February 3, 2014 - Sian Ka’an Biosphere Tour

We had seen the brochures in town for Sian Ka’an Biosphere and walked by the office several times, but hadn’t made the decision to actually go until our friends Ann and Gary sent an email from his sister telling us that it was really worthwhile.

Sian Ka’an is a community eco-tourism enterprise, based on the preservation of the ecosystems, committed with assuring top-quality experiences to nature lovers and admirers of the Maya culture, offering genuine and outstanding tours that provide adventure, education and fun.” http://www.siankaantours.org/en/

We arrived at the Sian Ka’an office at 8:30 this morning – as directed – only to be told they were still picking guests up and it would wouldn’t depart until 9:00. 9:00 turned into 9:30 and the van finally arrived at the office and we were able to take off.

After a short 23 km drive to the village of Muyil, we stopped for a snack of fresh fruit, fried chips with a pumpkin dip, and hot tortillas. Nice surprise! Then back in the van and another ten minutes we arrived at Sian Ka’an.

Sian Ka’an, Mayan for where the sky is born, was established on January 20, 1986 and became part of the program “The Man and the Biosphere” by UNESCO. The conservation challenge was to integrate human activities without damaging the ecosystem and all life within its territory. A year later, in 1987 Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site covers over 1.6 MILLION acres!

Our group of 14 tourists and 1 guide boarded four ponga style boats and headed across the Chunyaxche lagoon to the mangroves on the Muyil and Canal Float trip.

After scooting across the lagoon we cut into the mangroves. We spotted some egrets and vultures before we arrived at a dock where we would begin our float portion of the tour. We hopped out of the boats, sat on our life jackets, and floated down part of the river. It had clouded over and was a bit chilly, but the natural current scooted us along.

We were able to see one baby crocodile sunning itself on a mangrove root. It was about 10 inches long and very timid. After floating about 40 minutes we arrived back at second dock. Out of the water, we followed a boardwalk back to the drop off point and were zipped back across the lagoon.

Our group then took a walk through the rainforest on a wooden boardwalk while our guide, Manuel, explained some of the flora and fauna. Unfortunately, the only fauna that we saw were dragonflies and horse flies! Apparently there are spider monkeys and howler monkeys, as well as white tailed deer, in the area, but not today!
This is the Chit palm which is used by the Mayans to thatch cabins or palapas.

Along the way we stopped at the observation tower where the more adventurous members of our group (Tobey included) climbed to the top for a view over the forest canopy. He had a view out to the lagoon.



Continuing on, we arrived at Muyil, one of the earliest and longest inhabited ancient Maya sites on the eastern coast of the Yucatan. Muyil was located along a trade route on the Caribbean once accessible via a series of canals.
El Castillo (The castle) is a very high (17 m) and steep pyramid with a tower on top that has been associated with the Ceba sacred tree. On its back side you can see a well preserved frieze with a stucco finish of 2 facing storks.There is evidence that signal fires were built on its peak that may have been used to guide in the Mayan seafaring merchant vessels.
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Later along the trail we spotted a sapodilla tree from which chicle is collected by cutting into the bark, much like rubber, which causes the tree to excrete it and it runs down the trunk. Chiclets chewing gum originally came from harvesting the sap from the sapodilla tree. Older sapodilla trees are recognizable from the zig-zag marks that were made to extract chicle. The white line is the sap used for gum.

Further down the trail we came to the priest´s temple, known as Building 8. Shaped like a topless pyramid, Manuel explained that this was probably an astronomical observatory based on the items found in the area.


Termite trails on the tree are the dark areas. In the picture below you can see the termites busy at work!
We were able to see three structures in the area before headed back to the village for a traditional Mayan lunch. This last one was fairly small and thought to be a plaza or trading area. Inside you could still see the original blue marking on the wall.

Tobey had the fish cooked in traditional Mayan style wrapped in a banana leaf.

I had the grill fish with garlic. Tobey’s was good, mine was delicious!

We got dropped off near our apartment and were home by 4:00. It was a fun day, but we both decided we didn’t care for large group tours because you spend a lot of time waiting.