México - Tons of Tourists and Turtles

 July 19-23

Hello everyone!

My month-long Mexican adventure ends almost as far east as you can travel on the mainland. The small strip of shoreline that makes up the state of Quintana Roo.

Mayan ruins at Tulum

Turtle at Akumal

Many people from around the world come here. You’ll probably have heard of its main destination: Cancún. The city, created to foster tourism by the Mexican government in the 1970s, had over 21 million tourists visit in 2023. The closest I’ll come to Cancún, however, is its airport. It doesn’t seem like my kind of place, and others I know who have visited suggested going elsewhere.

Mexico received over 40 million tourists in 2023, the sixth highest number in the world

Unknown to many, Playa Del Carmen also has Mayan ruins -
they're hidden in a residential compound

There are plenty of other places to go on this shoreline which is lapped by the Caribbean Sea. Known as the Riviera Maya, the whole area has seen a tourism boom. My tour was ending in a town an hour south of Cancún: Playa del Carmen.

The main beach at Playa del Carmen

Over 15 metres high, this arched beachside sculpture
depicts men & women in a swirl of water & wind.

I imagine it’s similar to its northern neighbour, just with a few less people. One very long pedestrianised street, Quinta Avenida or 5th Avenue, gets trampled by tens of thousands of people on a daily basis. It houses a mixture of expensive bars, expensive restaurants and expensive shops. 

Plenty of roads intersect Quinta Avenida; signs are needed to
prevent naive drivers from taking a wrong turn

It's quiet...at 6:30am when I'm running...

I expected a similar atmosphere to what I envisage happens in Cancún, or have seen in the media: lots of drinking, debauchery and noise. I was therefore surprised when a few of us ended up on Quinta Avenida at around midnight to find that most places were…shut. Maybe we didn't know where to go where a drink would be less than $15US. Or possibly Carmenites value their sleep more than I thought!

The internet tells me Quinta Avenida is 8 kilometres long

This was quite possibly the most intense game
of Jenga there has been in history. I lost.

After two weeks on the road, and the best part of two weeks in the chaos of Mexico City before that, Playa del Carmen is the opportunity to slow down, relax and take stock of what’s been experienced over the last month or so. Its fluffy white beaches and alluring blue waters are one lovely way of doing this.

There are other beaches, such as this one in the northern section of town

Lie down, sweat, swim, repeat

Of course, these lovely beaches are not solely found here on the Riviera Maya. Further down the coast, at the village of Akumal, there are also beaches. And these…

Well hey there lil' fella!

The shell of a green turtle isn't green - it's the fat
underneath which gives them their name

I saw five turtles in total, all green turtles, when snorkelling on my penultimate Mexican morning. Many prefer to nest further south, at the Bahia Peninsula, but the seaweed on offer here is just too good to turn down.

The guide said that the youngest was between 15-20 years old, with the largest and therefore eldest being up to 90 years of age

Other wildlife come into this relatively calm area of shoreline, including stingray and pufferfish. Many humans as well, though going early (involving riding in a public minibus) reduced how many I was swimming with. I realise I am one of those many humans as well!

There are over 200 species of stingray

One turtle swam up to breathe about two metres away from me

A little further south from Akumal takes you to the town of Tulum. This place also receives a lot of visitors, albeit fewer than Cancún and Playa del Carmen. As with Akumal, many come on a day trip from there to see its main draw: Mayan ruins on the coast!

Tulum was an important coastal port on a trade route from Central Mexico to Honduras

This hopefully shows you how close their settlment was to the shore

The Maya settlement with possibly the best view in the world was established in the 6th century CE, but reached the peak of its powers in the years before the Spanish arrival 1000 years later. The first European sighting was in 1518 by Juan de Grijalva, who sailed from Cuba and is said to have been reminded of the great Spanish city of Seville when seeing the large buildings and towers on the cliffs. It must have blown his mind.

An iguana - not this one - may have watched the Spanish sail by

Grijalva didn’t actually land in 1518, instead continuing up the coast

As I’ve said before, each pre-Hispanic site in Mexico has been different. Seeing the old Maya lighthouse, named by the Spanish as El Castillo (The Castle), with the Caribbean Sea as a backdrop, is pretty special. It seems it still gets used…by iguanas…

The Castle is 8 metres tall, the highest structure at Tulum

Other important buildings here include the Temple of the Descending God, which has a relief of a character above the door with its legs up in the air, and the Temple of the Wind God. The latter has a legend which states that when a whistling sound came from the building, the Maya knew a dangerous storm or hurricane was approaching. I wonder if it whistled before Hurricane Beryl came whistling by last month…

You'll see a close-up of the deity below - here, it's above the door

The Mayan Descending God is always depicted in this position

Apparently there's evidence that this temple was still being used
for ceremonial purposes at the end of the nineteenth century

The Temple of the Paintings has been relatively well-preserved and actually still has a little bit of colour, a clue as to how the temples would have been decorated in years gone by. 

This was one of Tulum's most elaborate temples

You can see the pigmentation here

I’m not sure whether they would have factored this into their decision to set up on the cliffs here, but Tulum also has a long stretch of fabulous white-sand beaches to the immediate south.

This becomes Playa Pescado, or Fish Beach, around the corner

Playa Paraiso

As I’ve alluded to, a lot of people visit this area of Mexico. What I’ve described above shows many of the reasons why. It’s not my cup of tea, but I have enjoyed my time in Playa del Carmen and the state of Quintana Roo. I’ve been able to escape the worst of the crowds and enjoy the sun, sea and sand for which it is renowned. 

Terrific Tulum

If threatened, it can shoot off at 35 km/h.
It didn't. I'm not threatening!

Adios Mexico, you've been swell

Love you all,

Matt