FAQs About Maya Travel

No. Most often there will be a downpour for a couple hours in the afternoon or in the evening. This will be a good time to be on a bus or sitting inside somewhere sipping a beer. If your plans involve getting to some out of the way places on dirt roads or trails, then you might find road conditions a problem and trails could be a travail. Otherwise, travel by bus, car or shuttle should not be a problem. To get an idea of historical weather conditions, head to Wunderground.com to find out about the weather when and where you are going.

Should I hire a guide?

It depends. At places like Tikal and Chichén Itzá, you will see them available, but if you have copied and brought the relevant pages from either Joyce Kelly's An Archaeological Guide to Northern Central America or the version covering Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, you will have no need of a guide. Let's say you want a guide, you could attach yourself at the edge of an ongoing tour and tip the guide afterward. If you are selecting your own guide, be aware that there are serious qualitative differences. Ask your prospective guide what he can tell you about the Maya Empire. Because there was no real Maya Empire, but there was thought to have been one, his response will be a good indication of his level of knowledge. One can make a case for Tikal or Calakmul having had one, so if the guide instead leads you in that direction, he is probably all right.

How should I pack?

Most people take way too much luggage. You need little if any more things along for a two week trip than for a one week one. Although it would still be a bit simplistic to say that airline luggage can be categorized as either carry-on or "lost", there is no joy in watching a carousel and not finding your pack coming out. Instead of heading straight out on your trip, you instead have to report the loss and check back to see if it finally came. Check Onebag.com for excellent ideas on packing light.

What about washing clothes?

There will be laundries in most places you travel and generally, this will be same day service. However, unless I have been away too long from any chance of washing clothes, I prefer to wash and dry as I go along. Quite often, if you ask you will find that where you are staying has an airy place to hang your laundry to dry. If you are really behind with laundry, you might even consider asking if there is such a place before checking in. Just keep your laundry clearly separate and away from any hotel laundry that is drying. Having along some extra shampoo works well enough for me to wash clothes. A stocking seems to stop up a drain well enough for washing and then for rinsing. I usually just wash a few clothes in my room each day, but if there is a laundry area, that is a plus if no one else is using it when I want to. In warmer lowland areas, it is a good idea to wash one's shirt in mid to late morning and then put it on to both dry and cool you off. Except for chafing, you could probably do the same with pants.

Should I take a tent, sleeping bag, mosquito net or cook stove?

Probably not. All these take up space and weight in your pack. In most places, the existence of low cost hotels and hostels with screens makes these irrelevant and the lack of campgrounds in many places makes these items to be just some excess weight.

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