Worldschooling: Experiencing Maya Culture in the Yucatan Peninsula

Patrick and I recently celebrated our 10-year anniversary and decided to gift ourselves with a family vacation to the Mayan Riviera! We primarily wanted a relaxing, resort-style vacation, where all we did was lounge at the pool/beach and eat amazing food that we didn’t have to cook ourselves. But, because we are homeschoolers, we did want to put one thing on our itinerary – head into the jungle and experience Maya culture for ourselves.

In pure homeschool fashion, our crew dove deep into learning about Mexico and the Ancient Maya during the weeks leading up to our departure. We read books, watched videos, and made foods in preparation for our time in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Once in the area, we knew we wanted as intimate as possible of an experience, so instead of going with one of the mainstream tour companies, we booked a private excursion with Eric of Ecab Explorers. He specializes in uniquely-crafted small group or private tours where his passion and love for the area, the people, and the culture just shine through!

Coba

While Chichen Itza is the more iconic ruin site in the area, we chose a tour to the ancient Maya city of Coba for a few reasons:

• Coba is closer to our resort (which you can read all about here!). The travel from WA state to the Puerto Morelos was a long one for our kids and we wanted to limit the hours they spent in a vehicle when we finally arrived.

• Chichen Itza is a HUGE site (I went once with my cousins on a girl trip to Cancun). There is lots of walking around and it does make for a long day. Because of the ages of those in our party (young kids and grandparents) we wanted something manageable, where there was still lots of exploring but without tiring them out too much. We plan on taking them to Chichen Itza when they are older instead.

• Less crowds! Coba is not as popular, which means less people, which is what our family prefers. When I went to Chichen Itza with my cousins, there were large crowds and long lines and we didn’t want to subject the kids and the grandparents to that.

• It is less excavated so many of the ruins are covered in jungle. It really makes it feel like you are Indiana Jones going on an exciting adventure!

• You can still climb the pyramid there called Nohoch Mul (you can’t climb Chichen Itza)! This was such an amazing experience. The top of the pyramid offers vast views of the Maya jungle.

Cenote Pit Stop

After our jungle exploration, Eric took us to one of the cenotes for a swim. This is pretty typical for tours in the area because the Yucatan Peninsula is dotted with thousands of them!

Lunchin’ with the Locals

After swimming, Eric took us to his friends’ house in the Mayan jungle for lunch. We got to help make the tortillas for our meal!

My kids also met his friends’ children (who we did not photograph for privacy purposes) and it was such a humbling experience for them to see with their own eyes that not all children their age grow up the same way they do. It opened up some heart-felt discussion about poverty and privilege and that this is such a great, big world filled beautiful people who all have different stories.

If you ever visit this part of the Mexico, make sure to go with Eric of Ecab Explorer. He gave us an authentic, non-commercial tour of the area which will remember forever!

Read about the family-friendly resort we stayed at here!