austxdan
9th July 2007, 06:13 AM
Day 7 - May 25, 2007 - Tulum Ruins and Sian Kaan
Today was another bad sunrise day, as there was more cloudiness in the area. So after checking things out, I just went back to bed. Perhaps it was the vino from last night that needed a little more sleep today. Yeah, that's it.
We still managed to get up fairly early, and head on out to the Tulum ruins, which we somehow had failed to see last year even though we were staying a lofty 3 miles away from them. So this year, even though we had already visited Coba first, we decided to go and see the Tulum ruins. We had made a mental note of the opening time, and in order to beat the crowds we rolled into the parking lot at 7:59. I believe we were the second car in the parking lot at that time. "El parking dude" wasn't even in his booth yet, and walked over to us as we parked to sell us our ticket. And then we were off to the ruins. We decided to skip the guide this time, and just read the signs ourselves. This allowed us to cruise a little faster, staying ahead of the tour buses, and getting crowd-free pictures like this.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1153/528804306_d5aa6d33d8.jpg
Figure 56 - Just through the entrance to the "Walled City"
We greatly enjoyed our tour of the ruins. The signs were very informative, and some of the attributes of the ruins we connected to things that Jose had told us back at Coba. It wasn't even really too hot yet, although it was getting toasty by the end of our tour. We took a bunch of touristy pictures, and I even played Sampson for a little bit.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/228/528893805_256841e47c.jpg
Figure 57 - "Dan-pson" in the house!
OK, I didn't really push the columns down, Chris wouldn't let me climb over the "anti-tourist rope" and so I had to create this clever ruse picture. And so we proceeded with our walking tour. The grounds were quite beautiful, and in some cases the scenery and vegetation without ancient structures was almost as impressive as the scenery with structures.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1102/528807618_6884d0f918.jpg
Figure 58 - Grounds of the walled city of Tulum
Although I always like to include my beautiful bride in as many shots as possible.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1035/528924537_c409d44b90.jpg
Figure 59 - Chris on the beach below the ruins
Towards the end of our tour, as we were trying to figure out where the exit was, we came across someone who volunteered to take a picture of the two of us. This worked out well, as I usually don't do so well with the 'auto-timer' thingie.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1038/528929365_c3794749ef.jpg
Figure 60 - Nosotros y una Iguana
We finally found the exit from the walled city and began the walk back to the parking lot. Our timing was perfect, as we were heading the opposite direction from streams of people just coming in. Our "second car in the parking lot" scenario had changed and we were now fairly well surrounded by throngs of tour buses. So take note kiddos, the ruins open at 8:00 am, and get there early.
One final note about the Mayans, and what hard workers this ancient civilization was, can be gleaned from this sign. I mean, if they could carry huge blocks of rock on their backs to build large pyramids and temples, surely they can carry a nicely super sized burger!
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/528932759_89b2451e00.jpg
Figure 61 -"Maya Burger" signage at ruins
Upon leaving the ruins after our 90 minute trip, we decided that we were a might hungry for breakfast, and since we were gonna drive right past it anyhow, we stopped in at . . . Zamas!
I can't believe I didn't get any pictures, but we both ordered the pancakes with the fruit, yogurt, granola topping. Mmm good! I got my fill of coffee and Chris started her day off with Chaya water. Yeah, I didn't opt for the strained spinach, the coffee was just fine for me.
After breakfast we just went back to Tita's to relax. Cesiak was due to come by at 1:45 to pick us up for the Sian Kaan tour. We said good-bye to Keith and Julie who were leaving Tulum and heading up to Akumal for the final stop of their trip. And then we just relaxed on the beach, reading, journaling, and taking pictures of approaching tornados, er, water spouts.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/528529140_e56c9d1fec.jpg
Figure 62 - water spout
Luckily, the rain clouds that spawned these drifted just to the south of us, and we had a nice warm sunny morning to enjoy. Around 2:00 PM the CeSiak van finally pulled up to take us into Sian Kaan, but it seemed to turn the wrong way out of Tita's parking lot. Apparently some of the folks previously picked up hadn't brought their swim suits, so we had to ride back up to Cabanas La Conchita so they could "suit up". Grrrr. Then we turned around and headed back down to the CeSiak offices in Sian Kaan.
We had some time to kill until a few other folks showed up for our tour, so we walked up to the roof for a good view of the area. It was quite windy the past few days in Tulum, and it seemed even more so down here between the ocean and the inland bay.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1232/528935385_865bb58465.jpg
Figure 63 - CeSiak's office roof
Eventually, our tour got under way. It began with an educational session inside at the CeSiak office before we headed out on the boats. Our guide for the day was Luis. Luis told us about the area, how the fresh water underground rivers were being endangered by ongoing development of the mega-resorts further up the coast (hint: Playa del Carmen) and how some resorts had even completely destroyed an underground river by blasting and sinking a huge support beam in its path (hint: Barcelo Maya). Luis also like to talk about the Maya people, and how he was Maya and quite proud to be so. He was definitely the tallest Maya with the most facial hair of any other Maya we met on this trip!
After our education, we crossed the peninsula and boarded our two boats for the start of our canal tour. The boat captains were a father and sun team. Half of our group went with Luis on the boat with Captain "Cosmo". Chris and I and the rest of our group stayed on the second boat with "Cosmo Jr.". He was a trained veterinarian who was raised down here in Sian Kaan, and was following in his father's footsteps. Luis, was quite the ham on this trip, here he is out front - "breaking the wind", so to speak.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1077/528846910_138eeb4632.jpg
Figure 64 - Luis (front), Captain Cosmo (back)
The tour was both fun, and educational. We started off in the "brackish" water of the bay, and boated over to the Boca Paila bridge to see where the salt water from the ocean originally comes into the biosphere. We were shown a spot in the middle of the lagoon where a large underground river bubbles up.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1171/528850480_905bea64c0.jpg
Figure 65 - Underground river in bay
You can stick your hand in the middle of that and the water is fresh (not salty) and cold, and then you put your hand 6 inches over and you are in the warmer salt water of the bay. Later in the tour we went up one of the canals to a Mayan temple. The water here was all fresh water. We donned life jackets upside down and wore them as diapers, then jumped into the water and drifted/floated for about an hour. The boats had gone on ahead to pick us up further down the canal.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1176/528949841_20b202b777.jpg
Figure 66 - Chris at Mayan temple (Templo Xpalac)
Once we got back to CeSiak's offices, we had a nice group dinner on the rooftop. It was extremely windy, but the fish - a nice blackened grouper, was fantastic. We were then treated to a spectacular sunset over Sian Kaan. The sun got into some clouds just before it set, but still gave quite a good showing. It was interesting to see the sun going "down" for a change, after watching so many sunrises in Tulum.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/225/528861962_8f0a9d6a89.jpg
Figure 67 - Sunset over Sian Kaan
We hung around and visited with the folks from our tour for awhile, finally loading back up into the van for the bumpy ride out of Sian Kaan and back to our hotels. We were the closest, and dropped off at Tita's first. Back in cabana #5 we showered up and instantly hit the pillows for a good nights sleep.
Today was another bad sunrise day, as there was more cloudiness in the area. So after checking things out, I just went back to bed. Perhaps it was the vino from last night that needed a little more sleep today. Yeah, that's it.
We still managed to get up fairly early, and head on out to the Tulum ruins, which we somehow had failed to see last year even though we were staying a lofty 3 miles away from them. So this year, even though we had already visited Coba first, we decided to go and see the Tulum ruins. We had made a mental note of the opening time, and in order to beat the crowds we rolled into the parking lot at 7:59. I believe we were the second car in the parking lot at that time. "El parking dude" wasn't even in his booth yet, and walked over to us as we parked to sell us our ticket. And then we were off to the ruins. We decided to skip the guide this time, and just read the signs ourselves. This allowed us to cruise a little faster, staying ahead of the tour buses, and getting crowd-free pictures like this.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1153/528804306_d5aa6d33d8.jpg
Figure 56 - Just through the entrance to the "Walled City"
We greatly enjoyed our tour of the ruins. The signs were very informative, and some of the attributes of the ruins we connected to things that Jose had told us back at Coba. It wasn't even really too hot yet, although it was getting toasty by the end of our tour. We took a bunch of touristy pictures, and I even played Sampson for a little bit.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/228/528893805_256841e47c.jpg
Figure 57 - "Dan-pson" in the house!
OK, I didn't really push the columns down, Chris wouldn't let me climb over the "anti-tourist rope" and so I had to create this clever ruse picture. And so we proceeded with our walking tour. The grounds were quite beautiful, and in some cases the scenery and vegetation without ancient structures was almost as impressive as the scenery with structures.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1102/528807618_6884d0f918.jpg
Figure 58 - Grounds of the walled city of Tulum
Although I always like to include my beautiful bride in as many shots as possible.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1035/528924537_c409d44b90.jpg
Figure 59 - Chris on the beach below the ruins
Towards the end of our tour, as we were trying to figure out where the exit was, we came across someone who volunteered to take a picture of the two of us. This worked out well, as I usually don't do so well with the 'auto-timer' thingie.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1038/528929365_c3794749ef.jpg
Figure 60 - Nosotros y una Iguana
We finally found the exit from the walled city and began the walk back to the parking lot. Our timing was perfect, as we were heading the opposite direction from streams of people just coming in. Our "second car in the parking lot" scenario had changed and we were now fairly well surrounded by throngs of tour buses. So take note kiddos, the ruins open at 8:00 am, and get there early.
One final note about the Mayans, and what hard workers this ancient civilization was, can be gleaned from this sign. I mean, if they could carry huge blocks of rock on their backs to build large pyramids and temples, surely they can carry a nicely super sized burger!
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/528932759_89b2451e00.jpg
Figure 61 -"Maya Burger" signage at ruins
Upon leaving the ruins after our 90 minute trip, we decided that we were a might hungry for breakfast, and since we were gonna drive right past it anyhow, we stopped in at . . . Zamas!
I can't believe I didn't get any pictures, but we both ordered the pancakes with the fruit, yogurt, granola topping. Mmm good! I got my fill of coffee and Chris started her day off with Chaya water. Yeah, I didn't opt for the strained spinach, the coffee was just fine for me.
After breakfast we just went back to Tita's to relax. Cesiak was due to come by at 1:45 to pick us up for the Sian Kaan tour. We said good-bye to Keith and Julie who were leaving Tulum and heading up to Akumal for the final stop of their trip. And then we just relaxed on the beach, reading, journaling, and taking pictures of approaching tornados, er, water spouts.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/528529140_e56c9d1fec.jpg
Figure 62 - water spout
Luckily, the rain clouds that spawned these drifted just to the south of us, and we had a nice warm sunny morning to enjoy. Around 2:00 PM the CeSiak van finally pulled up to take us into Sian Kaan, but it seemed to turn the wrong way out of Tita's parking lot. Apparently some of the folks previously picked up hadn't brought their swim suits, so we had to ride back up to Cabanas La Conchita so they could "suit up". Grrrr. Then we turned around and headed back down to the CeSiak offices in Sian Kaan.
We had some time to kill until a few other folks showed up for our tour, so we walked up to the roof for a good view of the area. It was quite windy the past few days in Tulum, and it seemed even more so down here between the ocean and the inland bay.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1232/528935385_865bb58465.jpg
Figure 63 - CeSiak's office roof
Eventually, our tour got under way. It began with an educational session inside at the CeSiak office before we headed out on the boats. Our guide for the day was Luis. Luis told us about the area, how the fresh water underground rivers were being endangered by ongoing development of the mega-resorts further up the coast (hint: Playa del Carmen) and how some resorts had even completely destroyed an underground river by blasting and sinking a huge support beam in its path (hint: Barcelo Maya). Luis also like to talk about the Maya people, and how he was Maya and quite proud to be so. He was definitely the tallest Maya with the most facial hair of any other Maya we met on this trip!
After our education, we crossed the peninsula and boarded our two boats for the start of our canal tour. The boat captains were a father and sun team. Half of our group went with Luis on the boat with Captain "Cosmo". Chris and I and the rest of our group stayed on the second boat with "Cosmo Jr.". He was a trained veterinarian who was raised down here in Sian Kaan, and was following in his father's footsteps. Luis, was quite the ham on this trip, here he is out front - "breaking the wind", so to speak.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1077/528846910_138eeb4632.jpg
Figure 64 - Luis (front), Captain Cosmo (back)
The tour was both fun, and educational. We started off in the "brackish" water of the bay, and boated over to the Boca Paila bridge to see where the salt water from the ocean originally comes into the biosphere. We were shown a spot in the middle of the lagoon where a large underground river bubbles up.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1171/528850480_905bea64c0.jpg
Figure 65 - Underground river in bay
You can stick your hand in the middle of that and the water is fresh (not salty) and cold, and then you put your hand 6 inches over and you are in the warmer salt water of the bay. Later in the tour we went up one of the canals to a Mayan temple. The water here was all fresh water. We donned life jackets upside down and wore them as diapers, then jumped into the water and drifted/floated for about an hour. The boats had gone on ahead to pick us up further down the canal.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1176/528949841_20b202b777.jpg
Figure 66 - Chris at Mayan temple (Templo Xpalac)
Once we got back to CeSiak's offices, we had a nice group dinner on the rooftop. It was extremely windy, but the fish - a nice blackened grouper, was fantastic. We were then treated to a spectacular sunset over Sian Kaan. The sun got into some clouds just before it set, but still gave quite a good showing. It was interesting to see the sun going "down" for a change, after watching so many sunrises in Tulum.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/225/528861962_8f0a9d6a89.jpg
Figure 67 - Sunset over Sian Kaan
We hung around and visited with the folks from our tour for awhile, finally loading back up into the van for the bumpy ride out of Sian Kaan and back to our hotels. We were the closest, and dropped off at Tita's first. Back in cabana #5 we showered up and instantly hit the pillows for a good nights sleep.