Tulum

Somehow, we managed to drag ourselves away from the paradise of Akumal a few times while in Mexico, but only where there was really good reason. Tulum,  a well known Mayan ruin,  provided one of those reasons. Thanks to a helpful guidebook tip, we made sure to rise early for arrival by 8:00 a.m., when it opened.  Good thing we did too -- once the tour buses from Cancun pour in around 10:00, it is difficult to get a shot in edgewise, and the ruin itself is not big enough to provide room for all those people.  An added bonus is that all the hawkers and tchotchke shops were closed when we headed in, sparing us untold sales pitches. (More on that later.)

Happily we had the run of the place for about forty-five minutes, joined mostly by the current inhabitants -- Iguanas.

They were everywhere.  The boys spotted 57 before we managed to leave. Each of the pictures below has an Iguana in it -- some more obvious than others.

It entertained Keegan endlessly, and led to one of the funnier stories we heard while in Mexico.  A local guide told us that there were many theories about how to tell a female Iguana from a male Iguana -- one was darker than the other, one had more spikes than the other, one was bigger than the other -- but none of them proved true in all cases.

He said the only surefire way had been told to him by his grandfather, and had been passed down from the Maya for generations. In order to really tell, you have to wait and watch them for a time.

Eventually, the Iguana will move its head in a repeated, distinctive pattern -- the males will bob their head up and down, as if nodding YES, and the females will always bob their head side to side, like they were saying NO. He said it with a grand twinkle in his eye, but swore that it was true.  We laughed pretty hard.

Overall, we did have the ruins to ourselves for a time (Iguanas excepted of course) and as the photos below will attest, it was a glorious, blue sky morning.

If you look closely at the photo above, you can see turtle tracks in the sand. Unlike the beach on the south side, this beach to the north of Tulum's famed castle is reserved exclusively for sun-bathers with shells firmly attached.

Eventually, the crowds did begin to arrive, but not before Kathleen and Keegan had the beach south of the castle virtually to themselves for a time. You can see them in the lower right hand corner of the photograph below.

Eventually, we all joined them, and the boys had a great time in the surf.

That pretty much put an end to touring though, as soaking wet shorts are no fun to walk in, so we climbed the stairs, and bid farewell to a beautiful place.

On our way out, the many shops and tour vendors were open, pressing us as we left to buy this and that. As Kate and I walked out, a very nice young man earnestly pitched us on taking a trip to Dos Ojos Cenote, two limestone sinkholes filled with fresh water where you can snorkel. In trying to seal the deal he told us he would even show us the part of the cenote where, in an underwater cave, fathers would sacrifice their 14 year old daughters to appease the gods of the underworld.  Unable to resist, I looked squarely at Kate and said, "Perfect, where do we sign up?”  One sore shoulder later, it was clear our next excursion would not be to Dos Ojos. Instead, we ended up at the ruins of Coba, which will be our next post.