Tulum

We're back to a cold and very snowy reality this morning. It's hard to believe that just yesterday I was drinking my morning coffee on this deck 

and this morning I'm ankle deep in snow. Now it's time to cull through the thousands of photos I took while we were away and catch up on the posts that I meant to do while I was gone. I'm going to blame the slow internet connection for the lack of posts. It was pretty painful waiting for photos to upload.

The one attraction I was determined to see on our trip was Tulum. I've wanted to visit these ruins for years, and it's one of the reasons that I chose to stay in Akumal on this trip.

Tulum is the only Mayan city built on the coast. It was a major trade hub (mainly jade, turquoise, and obsidian) and served as the seaport for the Mayan empire. The beach below was the landing site for ships. 

The city was built with a 784 meter long wall complete with watchtowers along three sides, with 12 meter high cliffs protecting the other side. It's very different than other Mayan sites I've visited.

Tulum doesn't have a lot of buildings excavated, and the ones that are are mostly off limits for touching. This meant that the kids weren't that interested in the tour, but they were fascinated by the thousands (and I mean literally thousands) of iguanas sunning themselves all over the ruins and the pathways.

The site on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean was very picturesque and I'm glad that we went to see these ruins, but I don't think that I would hurry back. It wasn't nearly as much fun as wandering through the jungle at Coba, it was way more crowded, and it was hot as the dickens.

And anyone who knows Cal knows that's a dangerous combination. 

 The highlight of this trip was definitely playing in the surf on the beach at the base of the ruins. It was a very windy day, and the waves were huge. It was also a very hot day, and the water was refreshing after wandering around the ruins up top.

 It was a difficult task to drag the boys away when it was time to leave. We lured them away with promises of a visit to another cenote that afternoon after a trip into town to eat some lunch. But that's a story for another day.