Chococacao Maya — Local services in Quintana Roo

Unfortunate experience to say the least. Showed up 10 min before our half day tour and after my wife tried to use the bathroom she was bitten by the family dog and immediately started bleeding and bruising. After 10-15 minutes the owner finally came out with some alcohol to disinfect the wound. Luckily he put some fresh aloe on it and that helped the bruising. I asked for a band aid to cover the wound and after 10 minutes the owner left on a motorcycle to go to town to purchase the items needed. After an hour the wound was finally covered. I explained to the owner that we had signed up for a tour that included the cenotes and that since we were unable to enjoy this element now we would like a refund or we would cancel. He explained that he couldn’t refund us and suggested that we take some gifts from the gift shop in exchange. We agreed and gave him the benefit of the doubt and hoped to restart the experience. There was a nice Mayan blessing with Copal and we learned about the Mayan bee in spanish with my translation for about 10 minutes and had a teaspoon of honey. We did not see a single bee or hive or honeycomb though the tour states “Bee watching”. It started pouring so we then scurried into the gift shop and he proceeded to explain some information on cacao. He offered us some small pieces of chocolate and some cacao beans with different flavors and I suppose that was the “chocolate tasting”. Pretty lackluster experience albeit the chocolate tasted good as it usually does. Since it was pouring we ran under the hut and we’re served chicken with a chocolate honey sauce and some rice and fried tortilla and vegetables. No explanation on the food until I asked what it was made of. At that point another group showed up who didn’t speak Spanish and we were left to eat our lunch. The other group was given chips to much on and I asked the owner what was next. It was about 1:20 and we had started the official experience at about 12 pm. The owner said that was it and when I proceeded to show dissatisfaction he said quickly mentioned the soap making part of the tour. I asked what we would do after that and he said that was it. I pulled out the website on my phone and showed him where he advertises bee watching and he said that we had already done that. I told them that we hadn’t seen a single bee or anything that would come close to bee watching. He then mentioned the bees are at another place and I asked if we were going there and he said no. I proceeded to tell him that I also own a business and from a customer perspective what he’s telling people and what they are receiving is very different. Not to mention that the whole website is in English and he didn’t speak English well enough to convey the information and I had to translate for him. This would all be pallatable for less money however the half day tour which had only lasted about 1.5 hrs cost a total of $140 and in Mexico that is a lot of money considering how much other amazing experiences there are out there. His toned changed at that point and he pointed to all his great reviews and I reminded him that my experience as a paying customer was very much the opposite of that. At that point we didn’t feel comfortable and quickly left. After assessing the items from the gift shop it occurred to me that the group offering this experience actually does not make any of these goods honey, chocolate, jewelry, etc and simply re sells them for multipliers more then they get them for from actual manufacturers while creating the illusion that they are the makers. It’s a quite a mischievous and inauthentic business model and believe that the value of what you will receive vs what you will pay or what you could receive for the same amount of money is vastly unbalanced. I’d recommend passing on this one until they reduce the price or actually do what they say they are...

Private tour for 10 people in a van included: Coba, Tulum, Cenote, Mayan Chocolate Experience. 8 hours Fantastic! Our bilingual tour guide, Esther, was very knowledgeable about Mayan culture. She had a lot of extra props to enhance the experience, such as maps, photos, painted leather scrolls, Mayan books. Our driver, Fernando, had a good sense of humour and we felt safe driving with him. Tulum becomes busy later in the day, and we arrived in the morning before the crowds. Had to run the gauntlet of vendors and show-persons to get out of Tulum, but it was quiet going in. My advice: don't waste time talking about Mayan culture at the site, go see the ruins before the crowds. You can talk about Mayan culture in the van. The bathrooms at Tulum were fine. As with all archaeological sites, go before your enter the site, there are no facilities within the ruins. Coba bicycles are fun. The bathrooms were lacking toilet seats. You can't climb Coba any more. Lots of ruins to look at. Would have liked more time at both Tulum and Coba, more archaeological information from the signs and tour guides. There are very few signs. Our tour guide was knowledgeable about a good deal of the ruins, but signs would have helped for the rest. The family who operates Chococacao Maya are just lovely, showing us the stingless honey bees, letting us use Grandma's antique cacao bean stone to grind the cacao beans. The meal included was mole chicken, rice and vegetables. The best Mole I've ever had, from a secret family recipe. We purchased honey and soap to take home. The cenote at Chococacao Maya was clean and accessible with steps, ramp, railing, and a rope at the bottom to for extra safety. Bathrooms were clean and spacious. With regards to special needs, the private tour is great. Pick up and drop off at hotel. No stress getting our group of 10 family into a private van, going at our own pace. If you have a military veteran or other person who dislikes crowded massive tour busses, this is the way to go. Our family...

My family and I visited for the tour. We arrived right when they opened, so it took a while for it to be set up. The tour started with some yummy hot chocolate. Then the guide performed a Mayan blessing ceremony. Then we checked out the bees and tasted the honey they make there. The guide then explained the chocolate making process to us and we were able to taste different types of chocolate. I thought we would be making the soap ourselves but we just watched the guide make it. After that, they prepared lunch for us. We had fruits, rice, vegetables, and a mole sauce with a type of corn bread. Once we were done, we swam in the cenote. The water in the cenote was not clear or very big.

Overall, it was a great experience. We had our own tour guide with us, so he was able to translate and explain more to...