Mayan Ruins- Tulum

Tulum is a spectacular Mayan archaeological site about 1/12  hours from Cozumel.

 Beginning as a way station for traders travelling along the coast it boastes a sophisticated lighthouse with signal windows facing both North and South. It soon grew into an important economic and cultural hub in the Mayan empire and reached its pinnacle of power  between the 13th and 15th centuries. Though it managed to survive some 70 years beyond the arrival of the Spanish, its thought "European" diseases finally spelled its doom.  

 

The seaward side sits high on 40 ft cliffs and walls keep out the jungle on the landward perimeter.

As was common in Mayan culture human sacrifice ( children and babies primarily) was practised at Tulum. The Spanish saw this as barbaric and went on to slaughter a continent in their self professed role of bringing civilization to the natives

At the entrance to the visitor's centre there are a few guys charging tourist pictures to pose with an iguana.

Save your money.

They're all over the ruins and gardens running wild.

Tulum was a trek to get to from the cruise ship at Cozumel, but was a worthwhile stop.

I'd think at the height of summer it would be pretty tough going but visiting as I did in April, it was merely hot.

Worth a visit.

That's it for today.

More to come tomorrow.

T

Mexico

Not much to report about my 3 days here. Its been a break neck pace and other than eating , sleeping and some snatched pictures I haven't had time for much.
I will remember the traffic.

Mexico City is 7500 ft above sea level and the occasional headache and shortness of breath just before sleep takes over is the result. The stories of pollution and crime were happily not my experience. Its a big city but I saw little of it.

Today I got up at 5 am and flew to Monterrey for the day. Surrounded by mountains its very different from the capital.

I really have nothing much to say other than that people were friendly, the food was good and the pace of work has wiped me out.
Up at 6 for a conference call and then I fly to NYC via Dallas.
Love to all

T

More Mexico

Well........I head to LA tomorrow. I spent the day being a bit of a bum after crying off another excursion.
Someone told me about a place you can swim with wild dolphins and I'm going to try and do that in the morning....the catch?....They come into the bay around 6 am.... and its 1 hour away by bus...still, I think it would be a great experience, so I'll try and do it.
Yesterday I played golf at a course that costs $360 a round.......I would be hard pressed to justifying buying clubs that cost that much.
It was beautiful...stunning scenery by the ocean and happily I didn't stink the place out and hit 96!...think I'll go buy a lottery ticket. The strangest feature of this event were the two "$50,000 hole- in- one holes ". Two par 3's that if you get a hole in one....you get 50 grand. They buy insurance against this happening (which cost the company $300).
Needless to say...my balls went into the ocean........

Big company awards thing tonight.....I have a slot for 15 minutes of cheerleeding but the trouble is, I have no idea what folks from Idaho, and Ohio want to hear...the international guys will get the jokes, but they fell flat with the folks I hosted for dinner last night.... Terry struggles to connect with the good people of the heartland soI guess we shall see, what we shall see.....

Hope all is well with you wherever you are.....
Happy anniversary to my wonderful parents!
A a really big hug to my dad who has a birthday.

It was almost 7 years ago to the day (give or take a week), that he had a heart attack and we'd thought we had lost him. I would have missed out on 7 years of his companionship and that doesn't bear thinking about.

Love you Dad.

Terry

Mexico.....so far

OK

So I'm in Cabo....at a corporate function, staying at an American bubble resort, and sitting in my hotel room, for the umpteenth time, thinking....hmmmm....this is supposed to be fun , or exciting...or something....right?

What I am doing here, is a bit of a glorified company "jolly"...given the difficult stuff lately at work, it feels a bit hollow. I have to be here...so I am.

Many of the folks here, look forward to this event every year....and are here with their girlfriends, or wives, or gay partners, (we're an enlightened company).....but I'm here on my own and for reasons I won't go into...I'm bummed about that....another country, another flight, another 3 or 4 days...then on to the next place........

Ok....Cabo

Well not much to say about the place yet...but I did go deep sea fishing this afternoon for about 4 hours, and it didn't start in promising fashion......

There doesn't seem to be much of a science to this deep sea fishing....You power boat around, and around in circles.....FAST at a 45 degree angle, until you see a fin, then STOP, lob fish in its general direction, sit in a chair....and wait for the fish to bite....then chase the fin again....lob more fish....fin vanishes....circle again.... There is all manner of hi-tech rigging and trailing "spinner lures" etc.....but really its all about "spotting the fin".....after about an hour of this you lose interest and drink beer.

3 hours....no bites let alone catches, we did see a Marlin doing its guided missle jumping act...quite impressive, but it had absolutely no interest in us, or the fish being thrown at it (positively pelted with fish).....

lots, and lots of beer....oh and did I mention no life jackets? ...blazing sun.......UPPPPPP and DOWWWWWN rocking and rolling....... One of the guys was SICK...SICK ....SICK...........Yuck

The afternoon went something like this........racing, circling boat amongst other racing, circling boats....... drinking beer, talking trash....suddenly the boat stops and the two crew guys scramble around tossing fish, throwing lines at the approximate last fin sighting......after numerous false alarms, we don't even budge, but glance over with bored resignation...(earlier such stops resulted in cameras rushed out of bags, fights for the "duelling chair" etc)..........

Just before we had to head back..........WE CAUGHT ONE!

We all had "a go" in "the chair", manfully huffing and puffing, and reeling and pulling. Yes there were mighty leaps in the air as the fish, broke water, and yes there was much schoolgirl excitment and jumping from foot to foot........the jaded beer drinkers were exposed as the silly gringo tourists we so truly are.......

Couple of interesting observations about "the fish"....our worthy adversary.......when he was semi boarded, he rewarded us by spitting out his last snack....two squid.....

He also had some sort of parasite sucker fish attached to him

Relieved of his parasite we "tagged and released".....and here came a tense moment....the fish went belly up and floated away on the waves....SAVE THE GODDAM FISH!.........after being collected up, the boat chugged along, fish gently held in the wake, water flowing over its gills, until revived, he dealt a wicked, spiking, flick of his head, and shot off into the deep......everyone was relieved. The crew were perplexed at the jumping up and down anxiety we had all had....they had a point....we had quite happily tortured this animal for 20 minutes , pulling it from the water with a brutal hook in its mouth, then got all teary eyed at the prospect of cutting short its life........

Last night, I went for dinner in Cabos, and had "Tequilla shrimp". Why I thought that I'd enjoy something cooked in something I can't drink, is beyond me. Just the smell of the stuff, brings me back to a youthful 18 year old poisoning , which I can't shake.

The prices in Cabos....are NYC style (+). Rich Americans are paying $30 for 3 mile cab rides and quaffing mexican wine at $90 a bottle.....

I ended up in a place called CABO WABO....owned by Sammy Hagar of Van Halen fame. Apparently Sean Penn "was in the house"....OHHH hollywood bad boy...sean penn...didn't see him and scuttled out of there after about 45 minutes.

It seemed like a middle aged springbreak crowd....overweight in wallet and girth...but reasonably jolly.......

Thats it for now....hope all is well where ever you are....

Terry