Rio Bec Dreams sits about 100 yards off the main road running through the Mayan ruins sites across the bottom of the State of Campeche west of Chetumal. The back cabins are far enough off the road that road noise in not an issue. They are comfortable units. The breakfast is very good as is dinner. Interesting guests are here as all have a common interest, seeing some of the best, isolated Mayan ruins in the Yucatan region. Worth staying two nights if you want to see Calakmul. We came in from Campeche, saw the well preserved frieze at Balamku, checked in and still had time to see Chicanna and Xpujil.

We had the cheapest bungalow in Rio Bec so it was not very big, but it suited us very well. Room was clean, with fine beds. You are in the middle of the jungle though so dont expect anything luxurious(except for the food, which is amazing). Personable staff, with great advice on what to visit. Trip with Rio Bec to calakmul temple was once in a lifetime experience. It is pretty much a daytrip but it is great. Huge templecomplex, with monkeys and birds all over the place. We have been to around 10-15 templecomplexes but this was by far the best. And there were max. 30 tourists I guess on this HUGE site.

First of all, the whole Rio Bec area is very sparsely populated and there are not many places to stay. We decided on Rio Bec Dreams based on the fact that it was one of the few places with a website and availability during Christmas week. We knew that it was going to be rustic.

We got there about sunset and met Rick, who showed us right to our room (La Luna). The room was a little bungalow on stilts with a front porch, queen-size bed and full bathroom. It was nicely decorated and clean.

It was raining off and on during our stay, and the white dirt all around the area had turned into a pasty mud which we quickly tracked all over the room. There was no doormat or anywhere to wipe off your feet. The room had screen windows only, allowing in cool air as well as chirping cricket noises and the noise from the highway, which really was not as bad as some of the other reviewers have made it out to be.

The bathroom was large and nicely decorated, but only a saloon-style door to the whole thing, including the toilet, so not much privacy there. The shower was terrible - no pressure whatsoever, and when we turned it off, a significant stream of water still came out, no matter how hard we turned the nobs. We told Rick this our first day but he seemed unconcerned, and eventually a maintenance guy came out but not until after we left the hotel, so for our entire two-night stay we listened to water falling onto the tile. It didn't seem very eco-friendly to me. The bucket provided was filled up within minutes.

I was prepared for some rustic conditions, but not for the ants. There were quite a lot of large, black ants all over the room and in the bathroom. I even had the nasty surprise of finding a swarm of them in my purse! I did not have any candy or anything besides papers in there so it must have just been in the wrong location. Still it was not pleasant.

On the plus side, the restaurant was pretty good and Rick was definitely passionate about the Mayan ruins in the area. We heard about a new bussing procedure at Calakmul which put us off of visiting that site, but we were able to visit three other sites in the area, which we had practically to ourselves.

With two hot meals a day and the lodging we paid about $100/day for two people, so the price was definitely reasonable. However if I were to return I'd probably look at staying somewhere in Xpujil or maybe the Puerta Calakmul that I've heard about.

The rooms (Jungalows), here were really nice, as were the staff. It's not as close to Calakmul as we had anticipated, but it was probably had the best facilities in the area. The restaurant was tasty and catered to someone with my eating habits (vegan), which was much appreciated.
For the beginning of the busy season, it was very quiet - with only 2 other guests. My only pet peeves with this place was the lonesome parrot stuck in a cage near the restaurant and the dogs, though cute, who kept chasing off the wildlife.