SkyscraperPage Forum - MEXICO | Caribbean - Cozumel, Playa, and Mayan ruins at Tulum

Photos from the American leg of this trip are available here.

Cozumel
Is a small city on an island in the Caribbean Sea, off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. I was on a short cruise that docked there for a day. There is lots of tourist industry, but very few hotels. Most visitors come on the cruise ships or on day trips from mainland resorts. As a result, although the shops are filled with tourist stuff, the city is for the most part urbanistically "pure".

Like many Spanish colonial towns, Cozumel is built around a central town square. In this case, the town square abuts the water. Where the esplanade meets the square, the city erected a giant flag.

There are no highways in the town. The waterfront boulevard is the largest street.

Here is the town square.

Parallel to the waterfront boulevard one block inland (forming the rear street of the town square) there is a pedestrian mall lined with shops. In this picture they have yet to open for the day.

Where the square meets the mall.

Some shops, just beginning to open.

Public buildings are mixed throughout town. This was at a church.

:nods:

Just a random building.

This is a fairly average street. Narrow, messy, totally walkable. :thumbs up:

Cheap crap for sale.

The waterfront boulevard again. Very pretty, with the sea beyond the esplanade to the right.

Beyond the sea wall there is a narrow beach and a harbor, used by local boats and ferries to Playa Del Carmen. The cruise ships dock elsewhere.

The town square again.

The pedestrian mall, with more shops open.

Downtown street.

Playa Del Carmen
From Cozumel we took a ferry across to the mainland city of Playa Del Carmen. Playa is the next large city south from Cancun, so it is a mix of normal Mexican city and American tourist town.

Departing the ferry.

The shopping street that forms the center of this neighborhood.

The first perpendicular street..

Oddly enough...

A more typical street, away from the tourist shopping.

Looking back towards the ferries and the sea.

Zoomed in, you can see Cozumel in the distance.

Tulum
From Playa we took a taxi down to the Mayan ruins at Tulum. The trip along the Mexican highway was crazy. The road was a divided highway with two lanes in each direction, but there were no lane markings and traffic on either side was a complete free-for-all. Cars, trucks and buses all zipped around each other at will.

Tulum was the largest port city in the post-classic Mayan period. In this first picture you can see an overview of the central city. The large building on the left is the main temple, and sits atop a short cliff abutting the sea, which is just out-of-frame to the left.

An overview from the other side of the central city. At one time all this land was fully urban. Now only the some of the strongest stone buildings remain.

Like many ancient cities, Tulum is ringed by a defensive wall. This is a back door.

Profile of the main temple. The sea is to the left, the city to the right.

The cliffs on which the city stand give way on either side of the main temple to beaches. On the south side (shown here), there is a wide beach that acted as the main landing for the Mayan port. This beach is off-limits to tourists because it is used as habitat by endangered sea turtles.

Looking down the cliff at the water from near the main temple.

On the other (north) side of the main temple, there is a narrow beach at the base of the cliffs. This beach is open for swimming, and it is absolutely beautiful. I'm not really a beach person, but I have to say this is one of the most magnificent spots I've ever visited. The sand is *so* soft, and the water *so* blue. I would take the whole trip a second time just to go back to this one spot.

This is the back (sea) side of the main temple, up close.

Like many Mayan buildings, this one was once covered with brightly painted frescos. Unlike most Mayan buildings, some smudges remain on this one.

There was a lot of wildlife around the ruins, since they are after all carved into the tropical jungle.
Iguanas are everywhere.

And so are a lot of exotic birds.

Some random scenes around the ruins.

That's all!
Be sure to visit my other thread from this trip, showing pictures from the cruise ship, Tampa Bay, and the plane ride (in the US/Canada forum).