We left late, which should come at absolutely no surprise to anyone that knows me. We had an appointment to get PCR tests done at 8:30 AM, because they were required in order to board a flight back to the States. After testing, we stopped at Mar House for breakfast, constantly looking at the clock while we ate. By the time we got into the car, it was 9:40 AM, and we both knew it was going to be a whirlwind of a day.

 

We left the resort and were met with an absolutely eye opening experience. Cancun truly is made to look like paradise: paved roads, sometimes flashy cars, nice buildings. The second you leave the coast, the facade fades and Mexico shows you the real, poor side of the area. It was incredibly humbling to see the world around us as we passed. There was a man who was holding up one of the biggest lobsters we'd ever seen, trying to get a sale of the equivalent of $5 USD for it, a child pushing his grandmother on a wheelchair on the side of the highway, houses clearly in decay. I felt a pang of traveler's guilt, knowing I'd just come from a resort not too far away where food and drinks were being wasted while we passed people who were obviously struggling. If you never left Cancun, you'd never know it was like this. We got onto the 180D for a straight drive that took 3 hours, 2 tolls, and one stop for skip-the-line tickets.

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When we arrived at Chichen Itza, we met our connection who would get us into the park on an expedited line. Once inside, we strolled up to the temple and I was in awe. This was something I'd dreamed of visiting since I started learning Spanish in elementary school. The grandness of the temple, the mystery that shrouded it, all of it was incredible to me. What's more, there was a surprising sense of tranquility there. There was no clamor of the crowds as I was expecting, it was rather quiet and peaceful with only a handful of people around. The ambience and view was something I immediately wished I'd have more time to get lost in. We strolled around different areas of the park, and I was amazed at how untouched it all was. Not roped off from the public, everything was still in remarkable shape, and you could actually touch all of it. I stood and marveled at how high up the hoops at the Great Ball Court were, amazed at the fact that people managed to get stone balls into them only using their hips, knees, and elbows. 

 

We ended up only getting to spend around 30 minutes at Chichen Itza due to us needing to return the car in Cancun by 4:30 PM, so we headed back to the car and decided to stop for the free lunch that was included in our tickets on our way. We blew through lunch in a total of 10 minutes, then began to make the the 2.5 hour journey back.

 

Some time into the drive, we realized that not only did we need to stop for gas, but we were running low on pesos. I'd done extensive TripAdvisor research into the cost of driving from Cancun to Chichen Itza before we arrived, but did not account for spending a bit more for skip-the-line access at the temple. Therefore, we were ran out of pesos and wouldn't be able to fill the car up at the only gas station between Chichen Itza and Cancun. This made it an extra hassle to get the car back in time as we were barely cutting it as it was, and now I wasn't even confident we would have enough gas to make it. We needed every ounce of luck we had to be able to make it back to a gas station in Cancun to fill the rest of the tank with a credit card before we could return the car. Talk about a stressful ride back. However, by the grace of the powers that be, we made it back with barely any gas to spare, filled up, and were able to return the car without a hitch. We walked over to the mall across the street and waited for our Uber to arrive, then went back to the resort.

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Exhausted but hungry, we dragged ourselves over to dinner at the steakhouse, then got back to our room and knocked out at 9:30 PM.