I can hear you saying it now -- “You use a mobility scooter, you can’t visit Mayan ruins!” Well, I’m here to say you can. And I’ll tell you how I did it. Now, I’m not saying that you can do this at every Mayan ruin, but you never know until you try. Admission to the ruins is relatively inexpensive (111 Pesos, about $6 US for Uxmal, Chichén Itzá is about $13 US), so give it a try! We used a local tour company out of Merida, Kuxtal Tours and they were great. We were a small group (my wife, myself plus 2 other Americans) plus the guide and driver. Our guide, Julian (who has an archeology degree!) and driver, Christian were a big help. Both of them, plus the other 2 members of the tour were willing to lift my scooter up and over obstacles and stairs. Without them, I would have seen much less of Uxmal.
The main entrance to Uxmal/Maya Mundo is very handicap accessible. There are excellent ramps from the parking lot to the sidewalk, up to the main ticket booth area, down to the main entrance to ruins and a long and somewhat steep (but doable) ramp up the first hill to wear you can first see the Pyramid of the Magician. There is an excellent map of the ruins at http://www.cancun.bz/Maps/uxmal_map.gif if you wish to follow along as I describe the route we took, the obstacles and then some thoughts on what might be a better way to do it.
As we came up the hill, we first saw the Pyramid of the Magician. Julian, demonstrated the awesome echo transformation that happens here. It’s well documented, but if you don’t know about it, I’m not going to spoil it for you. Julian said that normally, he would take tours around to the right and up into The Nunnery/Nun’s Quadrangle. Instead, he took us around to the left side of the pyramid where there were some wooden stairs. Julian and the 2 other members of our tour carried my scooter up these stairs to the stone base surrounding the pyramid. I tell you, moving along that surface until it became more level was..... interesting, and not in a fun way. Once we got to that area, there was a stone step our two that once again, Julian and our tour companions carried my scooter up. Down a short passage, and we were in the courtyard between the Pyramid of the Magician and The Nun’s Quadrangle. There was a bit of a step down into the courtyard, but I was able to get the scooter down that by myself.
We explored the courtyard for a bit, and then went through this stone archway (once again, the scooter had to be lifted, but this was the last time). Moving down the passage way, we came to west side of The Nun’s Quadrangle where there was a small wooden ramp up to the archway into the quadrangle, and then one down from the archway into the center of the quadrangle. We spent some time here as well exploring and soaking up the history that Julian was passing on to us. Going back out through the archway, and the northwest corner of the outside of the quadrangle was a loooong wooden ramp down to the ground and the ball court.
We spent a few minutes in the ball court and then Julian told us that there was a ramp that would take us up to the back of the Great Pyramid and the Governor’s Palace. I was about halfway up the ramp when my scooter’s battery said “Nope, my charge is too low, I’m not going to be able to get you up the ramp.” If wasn’t as tired as I was by then, I would have tried walking alongside the scooter, using it like a powered walker, but I was kinda beat by then, so I told the tour to continue on, and I would meet them back at the Pyramid of the Magician.
All in all, I was very satisfied with how much of Uxmal I was able to see. Now that I’ve seen it, here’s what I would try, but I don’t know how well it would work. There’s one part of it that I’m not sure the scooter could handle, but it would be worth a try to me. I would come up the main ramp after the entrance, marvel at the Pyramid of the Magician, then go around to the left to the ramp that goes up to The Nun’s Quadrangle. This is the part I’m not sure about. It’s a pretty long ramp and maybe a 30 degree angle. I’m not sure that my scooter (or any other scooter for that matter) could make it all the way up the ramp. But if it could, you could then easily get in to The Nun’s Quadrangle, and from there, into the courtyard of the Pyramid of the Magician. There would only be the one step down/up from the quadrangle to the courtyard and back, and depending on how much your mobility is restricted, you could just leave the scooter up on the base of the quadrangle and explore the courtyard on foot. I think I could have done that. I wouldn’t have been quick about it, but I think I could do it. If not, it would have been an easy lift down and then back up. Back down the ramp from the quadrangle to the ball court, and then give the ramp up to the Governor’s Palace another try. If we ever go back to Uxmal, that’s what I’m going to try.
And that, my friends, is my report on seeing Uxmal while using a mobility scooter. If you have a couple of people along who are willing to lift your scooter (assuming that it doesn’t weigh a ton), it’s very doable and well worth the entrance fee.
- Log in to post comments