Our guide Anna is actually of Aztec descent. "Aztec is better," she tells us, as she shows us around the Mayan ruins of Tulum. "But don't tell the bus driver."
A lot of people don't realize that although the Mayan civilization died out, the Mayan people themselves are still around. They're the ones driving our buses, cleaning our hotel rooms, blending in with the rest of the Mexicans. Anna says Mayans don't look like the rest of the Mexicans though. There's a lot of theories about where Mayans come from. Asia? Other parts of the Americas? Some even think they might be aliens.
Me, I can see the theory about Mayans being originally Asians. They were pretty smart. Not only did they have a writen language, unlike anyone else in the Americas at the time, but they were obsessed with calculating things, especially time. Despite being an ancient civilization, they had developed a calendar that was more precise than ours. They didn't need leap years to adjust the calendar. Of course, if Asians are all good at math, I'm clearly not Asian. Anyway. With their super advanced math and science skills, they built some pretty amazing stuff.
It was pretty amazing to see how they build these structures that are still around, thousands and thousands of years later. In a beautiful landscape too.
Tomb
Right outside of the ruins was a beautiful beach, right by one of the largest coral reefs in the world. Unlike Coba and Chichen Itza, two other popular Mayan ruins, the ruins of Tulum is located right on the coast.
I would have loved to have the chance to swim and snorkel there, but the wind and the waves were too strong that day, so I just had to watch from afar.
There were also some ruins on the beach by our hotel as well. They were a lot smaller, but still made for a fun photo shoot.
Is this an outhouse?
