Five Civilizations Tour
On the sites of tour operators you can find the program of this tour. It involves visiting more than 12 cities and architectural monuments (not counting the beautiful canyon and waterfall). In addition to this program, we also persuaded the guide (for a separate, far from small fee) to visit Yakhchulan, an unennobled temple complex located right in the jungle on the border with Guatemala (we also dropped in there for 10 minutes). In general, you spend 9 days on the bus, only spend the night in hotels (you disassemble your suitcase in the evening and pack it in the morning, to optimize these processes, it is advisable to take an additional small bag for things that are needed daily in hotels).
In general, the tour is very interesting and varied, but requires good physical preparation. Climbing the Mexican pyramids is not an easy thing to bear in mind (think of comfortable shoes). By the end of the trip, you will be very tired, including from impressions, so be sure to take a vacation in Cancun or the Riviera Maya. Days 5-6 will allow you to recuperate, especially since the rest there is wonderful (I wrote a separate review about the Iberostar del Mar hotel on the Riviera Maya).
In addition, it should be noted that 2 days of travel by bus passes through very steep serpentines, which implies that you have a good vestibular apparatus and a strong stomach. This Sepantin is located in the state where active guerrilla actions are still taking place (the state is fighting for its independence, therefore, shot through road signs and the military on the road are the norm). The military and police are able to maintain relative order in this state only until dark, so guides and drivers try to leave this dangerous territory before 17-00, and given that the road is a serpentine, stops are therefore not desirable there. Therefore, if you are not sure about your stomach, stock up on special preparations. You will spend one of the nights at an altitude of more than 2000 meters above sea level, and the next at sea level, i. e. you need to be prepared for such changes.
The same can be said about the weather. Mexico City met us with neutral +15 +17, in the mountains +9 and below, and on the coast of Yutakama (Medina and beyond) closer to +30 (we were somewhat unprepared for such a cold in the mountains).
Money. You definitely need local currency, at least to eat, not to mention souvenirs, but there are very interesting things (in the village of Maya, for example, there were very interesting leather goods, and very good and soft, and in Ushmal there are good things made of fine cotton , almost cambric). Money must be changed in Mexico City, in other places it is either impossible to change it (only in banks that close very early), or, well, a very unfavorable rate. Mexico is not a cheap country. Lunch in central Mexico at a buffet eatery without drinking costs from $15. US per person. A tip (at least 10%, and sometimes 15%) will be included in the bill, even if it was a buffet and you did not order drinks. The price of lunch written at the entrance to the restaurant (or menu) and announced by the guide does not include tips. Based on this, calculate the necessary amount for the exchange. At the resort (Cancun, Riviera Maya), the local currency is no longer so relevant, US dollars are also accepted for calculation. If you get to a store in Mexico City, do not be alarmed, the prices are indicated in Mexican dollars (if you remember, the American dollar sign provides for crossing out the letter S with two vertical lines, and the Mexican one with one). At the resort, you need to specify in which currency the prices are.
What impressed. These are definitely churches in Mexico (they somehow don’t look very similar to churches) with the richness of their decoration. Unfortunately, you can’t take pictures with a flash there, so the photos don’t convey the magnificence seen, but it’s breathtaking. Particularly impressive is the contrast between the dim (and sometimes frankly nondescript) exterior of the religious building and its inner richness and pretentiousness. The contrast of nature is very interesting (from the steppes with huge cacti to the impenetrable jungle). The size of Mexico City was also impressive, but the tour of the city did not leave memories (but this is rather the "merit" of our guide, and about him separately).
About language. Even if you know English perfectly, this will not help you. Mexicans only know Spanish (with the exception of resorts, they know English, or rather American). The menu in the restaurant in English is a problem even in Mexico City, but there is nothing to say about other cities (therefore, the best option is a menu with pictures or a buffet). We were lucky, we made friends with the girls from our group, they knew a little Spanish, which somehow facilitated the feeding procedure.
About the guide. It is impossible to think of anything worse, it was not at all lucky with him. Probably there would have been much more impressions and they would have been much brighter if not for him. His name is Ramon. Already during the transfer from Mexico City airport to the hotel, the accompanying guide hinted that we were unlucky, later we felt it to the fullest. In the middle of the trip, we were running out of Mexican dollars and we asked the guide to stay a little bit in the city in the morning before the banks open to make an exchange. He refused us and at the same time stated that he did not care if we had money or not, whether we would eat or not, he was not responsible for this, he was only responsible for delivering us to Cancun. At the same time, throughout the journey, he talked about the need for him and the driver to leave a tip, and at the end of the trip he even called a fee (10 US dollars each for each day of the journey). According to him, he studied Russian in the Soviet Union (I really didn’t understand where exactly), but his vocabulary was catastrophically small (in Havana we had a guide who studied Russian at the University of Havana and he spoke much better, even situation in Cairo). By the end of the trip, we ourselves began to speak his clumsy Russian (you feel like a moron). He said the same thing all nine days, often repeating the same stories. In fact, there were almost no answers to the questions. As we were told, there are other guides (Russian girls) who make all excursions much more interesting and more attentive to tourists. Therefore, if possible, find out who will be your guide, and if Ramon, then it is better to buy or download a guide to Mexico - you will get much more information and you will perceive this country more meaningfully.
Yes, I almost forgot. Travelers with experience know that one of the guide's earnings is a percentage of the sumi of souvenirs purchased by his tourists (things and even lunch). For those who are not in the know, I will inform you that the difference in the price of similar souvenirs in the shops where the guide brought us and in places of mass visits was 5-10 times. Moreover, Ramon, sacrificing time for excursions in "his" stores, did not spare time (so that they would buy more), so later the excursions were more like a marathon than meaningful contemplation and acquaintance with mysterious Mexico.
A few tips. If possible, arrive in Mexico City a couple of days earlier (you can order quite interesting individual Russian-language excursions on the Internet or visit, for example, Trotsky's house-museum). Advantages - firstly, you will learn more about Mexico City itself (what is included in the tour is almost nothing), and secondly, you will at least slightly reorganize in time zones (we flew to Mexico City after a week-long stay in Cuba and we it was much easier) otherwise by 18-00 local time you will fall on your feet (and some tours end around 20-00). If your wallet allows, take this tour with accommodation in five-star hotels (travel agencies do not always talk about this possibility, and the price difference is not so significant if you take the total cost), or even better, the 5 civilizations + tour, the program is a little more, but the group significantly less, and correspondingly more organization and fewer expectations. There were 40 people in our group and someone was constantly late or lost. In addition, most of the groupies (more than 30 people) lived in four-star hotels, which could not cope with breakfast with such a number of people (some left hungry). There were no such problems in five-star hotels. Only in one city we spent the night all in one hotel (4 *), but the other (5 *) is simply not there.
All interesting trips and good memories!