Story & Photos by Cindy & Todd Ross
Cycling Mexico’s
Yucatan
Peninsula
The ferry rose and fell with the
heaving sea. I steadied my bicycle and stared over the turquoise
water to the approaching land
on the horizon — the island of
Cozumel. In pre-Hispanic days,
it was a sacred place for Mayan
women who came from all
across the Yucatan peninsula to
pray for fertility, pregnancy, and
M exi co’ s onl y s now man.
Cindy, Sierra, and Bryce pose with Frosty.
childbirth. Instead of arriving by ferryboat,
they crossed in long canoes made of hollow logs. And, instead of cycling, they
walked the sacred roads made of white
limestone.
My family and I chose the Yucatan
peninsula for a three-week cycling adventure because our children, Sierra, fourteen,
and Bryce, twelve, could easily ride their
own loaded bikes on the flat terrain.
December temperatures are in the eighties
and breezy — a nice break from winter in
Pennsylvania. Each day we cycled a half
day to a new destination, then snorkeled,
swam with sea turtles, caved, and visited
the Mayan ruins of the Yucatan. Besides a
side trip to an island or two like Cozumel,
our main cycling tour was along the
exquisitely beautiful Riviera Mayan coast,
from Cancun to Tulum, a 160-kilometer
strip. We then left the shore and headed
inland to the ruins of Coba and Chichen
Itza, finishing with a jaunt up north to see
the pink flamingo preserves before heading
back to Cancun and the airport. The idea
was to have fun, learn about the Mayan
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culture, and get some exercise.
Because the tourism office wasn’t very
helpful when planning our trip, I went to
the highly recommended EcoColors, an
eco-adventure travel company based out of
Cancun, for advice and help. Their tours
combine the natural, cultural, and adventurous attractions of the region, the kind of
trip that interests our family. Instead of
hooking up with one of their organized
cycling trips, we consulted with the director, Kenneth Johnson. We gave him our
ideas, budget, and general desired route
around the Yucatan, and he designed our
itinerary and made the necessary connections and reservations.
Many visitors to Cozumel cross the
eighteen-kilometer canal on cruise ships
that stop at the little town of San Miguel.
The passengers fill the few streets to shop
and rarely see the rest of the island, which
is vastly wild. On a bike, you can cycle the
quiet forty-mile blacktop road that circles
the southern perimeter of the island and
find another world. First stop, the Mayan
ruins of San Gervasio.
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As soon as we rolled our bikes onto
the sacred site, a five-foot-long iguana
greeted us with bright orange spikes rising
from his back and head. We followed the
white limestone path to the sanctuary,
passing through the entrance arch as so
many had done before. As it is customary
to deposit gifts or offerings on the shelves
of the shrine’s vaulted passage, I placed a
leaf on a ledge and said a prayer for a rich
and meaningful visit to the Yucatan. San
Gervasio’s ruins are modest compared to
the “biggies” like Chichen Itza, but they
are archeologically significant and definitely worth a visit.
Cozumel’s east coast has a smattering
of small public beaches where you can
swim all by your lonesome. Chen Rio has
a fantastic beach shielded by rock formations that break up the waves and form a
cove. It also has a beachside seafood restaurant that offers whole fish platters with fish
that were living only minutes before. We
had our snorkeling gear to dive the gigantic Mesoamerican Reef, the second largest
barrier reef on the planet, which offers
some of the best snorkeling in the world.
We asked EcoColors to book us at
hotels that were cyclist-friendly, and the
Hotel Meson de San Miguel, with its
English-speaking staff and central location
right on San Miguel’s lively square, was a
fine introduction to Caribbean life.
A breeze off the ocean and live marimba music below our window coaxed us outdoors, and we mingled with local families
who came for a bite to eat, a chat, and a
stroll. The Yucatan has some of the friendliest folks in the world and is one of the
safest places in Mexico. It’s also a good
choice for a family on bikes.
From Cancun down the entire length
of the Riviera Maya, we followed Highway
307. Its wide breakdown lane makes
cycling very safe, although noisy. Before
boarding the ferry to Cozumel, we stopped
at interesting towns along the way, such as
Puertos Morelos, and took a jaunt out to
the Isle de Mujures.
After the cosmopolitan town of Playa
del Carmen, the truck traffic virtually
stops. My husband Todd rode in the rear
with his highly visible T-shirt, alerting
motorists of our cycling caravan. We
opted to eat where the locals eat — at tiny,
open-air, no-nonsense restaurants where
no one speaks a word of English but the
food is authentic, cheap, and delicious.
The owners were always surprised and
happy to see courageous gringos out of
their element.
Kenneth helped us select attractions
and activities that would enhance our
Yucatan experience. We found two nature
parks, Xcaret and Xel-Ha. Xcaret has over
6,000 meters of narrow subterranean
rivers for swimming and snorkeling. Since
the Yucatan peninsula is porous limestone,
water seeps through fissures and crevices
in the rock until it reaches the water table.
There are virtually no surface rivers on the
peninsula as water circulates underground
through a labyrinth of channels and rivers.
Xcaret also houses the largest butterfly nursery in the world — 4,200 square
feet — and is home to many rescued
endangered animals, which live freely on
the property. Watching the amazing night
show that traced the history of the Mayan
world in song, dance, and theatre made our
evening here the most memorable of the
entire trip.
Farther down Highway 307 is Xel-Ha
— a gigantic natural lagoon brimming
with colored fish and fascinating mangrove
forests. The park is one of the nation’s
showplaces and is an example of ecologically compatible development. Its safe and
sheltered snorkeling is an excellent experience for first timers.
For the wild version of snorkeling, we
headed towards Akumal, known as Place
of the Turtle Bay. Run by a Texan woman,
it is one of the oldest resorts in the
Yucatan. We had a comfortable bungalow
with our own chilled water cooler (a treat
in a country where bottled water is a necessity). And amazing treasures awaited us
underwater: swaying sea fans, coral reefs,
and sea turtles feasting on the long, green
underwater grasses. A visit to nearby
Aktun Chen Cave and Nature Park
showed us one of the most decorated and
stalactite-filled caves I have ever visited.
The jungle is pristine and rich in flora and
fauna, and the small regional wildlife zoo is
a real treat. Friendly endangered spider
Grand Pyramid.
Sierra and Bryce climb the Mayan ruin at Coba.
monkeys live on the preserve, and they
took my children’s hands in their leathery
fingers, longing to play like little kids.
After we reached Tulum on the coast,
we headed inland towards Coba,
Valledolid, and Chichen Itza. The one
other touring cyclist we met on the entire
level. They all cycle themselves and are
very receptive to cyclists.
It was a delight to leave most tourists
behind when we left the coast. Following
Kenneth’s advice, we avoided the busy
roads with no shoulders and selected
routes through tiny villages. We passed
“Local business owners were always
surprised and happy to see courageous
gringos out the their element.”
trip was as amazed as we were that more
travelers weren’t doing the same. Traveling
by bicycle is a great way to go in developing countries because this simple mode of
transportation connects you to the native
peoples on an intimate, less intimidating
stick homes with thatched grass roofs, no
doors and windows, little furniture, and
hammocks for beds. Children ran out to
the streets yelling “Hola! Hola!” as we
cycled past. It was beneficial for my
teenagers to see how little these people
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Loc al Cuis ine.
Bryce and Sierra enjoy fresh-caught fish with guacamole.
need to be happy compared to our materialistic American lifestyle.
Once inland, we traded beach swimming for cenote swimming. Cenotes are
sinkholes that formed when erosion weakened the walls and roofs of the underground caves and channels until they collapsed. These deep natural holes, considered sacred by the Mayans, are a source of
fresh water and make great swimming
holes. Gran Cenote, on the route to Coba,
is rimmed by underwater stalactites and
overhead stalagmites. These sights, along
with its natural, filtering sunshine and sugary sand floor, make for exceptional snorkeling. Although it was heavy and cumbersome to pack, our snorkeling gear proved
invaluable here.
The road to Coba is narrow and
empty and a welcome break from the
coastal road. We stopped in the villages to
see hammocks being woven by hand,
swang at the neighborhood playground
with the local kids, and feasted on cold
coconuts with tops hacked off by machete.
Once drained, the coconut was broken
apart so you could spoon out the sweet
white flesh.
Buses don’t arrive at the ruins of Coba
until later in the morning. Before ten
A.M., you have this largest Mayan ruin in
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the Yucatan all to yourself. Chichen Itza
may be the most famous ruin with its excavated and restored buildings, but Coba
looks much as it did when the archeologists found it — reclaimed by the jungle
with wild vegetation growing on the pyramids.
Cycling is the best way to see this
expansive ruin, but we had to pay to use
our own bikes so we didn’t subtract from
the income of the bike concessionaire.
Miles of wide, shady, hard-packed dirt
roads made this our most enjoyable
cycling. We parked our bikes and climbed
the 121 stone steps to the Grand
Pyramid’s top. From there, we took in the
commanding view of the surrounding jungle. The Mayans regularly sacrificed
humans here and the victim’s hearts were
gouged out while they were still alive, their
bodies were thrown down the steps, and
their vivid blood colored the white limestone red. We used a rope to help us
descend the extremely steep stone steps,
keeping in mind that at least one tourist
dies from a fall here every year.
Farther west lies the charming town
of Valladolid. We headed for the square,
the center of village life, where women
seamstresses were dressed in traditional
white cotton hipiles embroidered with col-
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orful flowers. They sell these garments
alongside the wrought iron park fence.
When evening comes, the square fills with
couples holding hands, and children laughing. On Sunday evenings, a Mexican band
plays. To the delight of the locals and the
embarrassment of our teenagers, Todd and
I, with our highly visible jackets and legs
that were tanned and muscular, took a spin
on the dance floor.
Kenneth booked us at the El Meson
del Marques Hotel right on Valladolid’s
square, where ancient trees grow right
alongside your dining table in the open-air
courtyard. According to Mario, the owner,
his great-grandfather bought the beautiful
sixteenth century Spanish house, in which
he was raised. Mario has since turned it
into a fine hotel.
Chichen Itza is the star of the Mayan
world and no Yucatan cycling trip would
be complete without a visit. Like Coba,
early morning is the best time to walk
around without interference from tourists
(no bikes allowed). The Castle of Kubulan
and Temple of 1,000 Columns were very
impressive with intricate carvings and
many scenes of human sacrifice. The ball
court here, the largest in the Mayan world,
was awe-inspiring. The purpose of this
3,500-year-old game was to pass a ninepound rubber ball through a stone hoop
high on the slanted walls — using only
your hips. The ball reproduced the trajectory of the stars, the planets, and the players, determining the path they would follow in the firmament. True to form, the
losers were sacrificed.
We stayed that night at the nearby
historic Hacienda Chichen, sleeping in
restored cottages that once housed the
Carnegie Institute’s archeologists who
excavated the ruins back in 1923. Colonial
tile floors, wrought iron furniture, and
carved accessories decorated the rooms
while hand-woven cotton blankets on
extremely comfortable beds gave us the
best sleep on the trip.
After three weeks of easy cycling, we
circled back to Cancun and opted for the
colorful downtown instead of the glitzy
hotel strip. The Rey del Caribe Hotel, an
impressive, environmentally friendly hotel,
Loc al fes ti vit ies.
Sierra watches as a musician plays his wooden xylophone.
unusual for Mexico, made us feel welcome.
We recovered our bike boxes from
Kenneth of EcoColors. He had been storing them for us, as Cancun’s airport did
not have bike boxes. Packing up bikes
before a flight is no easy task. It can be
more stressful than the actual tour!
Some parents would think it daunting
to bring their children on a cycling adventure to the Yucatan. But, with only a little
help, our family enjoyed the freedom that
independent cycling affords, and we were
able to create some of the finest memories
of our lives.
EcoColors: www.ecotravelmexico.com, +52 (998)
884 36 67.
Cindy lives with her family in Pennsylvania. After
cycling through New Mexico on the Great Divide
Mountain Bike Route, her family fell in love with the
sport. She is the author of six books on the outdoors,
including Scraping Heaven — A Family
Adventure Along the Continental Divide, from
McGraw-Hill.
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