Touring the Ruins in Tulum, Mexico
There are so many ancient ruins to discover in Mexico and Central America. We are fortunate to have visited a few. In our travels we’d never made it to Tulum, so on a recent trip, we hired an excellent private guide and visited these very popular ruins.
There are 90,000 archaeological sites in Mexico. 192 of these sites can be visited. Some of these sites, have been turned into a version of amusement parks, while some sit on private property. Tulum is conveniently located 90 minutes south of Cancun and about 45 minutes south of Playa del Carmen. It sits along the ocean, making the setting very picturesque. It’s small, so easy to get through in just a couple of hours. All of this adds up to make these popular ruins very crowded. The best way to avoid the crowds is to go early, as the park opens at 8AM most days.
A typical home. Our guide shared that this home, higher on one of the hills, would have mostly likely have been our version of a single family home. In the middle of the home, under the doorway, sits a tomb. These are Mayan ruins, and like so many of the ancient people of this area, the Mayans believed in the underworld. They believed that passing through the underworld was not the end of life but a place where they passed through following death.
We walked along and looked at more of the ancient structures. It’s hard to think that these are nearly 1,000 years old and have survived. The Spainard’s “discovered” Tulum in the 1500’s.
Serving as a lookout point. The Temple of the Wind God, is on one of the highest points right along the Ocean.
The thatched roof below is a reconstructed replica designed to show how the Mayans covered their buildings.
It is thought that Tulum was built mostly as a place of worship with so many temples. Here in the floor of the ancient village, note some new residents. The Iguanas love to come out in the sunshine in the heat of the day. However, like many animals, we watched a territory battle going on between some of the larger male iguanas.
Below we saw the famous Temple of the Frescos. Because of where it sits, it is protected from the wind and salt blowing up from the sea. This means that inside this building there are many carvings and paintings that give more insight to the history of Tulum. We could not go in, but got a good look at the detailed carvings on the outside of the building.
Looking out over the waves to the structures of Tulum, notice the ugly brown seaweed along the shore. This is the much talked about sargassum, the floating seaweed that is taking over the shores along the Caribbean coastline of Mexico. It’s a pesty seaweed that the resorts are fighting every day, cleaning the shores for up to 12 hours daily. Here, unchecked and uncleared, is a view of what it could look like if not cleaned. The sargassum used to only come in the warm summer months, but in 2023 it landed on the shores in this area in February. What makes it worse, is these are beaches turtles use to nest on. The state of the sargassum makes that very difficult, if not impossible.
Sad to see in such a lovely place.
There is a belief that the city might have been called, “Zama” which means “dawn” in Mayan. As this city sits on the Eastern edge of the coast, dawn would have been a very good name.
It was named “Tulum” which means “wall or fence,” as the city is totally circled by walls or the cliffs as seen below.
Not a great shot, but here is walking out through the “wall” that encloses the city.
Through the jungle, you can see more of the wall from the outside. It was nice and cool under the shade of the trees on this very warm day.
Should you find yourself in along the coast of Quintana Roo, near Tulum, I would recommend a stop here. It’s good for a short visit and a glimpse into the incredible architecture of the ancient Mayan people from almost 2,000 years ago.
The Celebrity Guide
Angela was fantastic as a guide. She was so knowledgeable and, even better, so much fun. We do recommend a private guide for this adventure. Our hotel booked for us.
(and her Instagram name is “The Celebrity Guide!)
Coba
We loved Coba, not too far from Tulum, so much more. It is thought the be built of the same Mayan people that built Tulum, which served as it’s coastal village. Coba is huge, to the point we had to ride bikes to get around (they also offer shuttles.) We would highly recommend a visit to Coba if you are interested in ancient ruins in this area. Our post is: HERE
And, apparently, green shorts for me and a purple shirt for him are our, “ancient ruin visiting” outfits! (lol!)
