Tita Tulum

Tita Tulum was a gem of a place to stay. There were 10 beach front cabana's, with cold and HOT (but salty) water. It was very comfortable. The beds were re-made every day, and the staff left their towel creations for us when they were through.

Tita Tulum (like most of the Eco Resorts) is solar powered. If you zoom in on the blue ledge below the solar panels, you we see another iguana also making use of the sun.
The beach was stunning - with the reef about 300 meters off the shore. We swam out twice, but were less confident with this endeavor and decided to stick closer to shore.

The howler monkeys were a bit less interested in us, and did not pose as well.

Punta Laguna Monkey Reserve

About 20km from Koba (on a road through NOTHING but jungle) is a monkey reserve. Here we were advised to hire a guide. HE took us on a pretty fast trek into the jungle in order to see spider and howler monkeys.
He was successful on both counts. We found a relatively large group of spider monkeys (with young) and a slightly smaller group of howler monkeys (also with young).

Peter and Jeff both jumped into the cenote from a platform built off the stairway.
The rest of us just floated around with our snorkels. I believe this cenote was called Cho-Ha

One of our guides back in Tulum pointed us in the direction of a newly excavated cenote behind Coba.

We were quite surprised to find a long set of spiral steps that led into a large cathedral shaped cenote. Is was a refreshing and visually amazing follow-up to the Coba Ruins.
















Pictures just cannot do justice to this place. The water was crystal clear, and the base seemed to disappear into a series of underwater tunnels and caves.

I am slowly making my way up.
At the top, it was beautifully cool.

There were at least two of these ball courts at the site, and numerous other buildings. The site covers a number of miles in the jungle.
Emily, Peter and Sofia are on their way down.

Off to Coba and Punta Laguna

Coba was the next site we had on our agenda to visit.
It had numerous ruins, ball courts, and one large "castle".
This is the largest "castle" we intended to climb. It has a rope run up the center of the steps that makes it much more accessible.

At Tulum ruins, iguanas were EVERYWHERE!

Day at Tulum Ruins

Tulum is the only seaside Mayan archaeological site. It was beautiful.
Temple of the Descending God (AKA the Bee God??)

I read a lot of literature that translated one manifestation of the descending god into the bee god. We did bring some of our honey, and traded it for a bit of local stingless bee honey.

The beekeeper we met is convinced that the cultivation of stingless bees will soon go the way of the hieroglyphics. He believes, that without the help of another NGO, this part of the Mayan culture will also soon be lost.

There was a stairway down to the sea at this ruin, which was wonderful. It was VERY hot.

Here are a few more close ups of what we saw, plus the inside of a little church in the town of Punta Allen.


On this trip, we were also dropped off in the reef. We, of course, forgot the underwater camera. It was amazing - like right out of National Geographic.

trip to Punta Allen in Sian Kaan

We loved our first trip so much that we booked another one on our second day. This trip was again into the Sian Kaan Bioshere, but more on the Ocean side as opposed to the jungle.
The children wanted to see wildlife, and it was important to us that they indeed be seen in the wild ( there are a number of places further north where you can see captive dolphins and turtles)

Our guides did a great job. We came across 4 dolphins (two sets of older and younger swimming side by side). We followed them for quite a bit.












We also saw a number of spoonbills, egrets, and pelicans