Stanley and I loaded up the camera and hopped a ferry to the mainland, then jumped on a bus for the 45 minute ride to ancient Mayan city of Tulum. Our tour guide, Gama, was really funny, and did a great job, especially with the subtle sales during the stop at the little Mayan Cultural Cooperative before we arrived at the ruins. We got alot of historical and cultural information on the way there, and Gama gave us a short walking tour of some of the major points once we were inside the city, then let us loose.
We had about 2 hours on our own to wander the city and the beach. Tulum was an ancient trading port right on the water. The area you can explore is about 2 blocks deep and 4 blocks long, right on the coast. Their biggest temple sits on a cliff about 40 feet over the beach. The views were just crazy beautiful.
Stanley got ALOT of attention, and fellow cruisers as well as locals wanted their picture taken with him. Apparently Muppet in Spanish translates loosely to "Cookie Eater." Alot of the sales guys at the shops off the parking lot asked me "how much for your baby?" Someone actually offered me $5 for him. I got to use my limited restaurant Spanish to tell him "Hell no."
I could have used 4 or 5 more hours to explore the ruins at LEAST. Of course the timing put us there right in the middle of the day, so the sun was right overhead-- not the best time for photographs. But hey, I got there! And it was awesome.
We were the last tour to get back to the boat, so shortly after getting back on board, we departed Cozumel, getting lots of waves and flashes from the Carnival Legacy that was parked next to us (remember the Naked Cruise?).
Dinner was (insert previous praise here, it's all good). Then we went and hung out in Blues piano bar for a while before heading off to bed.
Fun times. Fun times.
