Chichen Itza Shared Day Trip with Cenote Swim and Valladolid

I would like to outline every bit of detail for the future tour takers to make sure that none of you end up spending the extra amount of that we did, so Ill share all the lessons learned. First off this tour was great and hands down one of the best out there and I would definitely do it again. Few things you must do for this trip, bring bug spray, your hat and pepper spray if youre single female just in case when returning in the evening. Bug spray is sold on the bus as a courtesy in a tiny container for 1/3 of the store price and it was still pricey for Mexico at 10 for .7oz compared to 3.4oz at the store in USA for 3.99. Youre going to need a hat to do all the walking under the sun and you will be overwhelmed with all the hat sellers that try to push crazy hats for 10, but if you negotiate well you will end up paying 2 yes thats typical if youre a tourist, prices are set extremely high. There is no breakfast, just homemade cookies, so eat your breakfast before getting on the bus. You will be picked up by minivan or smaller bus and then taken to another location for transfer for much larger comfortable bus. Even though busses have toilets, theyre ONLY intended for 1 use pee pee. Your first stop will be Mayan city and Tequila shop, do not buy souvenirs there because theyre very expensive and store employees negotiate if you offer them less but they calculate the exchange rate at least 4 base points less than Wallstreet or your credit cards, example during our visit Wallstreet exchange rate was 20 pesos to 1 dollar and they were calculating at 16 pesos to 1 dollar, so if you do end up buying something, always pay with your credit card. Tequila is priced fair and make sure to ask for buy one get one, they wont offer unless you ask. Definitely do bring change of cloth to jump in Cenote lake and make sure to tip the person at the entrance of toilets 1 is good. You will have 2 hours here so manage your time well because youll need to change, swim in the lake, check out the tequila house and then have your lunch. Lunch is an open buffet so you can pick whatever you like, they do have tip baskets at every table so 1-2 goes a long way. They will try to sell you special Mayan alcohol drink and will tell you that it isnt sold anything and they will put your picture on the front of the bottle, do not fall for it! They do sell those drinks at duty free at the airport, they have couple for 19 and 25, 5 times the size of the bottle offered on the bus. From there you will head to Chichen Itza and will be passed on tour guide who will tell you some history and will talk a lot about philosophy. Save time and separate from the group and take as many pics as possible. Here you will be able to get as many souvenirs as you want and the key is to negotiate well. We purchased a knife made out of lava stone for 8 and normally prices ranged from 14-25 so its up to you to negotiate, sometimes walking away after asking for lower price helps a lot because they will run after you and accept the offered price. Walk around because they will do special deals offering items at 1. You will find close to 100 vendors selling souvenirs so dont run to purchase at the first one. After Chichen Itza they will take you to Valladolid. You will only have 20 mins so plan your time well, as soon as you get off the bus head for the church and then the park. You will not have time for anything else. From there you will head back to transfer point fishy place on the side of the road hence the pepper spray and will be taken back to your hotel room tip the driver both during pick up and drop offs - 2 should suffice. Tip the large bus driver -10-20 should be good enough.