Tulum

A couple of days after our day at Chichen Itza, we ventured out to Tulum for a half day tour of the Mayan ruins along the coast. Tulum is the site of a Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on 39 ft tall cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea and is one of the best preserved coastal Maya sites.

 Tulum was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya; it was at its height between the 13th and 15th centuries and managed to survive about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico. Old World diseases brought by the Spanish settlers appear to have resulted in very high fatalities, disrupting the society and eventually causing the city to be abandoned.

The site might have been called Zama, meaning City of Dawn, because it faces the sunrise. Tulúm is also the Yucatán Mayan word for fence, wall or trench. The walls surrounding the site allowed the Tulum fort to be defended against invasions. Tulum had access to both land and sea trade routes, making it an important trade hub, especially for obsidian. From numerous depictions in murals and other works around the site, Tulum appears to have been an important site for the worship of the Diving or Descending god.

Just like at Chichen Itza, there were iguanas everywhere!

Tulum has architecture typical of Maya sites on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, there are three major structures of interest at the Tulum archaeological site, El Castillo, the Temple of the Frescoes, and the Temple of the Descending God.

El Castillo (Spanish for "The Castle")

The Castillo was built on a previous building that was colonnaded and had a beam and mortar roof, the lintels in the upper rooms have serpent motifs carved into them, similar to the motifs found at Chichen Itza.  A small shrine appears to have been used as a beacon for incoming canoes, this shrine marks a break in the barrier reef that is opposite the site. Here there is a cove and landing beach in a break in the sea cliffs that would have been perfect for trading canoes coming in, this characteristic of the site may be one of the reasons the Maya founded the city of Tulum exactly here, as Tulum later became a prominent trading port.

Usually visitors can walk down to the beach and go for a swim in the ocean or walk along the base of the cliffs, but the day we went was too windy and the beach was deemed too dangerous for visitors.

After our tour, we were given ample time to explore the massive gift shop. It was fun seeing all the Mayan related souvenirs.

Apparently I am a Zotz on the Mayan zodiac calendar.

I ended up getting my own mini Mayan zodiac calendar, we spent so much time on this trip learning about this amazing, one of a kind culture, I really wanted a souvenir to remember it all by.

It came with a description of the calendar and all the different months and their meanings.

I was also really taken with these adorable, handmade wool animals, especially the turtle with the happy little baby on it's back.

I also splurged and got a brightly colored, embroidered table runner. I absolutely love the gorgeous Mexican embroidery and wanted to take a little piece of it home with me, and I thought this table runner was the perfect example of this fine art.