Cancun Day 5 - Tulum

 The Tulum ruins are a Mayan city perched right on the edge of a rocky cliff overlooking the Caribbean in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. Tulum means wall or trench in Yucatan Maya and refers to the walls surrounding the city. The ancient name may have been Zama, meaning City of Dawn because it faces the sunrise. It was built in the 13th century at a time when other large Mayan cities in the Yucatan were on the decline or had collapsed completely. Tulum was a seaside port and was used to maintain trading routes all the way down to Belize. Some of the goods brought to Tulum were salt and textiles. Copper artifacts were brought from the Mexican highlands by land as well as ceramics and gold objects from all over the Yucatán.

The buildings were at one time painted red, blue and yellow, but the colors have since been wiped away by time and elements. The city lasted about 75 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico and was one of the last of the ancient Mayan cities to be abandoned. Old World diseases appear to have been the cause of its demise.

 

The bus ride from Cancun down to the Yucatán Peninsula was just under 2 hours. The last hour of the ride our tour guide Elias told us about the Mayan culture, what they believed happened to them and talked about their number system as well as many other interesting things about them, like the less body hair you had, the more Mayan you were. The above picture shows there number system which is made of dots, bars and shells. 

Elias would have to say everything twice, once in Spanish and then again in English so we all knew what was going on and being said. They also warned us about what vendors to stay away from and how to tell the authentic items from the fake ones which was really nice because we would not have had a clue!

Not sure what this little critter is, but it was welcoming us into Tulum.

Three sides of Tulum are surrounded by this tall, thick wall. The fourth side is the ocean.

There were also iguanas everywhere!! They are as abundant and common as squirrels in Idaho Falls.

I couldn't believe how big some of them were.

In the middle is a map of Tulum

There it is!

There are faces on the corners of the buildings

The Mayans believed that the moon "Luna" is a woman because the moon is on a 28 day cycle just like a woman. It was pretty interesting to hear how it all did actually correspond. Elias also mentioned that women are more likely to be "lunatics" as a joke.

Pyramid El Castillo (The Castle)

Are you ready for the absolute best part?!?!?

Look at this breathtaking gorgeous view!!

I could not stop taking pictures because every way I looked the view was amazing!

If you look out far enough you an see the waves crashing on the reef. The reef makes a barrier around Tulum. It's shaped like a rainbow and there is only one way in the reef right on the top of the rainbow. It protected the city of Tulum many times because many of the enemies/invaders weren't away of the reef and would crash their ships into it and/or not know how to get in.

We are glistening not because we are a vampire like Edward Cullen but because it was 90+ degrees there (in December!). There was a breeze coming in off the water and it felt amazing.

Templo Dios del Viento (God of Winds Temple) guarding Tulum's sea entrance bay

This afternoon and this view was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. It was so breath taking.

The little tractor bus that took you from the ruins back into "town"

 We ate some "real" food. We had Subway, but with a hint of Mexico because we had Lime Fritos. While we were eating one of the vendors was talking to Cody. Calling him Mr. Nintendo because of his shirt. He was so funny though. He was saying things like "Mr Nintendo bring my you money." "Come by my crap, I only rip you off a little" When we were done eating we went over to his shop. Cody was barganing with him on hte prices and he said, "Man, quit being such a Mexican" ha ha. He was also talking about how "Mr Trump doesn't want us there" and talking about the wall. He was so funny, but that part made me a little sad. Cody did end up buying a hand painted (and not from China) Miami Dolphins mask at the agreed upon bargained price.

We left Tulum and the highway and headed off the beaten trail. It was a real eye opener for us. People were living in shacks for homes, doing laundry and dishes in tubs outside because it was to unbearable to be in their hot homes. I did get a few pictures of some of the nicer ones, but for the most part they were terrible living conditions, but the people that we did come into contact with seemed so happy and content.

We were off paved roads and kept getting deeper and deeper into the jungle. We all had lunch there and it was so good. Seriously real authentic, made by some of the workers mom's type food.

ATV RIDING IN THE JUNGLE

After lunch we hopped on ATV'S. They didn't really care if we have ever drove and atv before but by golly we better be wearing a hair net! In the states we would've had to take a driving course and signed a million release forms to be able to do half the things we have been doing down here. In Mexico, they are so relaxed that way.

Headed deeper into the jungle

The walking path from the ATV's to the cenote.

SNORKELING IN A CENOTE

We had to blow our own life jackets up using those black tubes on the side. Crazy. They did have us clean then prior to doing so.

They had lights everywhere so we could see and once we were in the water and swimming around we noticed extension cords going to the underwater lights!! What if one of those shorted out while we were in the water?!?! Like I said,  Mexico's regulations are soooo different from the states.

Cody did not enjoy this to much. One, because he strongly dislikes snorkeling and two, because his strap on the life jacket that goes between his legs kept coming undone making this life jacket go up around his neck.

He was a pretty good sport even though he wasn't having the best time. He hung out on a ledge for awhile while I went exploring.

At one point I was just swimming around looking ahead of me and then I looked down!! I was over a HUGE black hole!! Probably at least 40 feet in diameter. I could not see anything down there it was so big and dark. I freaked out and swam as fast as I could back to where I could see the bottom. The entire time imagining some big creepy fish monster like you see in the movies chasing me!! My heart was really pumping!! The rest of the time I stayed where I could see the bottom. It is all fresh river water and really clear so it was easy to see 20 feet below you.

Hector was our tour guide for this part of the excursion. We also met Marc Anthony, although it was not J Lo's former Marc Anthony ; )

Some areas had stalactites hanging really low so you had to be careful not to hit your head on them. Other areas had stalagmites poking up so you had to be careful with your legs.

The cenote from the outside

A weird tree by the stairs to go into the cenote

 The ride home was even more of an eye opener. Multiple times we had black pick up trucks drive by that would have cops inside as well as two standing in the back of the trucks all carrying machine guns. One of the trucks had a huge bullet hole in the windshield and they were still driving down the road. There was also little police huts in the median of the highway every so often and they were manned with more cops and more machine guns. 

We also passed trucks loaded to the brim with pineapples and one with bananas. They had windshields made of plastic and most of them were pretty crazy drivers, but we never did pass a single accident. 

We also learned that Cancun as it is now didn't even exist 45 years ago. It use to be a tiny little fishing town and now it is booming and has 86,000 + rooms.

We met back up with Scott and Raini (They went to the Moon Palace and relaxed today). We had Surf and Turf for dinner and then went to the nightly show. It was Turkish fire dancers.

It was a great show, but stuff like this made me wish our kids were with us so they could enjoy it as well.

12.6.2016