Ecotours & Adventure Trips

The Yucatán Peninsula has many companies that organize nature and adventure tours. One well-established outfit with a great track record is Ecoturismo Yucatán, Calle 3 no. 235, Col. Pensiones (tel. 999/920-2772; fax 999/925-9047; www.ecoyuc.com). Alfonso and Roberta Escobedo create itineraries to meet your special or general interest in the Yucatán or southern Mexico. Alfonso has been creating adventure and nature tours for more than a dozen years. Specialties include archaeology, birding, natural history, and kayaking. The company also offers day trips that explore contemporary Maya culture and life in villages in the Yucatán. Package and customized tours are available.

Mayan Ecotours, Calle 80 no. 561 * 13-1, Col. Pensiones 6a Etapa (tel. 999/987-3710; www.mayanecotours.com) also comes highly recommended. The young company specializes in low-impact visits to unspoiled natural areas and pueblos absent from tourist maps. A new Mayan Life tour combines swimming in a cenote, weaving jipijapa (palm leaves that Panama hats are made of) the traditional way -- in a cave -- and a home cooking lesson in a Maya village. Custom tours are also available.

For a personal guided tour around Mérida or as faraway as Calakmul, call Dan Griffin, whose home is in Mérida.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.