AndiWe recently visited Cozumel for the first time on a Disney Cruise excursion. We loved what we saw and wish we could have stayed longer! The Best of Cozumel Excursion gave us a fun sampling of what Cozumel has to offer.
Our tour guide, Margarita, is a native of Cozumel and very informative. She taught us a few Spanish and Mayan words. During the drive to the different stops, she pointed out landmarks and spoke about the culture.
We picked this tour because it had chocolate and tequila! Plus, I’ve always wanted to visit a beehive farm.
First Stop in the Best of Cozumel Excursion: Mayan Cacao Company
Our tour started with a brief history on the significance of the cacao plant in the Mayan culture. The Cacao plant is not indigenous to Cozumel. The Inca and Mayan people used it to trade.
The Mayans first discovered the cacao seeds. They made a bitter drink with the cacao seeds, chili peppers, water and honey. Sugarcane was not available on the island at this time. All the Mayans consumed this beverage.
We went inside a wood hut and learned even more about the history of Mayan chocolate. The room holds a statue of the goddess of cacao, Ixcacao. She provided the food of the gods, chocolate! Signs showed the value of the cacao beans when bartering. 40 beans in exchange for a donkey.
Next, we came to the Mole station. We got to try mole on fresh made corn tortillas. There is a mild and a HOT choice. I stuck with the mild one 🙂
One of our favorite parts, was watching the Mexican Willy Wonka make chocolate from scratch! It seemed so simple! The cacao bean plus all spice, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, honey and annatto. He used a mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients together. Of course, we got to sample it!
Then my absolute favorite part was drinking a Chocolate Margarita!! It was delicious! Completely worth going back to Cozumel for one!
We finished the tour browsing through the gift shop. Obviously we had to buy a few bars of chocolate.
The tour overall lasted about an hour. It was a fun experience.
Second Stop: Barriecito Tequila Tasting
When we arrived, we were seated at a table with three bottles of tequila. The Tequila expert taught us the process of producing tequila and the difference between blanco, reposado, and anejo.
We then sampled one of each. One of the flavors was hibiscus. It was so good, we bought a bottle!
They gave us time to browse through the gift shop and purchase bottles if we wanted. Overall, I think we were done in 30 minutes.
Third Stop: Mayan Bee Sanctuary
At the beginning of the tour, our guide lead us in a Mayan welcoming ceremony to enter the sanctuary.
The Mayan Bee Sanctuary is the home to Melipona bees, aka sting less bees. The melipona bees are significant to the Mayan cultural and also extremely important for the pollination of crops. We learned how important bees are to the world in general. If the bees disappear, the plants will too!
The tour included a chance to see some of the beehives. They used trees from past storms to create the beehives. Even though the melipona bees are sting less, we were warned that they can bite!
The guide taught us the medicinal benefits of honey and pollen. It can help with allergies, skin problems, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and more! We were given samples of the honey and got to compare it to regular honey. They even let us sample cough drops made out of their honey.
At the end of the tour, we had time to browse the gift shop. Of course I bought a couple items like the honey and cough drops.
This place took 45 minutes to an hour to tour.
Overall Review of the Best of Cozumel Excursion: Honey, Chocolate and Tequila Experience
Patrick and I enjoyed our time at each of these locations. We learned a lot and got to sample different things. Our tour guide, Margarita was excellent! Our transportation was a bus that was nice and air conditioned. The tour was just the right amount of time. We were able to enjoy time on our own in the port area before returning to the ship.
The only negative I have is that it was from 10:00 am -2:00 pm and did not provide lunch. I wish lunch would have been an option or even remembering to bring snacks would have been helpful.
Margarita did point out several places to eat, drink and shop when she dropped us off at the port. We took advantage of that and ate tacos at Tacos Del Norte.
Overall, we had an excellent time and would recommend it to others.
Read our about our experience on the Disney Magic Cruise with adults only!
