Mexicowoods—An Expatriate Life

Diving a Cenote

The couple whose wedding we are attending are avid scuba divers. So for their wedding guests—who traveled to Tulum from all over the world—they organized diving expeditions. But not to coral reefs. Too ordinary. They set out to dive the underground lakes called cenotes.

 

The Yucatán Peninsula can be thought of as a vast limestone shelf atop a network of underground rivers. Where the limestone roof has collapsed, natural swimming holes have formed some thirty feet or so below the ground surface. Cenotes make for a refreshing dip in the hot tropical jungle. More adventurous people, those who want to explore the caves and tunnels that branch out from the hole, need scuba gear and specialized instructor guides. Swimming underground away from light and air is not for the faint-hearted.

Laura is PADI certified and she's adventurous, so she's going diving with the big kids. Here she gets help with a balky flipper before venturing into the darkness with her group.

I have to be satisfied snorkeling in the waters near the cave opening. An implanted defibrillator guarantees no doctor will ever clear me for PADI certification.

These pictures are of Gran Cenote, about three kilometers west of Tulum. The owners keep it up much better than the ones I swam in ten years ago: less trash, better facilities. I didn't enjoy visiting cenotes back then. On this trip, I found them delightful.

Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve

Our beach house in Tulum is located less than two miles from the northern border of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, a large tract of jungle, lagoons, lakes, beach, and coral reef that extends for nearly a quarter of the Quintana Roo coast. That it exists at all is a miracle. A group of conservationists got to it before developers managed to gobble up all of the Maya Riviera. Today it is a Mexican National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We rented our house at a tiny eco-resort named Playa Selva. When we discovered that our host, Mauricio Roman, has been a guide at Sian Ka'an for fifteen years, we lost no time engaging him for a day of exploration.

Part of our excursion was to be by boat. We launched from this ramshackle outpost on freshwater Laguna Muyil. (Here laguna means lake.)

The lagoon is shallow, fringed by marsh grasses. Occasional areas of high ground support small patches of tropical jungle.

This land was occupied by ancient Mayans who fished in these waters and in the Caribbean Sea beyond. They dug a canal through the wetlands in order to float their catches inland to places like Cobá. Our boatman uses their canal to transport us from Laguna Muyil to Laguna Chunyaxché.

Laguna Chunyaxché drains via a natural river to the Caribbean Sea. We boated across the lake and down the river until reaching this dock, where our boatman proceeded ahead of us while we floated along in the water, sitting on our life jackets.

How I wanted to photograph that part of the journey! But I don't have a waterproof camera. Yet.

We jumped into the water amidst a cloud of minnows. We floated through wetlands where the boundary between river and grassland blurred. Then we entered a region of mangroves. Bromeliads and orchids grew on aerial roots. Blooming, fruit bearing branches arched overhead. This place is primeval, a nursery for so many kinds of plants and animals.

We also explored nearby jungle on foot. Overnight rains brought out mosquitoes in droves, overwhelming our repellent. We pressed on anyway, slapping and scratching.

Flying termites build nests in these parts. Mauricio told us Mayans call them "gardeners of the forest" because they prune away deadwood, making room for new growth. This nest is about three feet long.

We got to know termites intimately when a colony set up housekeeping just outside our beach house. One morning we awakened to find our rooms full of flying ants. "Gardeners of the forest" or not, Mauricio's gardener encouraged them to build their nest elsewhere.

The Yucatán Peninsula consists of a flat limestone shelf that slopes gently to the sea. Once sea bottom itself, the peninsula emerged as dry land when the ocean receded. In the jungle we found shells embedded in the limestone, proving the land's marine origins.

Shallow soils underlain by limestone provide poor anchorage for roots. Tall trees compensate by throwing out massive buttress roots.

Modern Mayan chicleros scarred this Manilkara chicle while collecting the sap to make natural chewing gum. Almost no chewing gum is made this way anymore. It's cheaper to make it from synthetic rubber. Think about that the next time you pop a Chiclet into your mouth.

From all the fungus growing here, one might think these pictures were taken in the Pacific Northwest.

Sian Ka'an encompasses some 23 known Mayan archaeological sites, all of them undiscovered by the big tour companies. This small building is located along the river connecting Laguna Chunyaxché with the sea. Mauricio calls it a temple. From its size and remote location, I think maybe it more likely a field office than a religious site.

Little restoration work has been done on Sian Ka'an ruins, giving us an idea of what they looked like when they were discovered.

This structure, called El Castillo, weathered the centuries well. The darker stonework areas are parts of the building left unrestored to demonstrate the original appearance.

The reserve is a great gift to us all. Hopefully it won't become overused; after all, it isn't spectacular. But its quiet beauty and the wealth of discovery it contains remain waiting for those who will appreciate it.

Nudiss Becht

In the '70s, hippies and other free spirits frolicked naked in Playa del Carmen and Tulum. No longer: we live in sober times.

Apparently though, some people still cling to the good old days.

Overrunning the Ruins

I've learned to arrive early at important points of interest. I wait for the gates to open. This way I get a couple of precious hours with the place all to myself. At Cobá, only a couple of workers travel the shady trails at 8:00 AM.

 

Near the entrance, the bicycle concessionaire has set out hundreds of mountain bikes, harbingers of crowds to come later.

 

Tricicladeros await those unwilling to cycle or walk. A complete circuit of the ruins is more than five miles long, so there's a good market for transportation.

 

Now it's 10:30 AM, we're on our way out, and here come the crowds. A tour leader holds her clipboard high, a flag for her busload of Cancún excursionists. Before them, about seventy whooping cyclists come swooping down us like the hounds of hell, veering around us tame walkers.

 

Tour companies bring them in vans, their logos familiar from pamphlet racks displayed in every hotel. "Get out...go native." Disneyland archeology.

 

A large bus brings a Spanish package tour group. Nice people; quieter and more respectful than American vacationers.

 

Souvenir sellers await tourists just outside the gates of Cobá. Everything they offer can be purchased anywhere on the Mayan Riviera, or for that matter throughout the Yucatán. Business will be booming when afternoon heat drives visitors out of the ruins, on their way to a margarita and the resort swimming pool.

Complaining about crowds gets me nowhere: I am one of them, I am part of the problem. I grumble as I jump out of the way of a speeding bicycle, but without the promise of all these people coming to visit, Cobá might not have been made accessible today.

Mayan Ruins at Cobá

From Mexico City we're flying 800 miles due east across the gulf of Mexico to Cancún. From there, we're driving two hours south to Tulum to attend the wedding of some friends. To pass a few days before the ceremony, we are exploring this part of the State of Quintana Roo—exploring that is, when we're not kicking back at the beach.

Ten years ago I tried to visit the ruins at Cobá. At that time, it was a relatively unknown Mayan city, reachable by a narrow, potholed road. I missed the turnoff onto the dirt entrance road and never reached the site. Since then, the state has built a wide highway that whisks visitors to the ruins from Tulum, Playa del Carmen, and Cancún.

Cobá was a significant Mayan city. In the 8th Century, 55,000 people lived here, more than double the population of modern Tulum. The site occupies 80 square kilometers, larger than Manhattan. It was a hub in the network of sacbeob—white roads—that interconnected the Mayan civilization. One sacbe, 100 kilometers long, connected Cobá with Chichén Itzá.

The Mayan civilization collapsed for unknown reasons prior to the arrival of the Spanish. The jungle reclaimed the city of Cobá.

 

Massive tree roots pried stones from their courses, collapsing walls and arches. Many structures today are no more than heaps of rubble.

 

But a few major structures remain intact. Considerable restoration efforts give visitors a glimpse of how they may have appeared to the ancient Mayans. I suspect restoration projects had more to do with creation of tourist attractions than archeological research. This enigmatic building is called the Crossroads Temple.

 

Cobá is noted for a number of stele, limestone tablets carved with depictions of historical figures and events. All are badly eroded: limestone is easily dissolved by water. Palapa roofs have been erected over them in a dubious effort to preserve them.

This stela features a Mayan noble. A modern diagram makes blurred details somewhat clearer. The boxed symbols visible on the upper left are Mayan glyphs, probably telling a story concerning the nobleman.

 

A 3' carved stone disk bears the figure of some animal. A haunting larger-then-life skull continues to dissolve in the rains. Both lie exposed on the ground.

 

Two ball courts have been found and restored. The Mayan ball game was played by opposing teams who struck a heavy rubber ball with their hips. The weight of the ball caused injuries and fatalities among players.

 

The Cobá ball courts are fitted with goals. Passing the ball through one resulted in an immediate win, but scoring this way is extremely difficult and most games were won on points gained in other ways.

 

The Noloch Mul Pyramid is the tallest Mayan structure in the Yucatán—42 meters. I can't find any information on its purpose, probably because nobody really knows.

Its purpose today is to give tourists something to climb. Steep, narrow steps are challenging for out-of-shape tourists, but I have to give this couple major points for persevering to the top. Not everyone has this kind of gumption.

 

Overshadowed by the more famous Yucatán sites—Chichén Itzá and Uxmal—Cobá in the past hadn't gotten all the attention it deserved. But with better access and extensive restoration, it is coming into its own. Moreover, Cobá's shady trails make walking far more pleasant than at the big Mayan ruins, open as the latter are to the tropical sun.