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Tulum
 Tulum
about 1 hour drive south of Playa del Carmen and only 25 minutes
south of Akumal.
Tulum is a particularly impressive site, perched as it is high on
top of limestone cliffs that spill down to the turquoise waters of
the Caribbean below. The first time you enter the modest walled
city, it takes your breath away. El Castillo, a large temple, is the
site's biggest structure.
Tulum is not a particularly important city to archeologists. A Late
Post- Classic city, the style of architecture is nowhere near the
complexity of the Classic period. By that time in history the
building arts and stone cutting skills of the Maya had degraded and
much use was made of heavy stucco to cover any rough spots. It is
now the most visited archeological site in all of Mexico, Even its
first tourist, John Lloyd Stephens, American author and adventurer
who toured the Yucatan in the early 1840s, was impressed: 'Besides
the deep and exciting interest of the ruins themselves, we had
around us what we wanted at all the other places, the magnificence
of nature.... We had found this one of the most interesting places
we had seen in our whole exploration of ruins.'
The walls on three sides enclosing the city may have been defensive,
as they average 18 feet thick and are between nine and 15 feet high.
Entrance is via one of the original five tunnels through the wall. A
troop of brightly dressed Los Olmecas Ototonacos de Veracruz Native
Americans perform ceremonial twirling dances while hanging
upside-down from a huge flagpole. (Nothing to do with Tulum or the
Maya, but entertaining and worth the US $1 tip they ask for.).
Tulum, 130 km south of Cancún, considered by many as the most
beautiful of the Mayan sites, is small but exquisitely poised on the
fifteen-meter-high cliffs above the Caribbean. When the Spanish
first set eyes on the place in 1518, they considered it as large and
beautiful a city as Seville, Spain. They were, perhaps misled by
their dreams of El dorado, by the glory of its position, and by the
brightly painted facades of the buildings. Architecturally, Tulum is
no match for these great cities. Nevertheless, thanks to the
setting, it sticks in the memory like no other.
You enter through a breach in the wall which protected the city on
three sides. The fourth was defended by the sea. This wall, some 5m
(16ft) high with a walkway around the top, may have been defensive,
but more likely its prime purpose was to distinguish the ceremonial
and administrative zone (the site you see now) from the residential
enclaves, which were mostly constructed of perishable material. As
you go through the walls, the chief structures lie directly ahead of
you, with The Castillo (The Castle) rising on its rocky prominence
above the sea.
At The Templo de los Frescos (Temple of the Frescoes), the partly
restored murals that can be seen inside the temple depict Mayan Gods
and symbols of nature's fertility; rain, corn and fish. They
originally adorned an earlier structure and have been preserved by
the construction of a gallery around them, and still later (during
the fifteenth century) by the addition of a second temple.
Characteristically, its walls slope outwards at the top. Carved on
the corners of the gallery are masks of Chac, or perhaps of the
creator, God Itzamna.
The Castillo, on the highest part of the site, commands imposing
views in every direction. Aside from its role as a temple, it may
well have served as a beacon or lighthouse. Even without a light it
would have been and important landmark for mariners along an
otherwise monotonously featureless coastline. You climb first to a
small square, in the middle of which stood an altar, before climbibg
the broad stairway to the top of the castle itself. To the left of
this plaza stands the Templo del Dios Descendente. The diving or
descending god-depicted here above the narrow entrance of the temple
appears all over Tulum as a small, upside-down figure. His exact
significance is not known. He may represent the setting sun, rain,
lightning, or he may be the Bee God, since honey was one of the
Mayan's most important exports. Opposite is the Templo de Las Series
Iniciales (Temple of the Initial Series), so called because in it
was found a stela bearing a date well before the foundation of the
city, and presumably brought here from else where. Further
interesting places to explore are strung out south along the coast.
If you simply want to take time out for a swim, you can plunge into
the Caribbean straight from the beach fronting the site.
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