Carrie Snider: Yucatan, Mexico

Travelers:

Carrie & Jon
Patty (Carrie's mom)
Conrad & Sarah (Carrie's brother and wife)
Casey & Katie (Carrie's brother and wife)

Trip Details:

Tour Mayan ruins in Mexico via Alma's LDS Tours for five days. Shuttles, hotels, and most food included. We HIGHLY recommend Alma's LDS Tours, and our tour guide, Miguel. Then spend a few days on our own.

Day 1: Arrive at Cancun airport. Tour guide shuttles us to a hotel in the Riviera Maya for the night.

Day 2: Go to church near our hotel. Drive. Tour the Tulum ruins, drive and stop for lunch, drive. Tour the Coba ruins, drive to the city of Valladolid and do some sightseeing. Stay the night.

TULUM RUINS

This was a Mayan fortress city, one of the few surrounded by a wall. Tulum actually means "Wall." They think it had about 1,000-1,600 inhabitants. Here are some more interesting things about Tulum.

We parked in the main parking area and walked around the shops a bit. Mom bought a hat. Even in February it was pretty warm and humid.

Between the parking lot and the ruins, there was a plaza with fun things to see, including this! The "Dance of the Flyers" which is a ritual of four-five people of mesoamerica descent. They climb the pole, then launch themselves with ropes and slowly go around until they reach the grown. Someone stays on the top and dances and plays a flute and drum. One myth says the ritual was to ask the gos to end drought.

It was a bit of a walk from the parking lot to the ruins. The Tulum ruins are on the coast, plus surrounded by a wall. Not all of the wall is still intact, but we got to walk through an opening.

This is what's called a "Mayan arch" which are seen at most every site. It's an archway but with a flat top. They are purposely made short so you have to bend as you walk through it as an act of humility.

We loved having a tour guide who could tell us all about the site. He grew up in the area and has studied the ruins his whole life. This particular site covered a smaller area, so you could see many of the Tulum buildings at once. (Other ruin sites are much larger and there are miles between buildings.)

Each building had a particular use either for leadership, religious ceremonies, or scientific study.

As you can see, some buildings are pretty crumbly, while others have had restoration work done. There are SO MANY ruins all over Yucatan, Mexico. Literally over a thousand! They find more all the time. Basically when the people died off or left, the jungle took over them, so explorers have been finding them slowly. Due to sheer volume, and difficulty and funding, it takes a long time to restore them.

Tulum is located right on the beach, though most of it is rocky cliffs. It was beautiful! A great "watch out" spot for incoming boats.

After leaving Tulum, we drove and stopped for lunch at this amazing outdoor buffet.

COBA RUINS

After parking at Coba, we walked a ways. It's a HUGE area with lots of space between buildings. You can walk, rent a bike, or hire a bike taxi--which is what we did. It was great fun!

Coba's claim to fame is that it has the largest network of stone causeways/raised pathways that connect residential areas to the main pyramid and the water supply. Most of the pathways are under trees, so it's very shaded and fun to ride under. Here is more info about Coba.

The main pyramid at Coba is one of the few in the area still open for people to climb.

It is VERY STEEP!

I got a tiny ways up then came back down. Heights are not my friend.

This tombstone-looking stone is what's called a "stella" or lifestory usually of a main ruler. There are lots of these in each ruin we visited in Mexico.

A Mayan ballgame court. It was so cool! This one was on the small side. Only royal or religious leader types could play and/or watch. They played against other cities. Sometimes the rules were different, but mostly the idea was to get a heavy rubber ball through the hoop.