Event Guides have been hired, 4x4s rented, toys bought, jungle adventure booked!

As I've mentioned a few times during the great covid lockdown, and with the help from a few on here like @EL PRESIDENTE, I played the travel credit card game. Deals and incentives were great because no one was traveling. Long story short Mrs SPD and I ended up with a ton of CC points. One of the perks was BOGO airline tickets from SW airlines but the BOGO ends this month.

That's why the last-minute trip to Vegas last week. We have 250,000 SW air miles and with the BOGO it was 28,000 round trip for the two of us. So fuck it, we went to Vegas.

The challenging part was seeing what was going on in Mexico concerning Covid and Omicron.

Omicron really ripped through the Yucatan after Christmas and New Years. To the point where it got to 50% capacity limits placed on resorts & restaurants and an 11 pm curfew in some of the bigger resort towns.

Now we went to Mexico last May and LOVED the 25% capacity at the resorts. LOVED IT! Nothing like going on a vacation and not having to deal with tons of tourists.

Also, I've had this weird obsession with Mayan history and culture. It's always been an interest for me. So much so that I even got to go on a 2 week archeological dig at Coba in 2002. And by dig I mean, yes, I paid to haul buckets of dirt for real archeologists. Actually got to help dig up part of a Mayan ball court.

So I've been to all of the major Mayan archeological sites in the Yucatan. Chichen Itza, Ek Balam, Coba, Tulum, Uxmal, but there has been one that I've been dying to explore and I'm finally getting to do it.

Calakmul!

Calakmul (/ˌkɑːlɑːkˈmuːl/; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands.

Calakmul was a major Maya power within the northern Petén Basin region of the Yucatán Peninsula of southern Mexico. Calakmul administered a large domain marked by the extensive distribution of their emblem glyph of the snake head sign, to be read "Kaan". Calakmul was the seat of what has been dubbed the Kingdom of the Snake[1] or Snake Kingdom. This Snake Kingdom reigned during most of the Classic period. Calakmul itself is estimated to have had a population of 50,000 people and had governance, at times, over places as far away as 150 kilometers (93 mi). There are 6,750 ancient structures identified at Calakmul, the largest of which is the great pyramid at the site. Structure 2 is over 45 metres (148 ft) high, making it one of the tallest of the Maya pyramids. Four tombs have been located within the pyramid. Like many temples or pyramids within Mesoamerica the pyramid at Calakmul increased in size by building upon the existing temple to reach its current size. The size of the central monumental architecture is approximately 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi) and the whole of the site, mostly covered with dense residential structures, is about 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi).

Throughout the Classic Period, Calakmul maintained an intense rivalry with the major city of Tikal to the south, and the political maneuverings of these two cities have been likened to a struggle between two Maya superpowers.​

This is not the easiest place to get to.

So leaving Portland for Cancun this weekend. Being met at the Cancun airport with a Chevy SUV. We did this last May, great local car rental company and they meet you at the airport with your car for $20 tip. Totally worth it.

Then we're driving and staying at the following places:

Merida
Becal
Campeche
Xpujil
Calakmul
Bacalar
and
Playa Del Carmen.

We're actually staying in hut in the jungle at Calakmul!

Really excited!

Even bought a drone to take pictures, lol. Only crashed it twice so far!

 

You get away from the major tourist areas like Cancun and Playa Del Carmen and things get really inexpensive. This is where we're staying in Merida, the Gran Hotel, $36/night.

 

That's what we got a year ago but it was 100,000 and 50,000 referral.

 

We can transfer our miles to our Chase Sapphire cards and then dump the SW card, wait a year and then start all over again.

 

I noticed on the Chase Sapphire the prices were dropping daily as the 'rona got worse and more restrictions were being announced. We rebooked our resort in PDC 3 different times.

 

It really is an amazing place.

 

Got any recommendations of places to visit?