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After arriving at the Mayan ruins of Coba, we paid our entrance fees and started down the wide trail leading into the jungle. The tour buses were arriving and there were already large crowds of people. We had read that they no longer allow tourists to climb the pyramid at Chichen Itza, but they do allow people to climb the big one (Nohoch Mul) at Coba, which happens to be the largest one in the Yucatan at 138 feet tall. I am not one for heights, but Kerri and Sydney were gung ho about climbing this monster.
Coba is spread out over a large area and requires a lot of walking through the hot jungle. At the entrance were people available to hire that would shuttle you around on a bicycle with a seat on the front that could fit two adults, or two adults and a small lap child. After awhile, Sydney informed us that Mayan ruins were “boring” and her legs hurt. We told her once we got to the large pyramid we would hire someone to give us a ride on their bicycle back to the entrance.
One of the great things about Mexico is the iguanas. They seem to love hanging out at old Mayan ruins and for a 5 year old that was hot, tired, and bored with staring at old stones, this was our salvation. She thought the giant iguanas were really “cool.” We made a game out of trying to see how many iguanas she could find. This perked up her interest during our death march to the large pyramid of Nohoch Mul.
Once we reached the pyramid, I knew I was not going to make it up this thing. It was really high with steep steps to the top. I have an issue with vertigo and always feel a bit dizzy. But whenever I am on stairs or up high, it seems a bit worse. This place was so isolated that medical help would be a long time coming if something happened, if you survived the fall. Kerri and Sydney started to climb and I started to follow. We got up about half way when we stopped. If we would not have looked down, we could have made it. But looking down really showed how steep the steps were and how sketchy it would be climbing back down. I decided to stay put and told Kerri that they could go ahead without me, but looking down had convinced her that maybe this was high enough.
Back at the bottom of the pyramid we made our way to the bicycle drivers and hired a young Mayan to give us a ride to the last of the groups of ruins and then back to the entrance. He was huffing and puffing in the hot weather and we felt sorry for the poor guy. But the breeze created by the motion felt wonderful and Sydney was enjoying not having to walk anymore.
Once back at the parking lot we found our taxi driver still waiting. He took us back to our hotel in Tulum where we promptly went searching for cold beverages and lunch.
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