Journey With Jeannie

January 8-9, 2026, Thursday and Friday

Progreso, Mexico is a port city in the Yucatán state, known for its long pier, beaches, and role as a gateway to Mayan ruins like Chichén Itzá and Uxmal.

We experienced first hand this pier claiming to be one of the longest in the world. It is almost 4.5 miles long to allow cruise and cargo ships to get into the port. Walking is not allowed for safety, but a free city shuttle is provided.

We chose to explore the port on our own the first day. It was a D- experience for us. We explored the small town on foot, walked the promenade along the beach, and settled down on the white sand to bird watch. The water was murky, but that didn’t hinder the many locals vacationing.

When we decided to head back to port, the Disney ship had left along with the multiple free shuttle buses. Azamara guests were left with one bus that takes 40 minutes round trip to pick up tourists, drop them at the port, and return to Progresso. We waited almost an hour for our turn!

The next day was much better! We had an excursion with the ship to one of the New World wonders of the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Chichén Itzá.

It is the second most visited of Mexico’s archaeological sites. Our guide, Armando, said that the average number of visitors varies from 2,000 to 12,000 a day. We were fortunate that it wasn’t very busy and not brutally hot. We saw several buildings/temples in the area, but the site includes even more. Some are too far for a group tour, and some are not open to the public at this time. They continue to do archaeological excavations.

The pyramid’s construction is a marvel in itself, with each of its four sides featuring 91 steps, summing up to a total of 364 steps, when including the temple platform as the final step. This number corresponds to the number of days in the Mayan solar year.

The Mayans revered multiple gods that correspond to aspects of nature. You can see heads of the feathered serpent god are at the base. Religious rituals and sacrifices were an integral part of Mayan culture. The city served as a hub for ceremonial practices, including offerings to appease the gods and ensure the well-being of the community. Human sacrifices were carried out during significant events, believed to strengthen the connection between the earthly realm and the divine. These rituals often took place at the Cenote Sagrado. This is a natural sinkhole.

Archeological investigations support this as thousands of objects have been removed from the bottom of the cenote, including material such as gold, carved jade, copal, pottery, flint, obsidian, shell, wood, rubber, cloth, as well as skeletons of children and men. ^{Sacrificed individuals were either drowned or had their heart removed.}

The Mayans would lay the person on their arched back exposing the chest to remove the heart while it was still beating to offer to their gods.

The carvings show snakes, eagles, and warriors holding the heart of a human.

These are carvings of skulls of the warriors who won the fighting game. The loser stays alive. It was an honor to be sacrificed to the gods. They also displayed the heads of the sacrificed on this wall.

My thoughts…

It is always intriguing to me to learn about other cultures past and present. It was sobering to be walking around the very place where these things happened.

There are similarities in the way people from different parts of the world have viewed spirituality. The Mayans embraced nature, a creator, and the need to somehow please or placate the heavenly beings that controlled their weather and well being. The Mayans believed blood was life and the beating heart the ultimate gift to their gods. In Christianity, there is no forgiveness of sins without the blood sacrifice of Jesus.

It was a 2 hour ride from the port, but I didn’t even notice as I fell asleep!