Parte Cuatro: Tulum Day 2 - The Ruins

We awoke relatively early on Monday, March 8th, with plans to have a quick breakfast, pack up, and go visit the Mayan ruins at Tulum before driving all the way south into Belize. We quickly learned that plans for a quick breakfast were not in the stars for us as we sat down to eat at the Retiro Maya restaurant. We waited quite a while for our breakfast (which was delicious) and then waited a bit longer for the bill so we could be on our way.

All ready for the next leg of our trip!

      

Nearly an hour later than we had hoped to be in the van we headed the couple of miles to the ruins where we did a quick unguided tour....basically we walked quickly and snapped photos and tried to take in as much as possible in the hour we had allotted ourselves so that we would have adequate time to drive into Belize and obtain the necesary insurance for our car before the insurance office closed.

The name Tulum (pronounced "too-LOOM") means wall, referring to the fact that Tulum was a walled city, protected on one side by steep cliffs facing the sea and on the other by a wall of about 12 feet in height. Tulum served as a trading port.  The Maya site may have been formerly also known by the name Zama, meaning city of Dawn.

Iguanas lounged in sunny spots throughout the ruins.

El Castillo - The Castle

This is the tallest building of the archaeological site. It may have functioned as a navigational aid, directing Mayan craft through the break in the reef to the beach.

Temple of the Descending God

Side view of the House of the Columns

Obviously we could have used a tour to get the real history of the site but we did enjoy the beauty of the ruins and their location.  This Mayan site is unique in that it is the only one right on the sea.  As we left the ruins after our one hour of allotted time we all agreed that Tulum definitely deserved to be revisited.

But, our true destination was waiting for us so again we loaded up into the van and made our way south to BELIZE!