This ended up being a brilliant decision and I'm so glad we decided to visit here. Our guide was excellent, the ruins here are so much prettier than those at Chichen Itza, and I felt like we got a whole lotta history bang for our buck.
In the little shopping square outside the ruins they have this pole. Everyone once in a while these guys climb to the top, start spinning and then hang upside down and spin around. We didn't get to see the whole show - just the first part.
Coatimundi are members of the raccoon family. They eat lizards, snakes, birds, fruit and grubs and nearly every Mayan family in Tulum kept one as a pet. They are super friendly and made good pets - and are pretty adorable.
Tulum's purpose in the Mayan empire was as a seaport, trading mainly in turquoise and jade. It's the only Mayan city built on a coast and one of the few protected by a wall.
The wall surrounds the city on three sides and the barrier reef provides protection from the sea. A channel affords safe passage to the beaches below the city, and lighthouse were constructed to guide Mayan ships safely through the channel. In order to keep hostile ships from navigating the channel the lighthouse didn't actually line up for generally accepted navigation. Anyone not knowing the key would run aground.
This is standing at the third lighthouse and looking back down the cliff at the other one (with the castle in the middle).
Look really closely and you can see all three structures.
Our guide also said that archaeologists and historians also believe that the city was camouflaged by day. The sea-facing structures were all painted glorious shades of blue that made it indistinguishable from the sea when viewed beyond the reef.
On top of all the history, it really is just a beautiful place to visit.
Our guide was wearing a talisman made of onyx and silver. A traditional piece of Mayan jewelry, made by local artisans. On it, the wearer inscribes a word or phrase of great meaning - his was his wife's name - as a touchstone, good luck, a reminder of who and what you are. I love the idea of that, a physical reminder of something important to me and my life - so, I had one made for myself.
It was such a great day. An amazing place to visit. I loved our guide; he had an incredible knowledge of the history of the people and places, and was clearly proud of his ancestry. He expressed genuine appreciation for us taking a "cultural" excursion instead of a boozy-beachy one, and spending time learning a little bit about the history of the land we were visiting. In every port, our guides all made a point of telling us how proud they were of their country, and how they genuinely invited us to return and spend time with the local people and culture.
