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| My husband and I were delighted to have the opportunity to visit the less known Mayan sites as well as the big well known ones. It offered us a glimpse of the Yucatan that is very rare; however, we do have some suggestions, comments and a serious complaint. I will start with the lesser and work toward the most serious. First, I would suggest that more attention be paid to the menus. The menus at the hotels were mostly buffet, some were good, but most were second rate. However, in the restaurant in Campeche the Expreso Maya tour guide ordered octopus, both in the soup and the main course. I happen to like octopus, but it is repulsive to my husband. We were not told what the menu would be nor given any other option. When I found out what the meal was to be, I asked for chicken for him. At that point, several of the Germans also wanted to change to chicken, and one person was a vegetarian who made do with rice – at an expensive restaurant! When I told the tour guide that they really should ask people if they had any food or eating issues, he told me that it was your responsibility, that is, Different World did not tell them about any of our food preferences. The second issue was the schedule. In order to get to the sites, it was necessary to get up at 4:45 a.m. two of the mornings, 6:45 on another. Getting up so early exhausted us so much that we could not really enjoy the ruins, particularly Chichen Itza. We were not the only ones who were so tired that it compromised the visit to the sites. People were sleeping all over the train. We have been on other trips to this area and they manage to fit in the various ruins without putting such a burden on the travelers. The main issue we had was a serious lack of communication by the guides. This was not due to the language difference, but simply a lack of telling us what to expect or what was going on. The first day we went go to La Venta, the Olmec Park, but the guide never told us that we were going to have lunch immediately afterward, so my husband and I had made other plans. There was also a problem because the group consisted of nine German speaking people, seven Spanish speaking people, and us – two English speaking people. Many times the guide would tell the Germans what was going to happen, but would forgot to tell us. Later I found out that even the Germans were confused about what was going to happen: times, meeting places, etc. The most egregious example of this was that I was left behind the group at Palenque. Palenque is one of the most important stops on this trip and I missed the tour with the group. Let me describe what happened. The guide was giving a first talk to the Germans under a tree in front of the first temple, so my husband and I went to take some pictures of the temple. Before I knew what was happening, the guide and the Germans were scrambling up the stairs of the temple. My husband (who is 80 years old), hurried to follow them. Since my legs are not that good, I decided to wait under the tree for them to come back down, but they never did. They went over the other side and continued the tour without me. The guide never spoke to me about alternatives to climbing the stairs; he didn’t take into consideration that some people might not be capable of such an effort. So I waited and waited for them to come back down. After awhile the truth began to dawn on me, they were not coming back the way they went. I was extremely upset. Did this mean I would miss Palenque or should I go on my own? He had set no time or place to meet, although he had told the Spanish speaking group when and where they would meet at the end. Rather than miss the whole thing, I went off on my own. I found that I could have met them on the other side of the temple – if I were told. I got lost twice, once down a steep ravine that had an "exit" sign leading to it. This was serious. I could have gotten hopelessly lost, or hurt, plus I missed all of the descriptions of the site. Yes, we really liked the sites, and would have enjoyed them more if we weren’t so tired. Would we go with Expreso Maya again, I don’t think so. We would find another tour. This is not your responsibility, but you should know. B. Russek, Campton, United States
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Comments represent the opinion of the relevant individual and do not reflect the views of Different World.
