Travel to Tulum ruins in Mexico

This winter I had an amazing experience visiting one of the famous Mayan ruin sites – the city called Tulum. And I absolutely loved it!

Entry to Tulum

I took Caribbean cruise with Carnival and trip to Tulum was offered as one of the attractions on Mexico coast line stop at Playa del Carmen.

The great part about it was that I didn’t have to do anything only to get to the ferry taking people to Playa del Carmen shore on time, so I wouldn’t miss the bus. Tulum was not anywhere near the ship was docked, so our group had to use tour operator’s bus to get to Tulum site.  It took an hour to get there on a bus.  The journey went smooth and fast. We had a great guide Angel who was half Mexican, half Mayan, as he liked to refer to us. He told us many stories and kept all the bus entertained till we reached walls of Tulum.

Local Mayan man making souvenirs.

Before we reached Tulum we had one 30min. restroom stop along the way at a local Mayan cooperative center where hand-crafted souvenirs could be purchased.

I loved the souvenirs made from a local Mayan “golden” rock. It is a black rock, which if kept in sun for a while gets some golden shine. Well, at least this is as much as we got to see of it. I bet if we would have time to stand in that heat another 20 minutes this rock definitely would have changed its looks into gold. I am sure this is the reason why it was so popular in Mayan world, and now is popular item to buy amongst tourists.

Souvenirs from "golden" stone.

Apart other interesting crafts there were different statues and famous Mayan calendars of all sizes. I am still very tempted to buy one of those huge Mayan calendar circles and put it on my office wall.

Another great souvenirs offered to tourists were silver plates with their names written on it. These plates were Mayan symbols of marriage back in ancient world. Just like the golden rings that we are wearing right now.

Silver plates containing name of the child would be made upon his/hers birth. Usually father of the child would have it next to the name of his sons or daughters mother on a band around his neck. On the day his kid would be getting married father would give him this silver plate, so he could exchange it with his spouse. And they would have each other names as a wedding promise.

We were all very moved to find out that Tulum once was actually a Mayan academy. And family was the most important treasure a Mayan could posses. So, no ritual killings were ever performed in Tulum. It was indeed a sacred place of science and wisdom.

Another purpose of Tulum was port of trades. It was well known as Mayan trade capital. Many Mayan ships would come from other cities to trade their goods. So not only Tulum was a Mecca of science, but also it was a rich port of trades, well protected from intruders by a huge wall complex.

Tulum Castle

Tulum may have been formerly also known by the name Zama, or the city of Dawn. Tulum is also the Mayan word for wall and the walls surrounding the site allowed Tulum fort to serve as defense against an invasion.

It was one hot day. So we decided to take a little Tulum train to get from the entry gates of the tourist village to the actual entry to Tulum. Some of the tourists decided to walk this distance, but they did regret this choice later. Although it was winter time in Mexico, sun was not playing around.

Tulum is one of the most beautiful Mayan sites in Mexico. This ancient walled city is located on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea and it was the first structure sighted by the Spaniards in the 16^th century.

Entry to Tulum made by Spaniards.

The entry to the great city of Tulum surprisingly was a hall in a wall that surrounds the city. This hall was once cut by Spanish conquistadors. Apparently they didn’t find the gates to the town, so had to do it the hard way.

I have to say that wall maybe not too tall (5m or 16ft.), but sure was thick. (8 meters) It’s like some mini tunnel. Makes you think how long did it took them to dig through.

Tulum inside.

As you enter Tulum, there is amazingly wide space in front of you. Remains are very well preserved and everything is kept clean and cut for tourists to look around. We were asked not to step from the special paths made to walk around and not to cross any fences that divide paths from monuments. Although Tulum looked great to me, apparently due to its location (on a cost of Caribbean Sea) sea was not so forgiving to Tulum buildings and temples.  Tourists were not allowed to step on any of the temples, not to mention the idea of climbing one. That part was a little bit disappointing, but to be honest it was still more then worth seeing Tulum city. You cannot really expect these monuments to stand forever if a million feet would be climbing their steps every season.

The most impressive building in Tulum was the Castle, which is the tallest building nearest to the sea. It has many steps just like all Mayan pyramids. It stands on 12 meters (39ft) tall cliffs. Castle is visible far away from the sea.

I also liked the Temple of the Wind and the Temple of Frescoes. They were used as worship place for gods and to share science wisdom. Our tour guide Angel told us, that a man would have to live all his life in order to be given a permission to climb upstairs to the priests. There were many rules not to be broken. Like adultery for example would banish your all chances to climb till the last step. It was thought to be a mortal sin for a spirit and a man would never be forgiven and would have to live in shame.

Tulum really made us rethink what we thought we knew about Mayan civilization.