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Tulum Archeological Zone
The 1200-1500 sea port looks magical towering 39 ft above the Caribbean on it’s seaside cliff. The Mayans here observed astrology and performed trade. They worshiped the sun and this would have been an ideal location. This is the highest point in the area and nothing would have obstructed their view. They also wanted to be safe from intruders so they fenced their city between giant walls up to 16 ft high and 26ft thick!
Although this site is absolutely gorgeous. I feel that it has been too commercialized and the site has lost a bit of it’s ancient charm. I was really disappointed to see a Starbucks here. I have nothing against Starbucks, I love their vanilla coffee frappuccinos but I don’t want to see commercial chain restaurants when I am visiting ancient sites. I want to support the locals! I travel to experience different cultures and to see different ways of life. I feel that a commercial chain at a site like this one, destroys part of the Mayan culture much like the Europeans who imposed their religion on the Mayan people.
I still highly recommend visiting the site. The archeological portion of this site is beautiful. This entire site was as you see it today. None of the site has been reconstructed, which just goes to show how solid Mayan architecture is. Tulum has only be cleared up so that it would be easier to visit otherwise it would be covered with a jungle like the surrounding area. This site is a must see if you are in the Cancun area!
History
This site was originally named “Zama” it means sunrise or new day. On June 21, the sun rises in the window on the temple by the sea. This is an ideal location to watch the sun rise from the Caribbean. The people here worshiped the sun because it was the source of life.
This was the prime location for the Maya’s extensive trade network that went as far as Guatemala. Salt was used as currency here. Back in those days, salt would have been as precious as gold because it was the only way to preserve food. A lot of trading was done here between a lot of different tribes. Some of the goods traded here included feathers, shells, copper, jade and obsidian. This site was one of the main trading posts for obsidian. The closest source is Guatemala 430 miles away (700km). At it’s peak, Tulum housed about 1500 inhabitants. A stalea dating back to 564 AD was found here but it’s hard to tell if it was made here or brought here from another location during the Mayan empire. Everything else here dates back between 1200-1521 AD. Which would make this one of the last sites that were built and inhabited by the Maya.
It was renamed Tulum which means “Wall” in the Mayan language. It was given this name because of the the giant protective walls that surround the city. The main wall averaged 9.5-16ft in height and was about 26 ft thick. These guys made sure no one was going to knock down their wall! Tulum is surrounded by four “Protective walls”. Although you may only be able to see three, the 4th wall is probably the most efficient. It is the giant black coral reef that lines the coast preventing ships from sailing in.
Tulum was mentioned for the first time in 1518 by Juan Diaz, a member of the Juan de Grijalva’s Spanish expedition. Even though the Mayas were great warriors, they didn’t resist the Europeans when they arrived. They welcomed them instead, believing the were their god Kukulcan.
Who is Kukulcan?
In modern culture, we mostly know Kukulcan as the snake that runs down Chichen Itza and lights up during the equinox. Kukulcan is represented as the Serpent God in Mayan culture but he is also known as the source of the Mayan knowledge.
According to Mayan legend, a tall bearded white man with long blond hair and blue eyes came out of the ocean and visited the Mayas. He did not look like Mayan people, who are short, have dark skin and hair. When he arrived they Mayas were primitive. They weren’t building structures yet. This being taught them mathematics, astrology, agriculture and medicine. When he was done, he returned to the ocean and he told the Mayas he would eventually return. When the Spanish conquistadores arrived, the Mayas saw tall, blond white men and thought their god Kukulcan had returned. They welcomed the Spanish.
One of the Few Mayan cities that survived after the Spanish
Tulum managed to survive 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico. Diseases brought in by the Spanish settlers killed a lot of the Maya. The rest abandoned the site and scattered. Leaving the site abandoned for many years until American Lawyer John Lloyd Stephenson and Frederick Catherwood rediscovered Tulum in 1843. They wrote about it in their book “Incidents of Travel in Yucatan”.
In 1913 they started to clear the site from all the vegetation that was starting to take over. The tourism industry started around 1974 but the site didn’t start gaining popularity until 1995. Since then, it has become one of the most visited Mayan sites in the Yucatan peninsula.
Fun Facts
- On the equinox, the sun shines through the window on the Castillo during the sunrise.
- The walls of the Temple of the Descending god are not straight and they were designed this way.
- In 1511, Gonzalo Guerrero Shipwrecked and ended up on the beach of Cancun. The entire crew was sacrificed but he sympathized with the Mayan chief and married his daughter, Princess Zazil Há. They were the first marriage between a European and a Maya.
- The wall surrounding Tulum is three to five meters in height, eight meters thick and 400 meters long.
- The second largest coral reef in the world runs parallel to Tulum. It runs from Cancun to Honduras, it is called the Grand Mayan Reef or Mesoamerican reef. It is 620 miles long.
- The people of Tulum celebrated life and no human sacrifices were performed here. They sacrificed animals instead.16-18 ft canoes transported goods along the coast to and from Tulum.
- On April 6 the moon aligns with the center of the temple.
- All Mayans are born with a blueish spot on their lower back. It looks like a bruise and goes away as they get older. It is called a Mongolian spot.
- People here used to live in thatch houses. The walls were made out of sticks and the roof was covered with palm tree leaves for the roof.
Guided Tours
If you are planning on visiting Cancun, the guided tours are an excellent way to visit Tulum. They will pick you up at your hotel. They will teach you all about the site and you will learn some Mayan culture. The tours include transportation to and from your hotel, a guided tour of the site, free time for you to visit the site on your own and lunch.
Here are my recommendations. I took the Tulum and Coba VIP Tour. I absolutely loved it! The reason why I chose the VIP Tour was because I wanted something that would feel like a personal guided tour. I wasn’t disappointed! They picked me up in a mini bus and there were only 5 others on the tour with me. We had a driver and a tour guide which was great because the guide told us all about Mayan history and culture as we taken to the see the sites.
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Once in Coba, we were given a guided tour and the guide explained what the different structures were used for. We were given over an hour of free time to explore the site, which was not a whole lot of time considering there is so much to see!
Travel Secret
Coba is one of the few temples that you can still climb but that will change very soon. If you want to climb Coba, don’t wait too long before planning your trip, otherwise you will miss out!
After our visit we met back at the mini bus where we were given wet towels to wipe ourselves off from the dusty Coba and cold beers, water and or soda. Only VIP tours give you towels to wipe off. They feel wonderful! We then had lunch, since this was a luxury tour it was not a buffet style lunch. They gave us a choice of beef, chicken or pork and we were served beautiful plates of food. Afterwards we took the mini bus to Tulum. We were given a guided tour of Tulum and over an hour of free time to explore on our own. Before mounting the bus, we got another clean wet towel to cool off along with a beer, soda and/or water. We were then taken back to our hotels, just in time for dinner.
Entrance fee is about 40 pesos, Video cameras cost an extra $30 pesos. Parking is $30 pesos.
There are excellent guided tours that will pick you up at your hotel in the Cancun Hotel Zone or Isla Mujeres.
Directions
Carretera Federal & Cancún – Chetumal Km 230 307,
77780 Tulum, Q.R., Mexico
From Cancun, take Av. Rodrigo Gómez to Carr. Tulum – Cancún/México 307. Turn right onto Av. Rodrigo Gómez. At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Av. J Rojo Gómez Kabah. Continue onto Boulevard Luis Donaldo Colosio. Turn right at the 1st cross street onto Calle Polar Pte. Continue to the destination.
Accommodations
The closest accommodations are in Playa Del Carmen. If you plan on taking a guided tour, which I highly recommend because you will learn the history behind what you see, you will need to book you stay in either Cancun or Isla Mujeres.
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