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Chacchoben Ruins tour

als310

By als310,
in Costa Maya

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Linda the Book Lover

Linda the Book Lover

Posted
Posted

This is wonderful information. My itinerary just changed and we are going there now and I was looking comments on the excursion. Lucky for me someone gave me this thread to help me out. This sounds like a wonderful tour, I wanted to get away from the beach and do something different for a change, and this excursion fits the bill.

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rileyreb

rileyreb

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my husband and i went on the tour with David and Ivan on December 23. we were the only ship in port and they took 3 vans out to the ruins.

we had the pleasure of riding to the ruins with Ivan and he talked the entire way and gave such great information about the area and how things are changing.

 

there's really not much more i can say that hasn't already been said. Ivan stayed with our group thru the ruins and was so passionate about everything. he took us off his usual route to show us his childhood house on the backside of the ruins. he pointed out certain things about the house and told us his hammock rung in the direction so that at night he could look out a window towards a temple.

 

take the tour, you won't be disappointed. i have so many great pictures.

 

and if you see something you like in the shopping area by the ruins, get it there instead of thinking it might be available back at the port or mahahual. i bought a unique blanket there that was nothing like the stuff back towards the port area.

 

on the ride back, we rode with David and got to know about him. what a fascinating guy.

 

we had a few hours to kill so we went back to mahahual and ate lunch at the Cat's Meow which was great. i can't stand guacamole and never eat it but what they served was so good - it took going to mexico to discover i actually like guacamole!

we walked around to price liquor but didn't buy anything. got back to the port and found out the cheaper liquor prices were there instead of mahahual. we bought kahlua, tequila, small bottles of pure vanilla and hot sauce.

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bjkTX

bjkTX

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...and I received my confirmation email from Ivan yesterday :-)

 

Now it's time for the really silly questions, such as: What do you do with your wallet etc when you go in the water? On a previous board someone suggested putting stuff in a zip lock bag - but I just saw a picture posted on another board that was titled "Money laundering" and it was all her bills layed out on the table to dry off since they got soaked in a bag - can't imagine what would happen to a passport...and do you even need to take your passport to get off and on the ship there?

 

So what do you experienced folks do? Do they have lockers before you go out? I can't imagine it's safe leaving things in the boat. What have you found that will stay waterproof that's small enough to go in the water with you?

 

if this isn't silly enough - I have more! :-)

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Sheffie

Sheffie

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...and I received my confirmation email from Ivan yesterday :-)

 

Now it's time for the really silly questions, such as: What do you do with your wallet etc when you go in the water? On a previous board someone suggested putting stuff in a zip lock bag - but I just saw a picture posted on another board that was titled "Money laundering" and it was all her bills layed out on the table to dry off since they got soaked in a bag - can't imagine what would happen to a passport...and do you even need to take your passport to get off and on the ship there?

 

So what do you experienced folks do? Do they have lockers before you go out? I can't imagine it's safe leaving things in the boat. What have you found that will stay waterproof that's small enough to go in the water with you?

 

if this isn't silly enough - I have more! :-)

 

1st - you do not need your passport off the ship. Leave it onboard.

 

We have waterwallets that we put our $$$, credit cards and ship's ID in. We got ours at a dive shop, but they do have them onboard the ship.

 

If you do a search for "waterwallets" I am sure you can get information to some of the links that people have found to purchase different types on-line.

 

I hope I have helped.

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emtowle

emtowle

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I have send David and Ivan 3 e-mails over the last ten days or so and no luck yet. Maybe I will here from them today?

 

I'm with you, I've sent 2 over the last 10 days and haven't heard back yet. I was getting hopeful with the responses that people posted in the last day or so...

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I&MsMom

I&MsMom

Posted
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Wow. I sent one yesterday and heard back the same day. Sent another today with more questions, but haven't heard back yet (not that I expected I would...) I sent an inquiry through the chacchobenruins.com site, I did not try to e-mail them directly. Hope this helps.

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TravelWorks

TravelWorks

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I still have not had a reply. I have tried the "info" and "dvillagomez" email addresses. If no luck by Friday I will try the other one.

 

IN CASE ANYONE IS INTERESTED:

 

This is the phone # for the Cat's Meow Resteraunt/Bar where everyone meets David/Ivan to go to the ruins...Just in case!!!

I don't know if you can leave a message or not...

 

+ 52 (983) 834-5901

 

You can also call David's cell phone: + 044 (983) 123-8151

 

PS

If you saw Mahahual you would wonder how they have any contact via email...it isn't like they have high speed internet here!!! Unless they are hooking up by satalite on their roof! Really.....it wouldn't surprise me if they only got electricity in the village this past year-all the "lines" looked brand new!

I wonder if their server is so bad it only allows so many emails and then regects the rest of them for the day...because some people have 0 problems and others have 0 contact??? Just a thought!

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Zeno

Zeno

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I wonder if their server is so bad it only allows so many emails and then regects the rest of them for the day...because some people have 0 problems and others have 0 contact??? Just a thought!

 

You could very well be correct. When I first contacted them some months ago, I received a quick response and was just about ready to book at that point. However I injured my knee - so I held off booking until now when I was sure it would be reasonably OK. I hope I get through soon.

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missinde

missinde

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I am so amazed by the reviews for Ivan and David. But, we are also going to Belize and I had planned on the Lamanai River tour. We only want to spend one day at ruins of our four precious days at port. Has anyone done Chacchoben and Lamanai? Would love to hear from you.

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Zeno

Zeno

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I have only done Lamanai - so I can't do a comparison but I really liked Lamanai. The boat ride is fun. There is an interesting small museum on site and the ruins are most impressive. We also saw a fair amount of wildlife on the Lamanai tour - lots of birds, howler monkeys and a baby crocodile and other things.

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