pier towards the big orange building. It is the only building, it’s not hard to find. Look for the people that will be holding up signs exactly like this one (holds up sign) that say “Chacchoben Family Tour”)
Once we had gotten off the pier and located the orange building, they took us around the building to the parking lot, and started splitting us up onto busses. There were about 15 tour busses lined up waiting for us. When each bus was full, then it pulled out, and they started loading the next bus. Our bus filled up, we pulled away, and the tour guide gets on the microphone and starts speaking — “Hola! Bienvenido a bordo. Yo soy su guía turístico Luis, y vamos a ir a las ruinas mayas de Chacchoben.” Everyone looked around confused for a moment, then he said “I am Luis. I speak very little English”, waited a moment more, and then he laughed and said (in very good English) that he was just playing a joke on us, and that from the looks on our faces, he had gotten us. He explained that we would be driving for roughly an hour to get to the Chacchoben ruins and that he would also be our guide while we were at the ruins. He spent the next hour giving us some background information on the history of the area, and some of the crops and other exports that the area was known for. He also shared some information on the Mayan culture, and the history of the Chacchoben site.
As we were pulling up to the state park where the ruins were, he explained that the bus would park, and then we would have a few moments to go to the restroom, and that we should do that, rather than explore the gift shop, because once we went into the actual ruins area, there would be no bathrooms. After the restroom break, he gathered us all together, and we set off to see the ruins. At each structure, Luis would pull us together, and give us some facts about what the structure had been used for, or show an artist rendering of what it may have looked like, and then gave us a few minutes to take photographs. I wasn’t paying close attention, but I didn’t notice the other tour guides showing these pictures, so I think we had one of the better guides. The Chacchoben village, when it was fully built was home to an estimated 20-25000 people. Some of the structures had places that we could climb up and actually walk through part of one of the hallways, or just climb up to the top and look down. We had about 60-75 minutes of walking around the various sites, and then it was time to head back to the busses and get on the boat. As we boarded the bus, they gave everyone a bottle of water. The ride back to the boat was pretty uneventful.
Once we were back onboard, we had enough time to shower, and then it was time to get ready for the evening’s show and dinner. The show tonight in the Walt Disney Theater was called “Wishes”, and no, it wasn’t the fireworks show from the MK. It was a show about 3 HS seniors (2 girls and the twin brother of one of the girls) who were best friends friends, and went to Disneyland for one last time before they split apart to go to college. They went to the wishing well, and wished for the night to never end. It was a cute show, filled with all the typical cliches … “we’ll still be friends even though we’re across the country from each other”, “I wouldn’t have been able to get through high school without you guys”, and the guy finally finding the courage to tell the girl that he liked her. Kind of cheesy, but it’s Disney, the company’s all about a mouse, we like the cheese.
After that show, all 4 of us went to “The Tube” (one of the clubs in the “adult” area of the ship) where they had a juggler/variety show, which was actually pretty terrible. He wasn’t a very good juggler, and he wasn’t very funny.
Dinner that night was in Royal Court again. (I can find the menus online for the first night at each restaurant in the rotation, but not the 2nd night menus). After dinner, Tracy and I went back to The Tube… they were having a “Pop Culture Trivia Contest” followed by an 80’s music trivia. We teamed up with someone that Tracy had worked with, and a few of his friends. We did not do so well. (Even though I was born in ’82, I listen to a lot more 50’s and 60’s music … the other folks on my team knew a lot more than I … although I still got a few)
And then it was time for bed.