Day tour
My friends and I took the women’s collective tour with our guide Antonia. It was a lovely experience and had the chance to make some pottery, small cooking class and have an amazing lunch. The women’s collective is doing amazing work to protect traditional Mayan ways and have a wealth of knowledge that they share with us during the tour. If you don’t have time to take the full tour, go and check out their gift shop which has lots of local art work, embroidery and pottery.
You can directly book with the women’s collective through WhatsApp.
Taxi from San Ignacio is about $50 USD to San Antonio.
Decent
I went on two tours with Maya Walk. One went as planned, the second did not represent what was advertised. After the second tour, I emailed the company to try to resolve the problem. When I didn't hear back, I wrote a negative review on TripAdvisor. After 11 months, someone at the company reached out to try to resolve the issues. They issued me a refund and explained the situation, along with what changes they made to prevent such issues in the future. This sounded plausible. I'm no longer in Belize, so I can't verify everything they said. Considering their delayed response, but that they explained the changes, I've updated my review from 1 star (original) to 4.
Tour 1: ATM CaveThe tour was great. I'm writing this 11 months after I took the tour, but what I remember most is that the actual tour of the cave is likely similar across companies. Maya Walk gives you protective equipment, and my understanding is that some companies do not provide this, and those questionable companies will take a different route into the cave to avoid rangers. Maya Walk appears to follow the laws, including "no cameras or cell phones in the caves". The protective equipment we were given was in decent shape, and our guide was informative. The pictures on the website are an accurate representation of what I experienced.
Tour 2: MennonitesThe second tour I took is no longer offered. I went to the Women's Coop, then had a driving tour of Spanish Lookout. I was led to believe I would go to Barton Creek instead, and be able to interact with the Amish there. The distinction is critical because Barton Creek is where the traditional Amish live (minimal technology), while Spanish Lookout is home to the enterprising Amish (they embrace technology).The Women's Coop can be fun since it's interactive (making tortillas and pottery). Beware, as it also feels a bit contrived. I say this because when I went, the person working the pottery wheel explained that they were just some random person who learned pottery because it was a job. I expected that they would have some connection to the Mayan, but if there was, I didn't hear about it.After this, I had the driving tour. We drove through the Spanish Lookout farming community and because the guide had farming experience, and could speak from first hand knowledge about the community. This was not my priority, and I would have preferred to speak to the folks of Barton Creek.
As I said at the onset, this tour is no longer offered, though Maya Walk offers a tour that goes to the Women's Coop.
I've included my original review (written in Feb 2024 about my experience in Jan 2024) which focuses on trust so that you can see my changes in attitude, and I've marked a few areas where I provide relevant parts of the response from Maya Walk.
[Original] This negative review is based on my experience with the company - despite anything positive, I would not do business with them again. They did not deliver the tour that they advertised on their website, and when I shared my experience with them (via email), they did not respond. I hope this review helps others understand that MayaWalk will take your money, but will not care about the services/tours they deliver.
[Update] Note that they reached out to me in Dec 2024.
[Original] They were accommodating in the planning aspects: I wanted to go on a tour that didn't have anyone else on it, so they offered to take a note that I would be willing to pay for a second spot in order to go on the tour.
A day before the tour, while I was in their office, since no one else had signed up, they discussed the options (pay for the extra spot, or go on any of the other tours that were running). I opted to pay for an extra spot to meet the minimum number of passengers.
The tour was the Maya and Mennonite Cultural Village Tour. The tour did not match the description from the MayaWalk website. Specifically:
1. Regarding the Mayan portion of the tour, the website says "...Tour this lovely village and get a firsthand look at living Mayan culture..." We went to the women's co-op and saw how they manually mill corn as well as learned about pottery. This was interesting, but is a misrepresentation of "tour this lovely village." Additionally, the description suggests one could wander around to see the various activities, yet only 2 were available.
2. The website talks at length about the Barton Creek Mennonites and how they are "much like the Amish" and eschew technology. Instead of interacting with the Barton Creek Mennonites, I received a _driving tour_ of the Spanish Lookout Mennonite community, which embraces technology in their multifaceted businesses. This is quite a divergence from the website explanation: "Come explore this fascinating and reserved culture ... how things were before cell phones, cars, iPads, and even before electricity."
Had I been accurately informed about this tour, I would not have purchased my ticket for it, let alone paid for a second (vacant) spot to meet the minimum number of people.
[Update] Maya Walk said that they hired someone to ensure the accuracy of the information on their website. They elaborated to discuss how there was a lack of internal communication about the tour as it was modified yet the website was not updated.
[Original Review] I shared my experience with MayaWalk via email using the description above, and asked for a partial refund. I never heard back from them. For this reason, I will never do business with them again. Additionally, I hope this review helps others understand that MayaWalk will take your money, but will not care about the services/tours they deliver.
[Update] The General Manager at Maya Walk indicated they are enhancing how they handle customer feedback. Also, I will share that they provided me a full refund for this tour. In their email, they took responsibility for the misses and sounded genuine in trying to resolve these issues going forward.
