S Riviera Maya
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Mexico’s Riviera Maya Photo Caption: Actors re-create early Maya culture at Xcaret. By Lee Foster Mexico’s Riviera Maya region, on the Caribbean shore of the east-coast state of Quintana Roo, is both one of the newest and one of the most engaging tourism areas of the country. Large-scale tourism began here only around 1995, following the successful development of nearby Cancun, to the north. Visitors come to the Riviera Maya to enjoy the dependably warm climate, the beaches and reefs, and the Maya cultural ruins at Tulum and Coba. Travelers savor the nature resources in eco parks, participate in adventure sports such as snorkeling and zip-lining, and indulge in the good life at luxury resorts, with all-inclusive packages a favorite pattern. Today the Riviera Maya area receives about 3.6 million visitors a year and accounts for about 28% of all international touristic visitors to Mexico. This is an astonishing figure, considering how recently tourism started here. The region is also considered safe and far from the drug and migration difficulties of Central and Western Mexico. Resort infrastructure is new, benefitting from the progressive environmental policies possible with modern planning. Tourism is the main economic activity in the region. Quintana Roo became an official state in Mexico only in 1974. The Riviera Maya is a north-south coastal corridor that extends from the village of Puerto Morelos, about 20 miles south of Cancun, to about 80 miles south along the coast and the Sian Ka’an Biosphere, ending at the town of Punta Allen. Mid-December to mid-May is the busy travel season here, as visitors from the north arrive to escape the wind-chill factor. During summer the weather will be warm and humid, with watersports the appreciated antidote. Whatever you do here after your plane lands at the Cancun International Airport, which is about a 30 minute drive north of the region, it is likely that you will want to visit one of the major Maya ruins, such as Tulum or Coba. Chances are you will also explore some of the great nature attractions at Altun Chen, Xel-ha, Xcaret, Akumal, and Sian Ka’an. Possibly you will lodge at one of the prominent all-inclusive luxury resorts, with Hacienda Tres Rios and Grand Velas as prime examples. Let’s consider all these attractions in greater detail. Tulum Archaeology Site Tulum was a relatively late development in the Maya cultural story, flourishing between 1200 and 1520 AD, after the Classic Maya period. Tulum enjoys a magnificent cliff-top setting adjacent to the sea. Be sure to see the relatively well- preserved buildings known as the Castle, Temple of Frescoes, and Temple of the Descending God. Tulum’s beach harbor below a cliff, plus the narrow entrances in perimeter walls on the other three sides, made the site relatively impregnable as a fortified trading city and religious ritual center. While walking the Tulum ruins, one can imagine the priest class gathering on the platforms to observe the stars and seasons, making the elaborate calendar calculations that were a valuable knowledge. Only the priest could predict the most desirable time to plant crops or when a season of drought might end. The date December 21, 2012 represents an end to the 5,125-year Maya-Long-Count-Calendar era and the beginning of the next period, a change that the Maya considered an auspicious beginning, rather than an apocalyptic ending. Maya priests were gifted and attentive astronomers, seeing the sun, moon, and stars as gods who managed time. The original name for Tulum, Zama, literally meant “dawn.” The setting is particularly lovely in the morning as a visitor faces the Caribbean from the cliff-top structures. Tulum was one of the first Maya cities that the Spaniards saw. A lively trade in items as diverse as cotton, jade, honey, and obsidian for knives occurred throughout the region, with Tulum ideally positioned along the coastal route. From promontories on the cliffs at Tulum one can gaze around the ruin and see its strategic importance as a high point for seaward or landward observation of approaching friends and foes. Coba Archaeology Site Coba was founded in the Classic Maya Period (250-1000 AD) and is one of the highest physical points in the Yucatan, rising 138 feet in the pyramid known as Nohoch Mul. You can walk up the steep stone steps to the top of the pyramid and look out over the surrounding jungle. A rope on the pyramid aids in getting you up and down the uneven stone staircase of the edifice. Coba was known partly for the extensive network of 45 roads that radiated out from this major, sprawling city of 50,000 people. The ruins are spread out in the jungle, so it is common for visitors to engage a bicycle rickshaw driver to get around. Each bicycle carries two passengers in a front-of-bike chair. Other aspects of the ruins to explore include a well-preserved ball court and a small temple. Stellae, inscribed stone slabs, such as one at the ball park, show the Maya mode of communication, often serving as a calendar record of the past. Coba’s Stella 1 is an important stone document in the calendar calculations. The names for Maya sites sometimes have a beguiling beauty that adds to the mystique. Coba is said to mean “water stirred by wind.” Tres Reyes Maya Community To encounter a small, contemporary Maya community, it is possible to engage the services of the Tres Reyes pueblo. About 60 families have banded together to display authentic modern Maya religious rituals and village life, plus offering some adventure sports on their terrain, such as rappelling and zip-lining. Their guides are also well-informed native experts for tours of the principal Maya archaeological sites, such as Tulum and Coba. The religious rituals at Tres Reyes are interesting to attend. You can meet a Maya shaman who performs Maya offerings and blessings. Walking through a cenote, an underground river sinkhole, with an informed guide also acquaints you with the prominence of plants and nature in the Maya world. The Maya were expert botanists as well as astronomers. Aktun-Chen Dry Caves Walk The Aktun-Chen dry caves, where water has dissolved the underground limestone aquifer, is an amazing site to see. The main geologic feature of the flat Maya country is its porous limestone ground, highly susceptible to being dissolved, creating the cenote or sinkhole system. You walk underground with a trained guide for an hour through a dozen, well-lit caverns, stopping to admire the stalactites and stalagmites that take eons to form. Nature’s capacity to produced sculptural art is the main experience. Iguana in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Tree canopy zip-lines and cenote swimming are also possible at Aktun-Chen. Local fauna, such as deer, tapir, and peccaries, are on display. The Riviera Maya region is said to have one of the longest underground river systems in the world. The rivers can be seen and accessed at large pools, as part of the cenote system, but in some situations the caves are dry and walkable. Akumal Snorkeling Snorkeling at Akumal is a good way to make an initial acquaintance with the Great Meso American Barrier Reef. The reef is said to be the second largest in the world, surpassed only by the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. This reef, offshore along the Quintana Roo state coastline, is the largest such reef in the Northern Hemisphere. A day of snorkeling can acquaint you with the abundant fish life, turtle population, and coral formations. At Akumal it is easy to rent gear and engage a local guide if desired. Close to shore, you will likely see large green hawksbill turtles swimming about and feeding on the sea vegetation. A slender green fish, known as a remora, attaches itself to the shell of some turtles and hitches a ride, waiting for opportunistic moments when the turtle has stirred up food that may be of interest to the remora. Farther out, you may see squid, rays, colorful fish, and some coral. More pristine settings can be sought out, using the guide services available at hotels, but Akumal is a start for immersing yourself in the water-world richness of the Riviera Maya. Xel-Ha Water-sports Park Xel-Ha is an elaborate eco-attraction and water-sports park with a quality all- inclusive buffet restaurant. Walk around the park, swim and snorkel in the lagoons, jump off cliffs into the water, ride in inner-tubes down a flowing river, and enjoy the biological richness, with more than 400 species of flora and fauna present. On land, you may meet a wily mammal, known as a coati, or pause to watch an enormous iguana lingering in the sun. The park is at an ocean-side setting where the river enters the sea. Fish life is abundant in a brackish lagoon. Xcaret Eco-Archaeological Park Xcaret is the most elaborate eco-archaeological park in the region, ranking at the top of must-see lists for many visitors. The comprehensiveness of Xcaret is a major appeal. At Xcaret, colorful cultural performances approximate the Maya religious and sport rituals of the past. During a fascinating evening show, called the Mexico Espectacular, you can see a re-creation of the unusual sport of the Maya, which amounted to bouncing a large rubber ball through stone hoops placed vertically on the side walls in a ball park. Players could use only their hips to propel the ball back and forth.