By Bill Milligan and Yndiana Montes
Photos: Bill Milligan
www.solocaribe.com
Traveling south out of Cancun, on what is now known as the Rivera Maya, one parallels the beautiful Mexican Caribbean, and one and a half hours later, enters the town of Tulum. This enchanted town, formerly known as Zama (city of dawn) was used by the Mayans as a commercial port for Coba and surrounding areas. Tulum can be divided into the town itself, the archaeological site and the beachfront area, dotted with rustic boutique hotels, with the tourquoise waters as their front door and mangrove swamps and shrub jungle to their rear. Its location is now an easy drive from Cancun on a four lane well maintained highway. Continuing on the main highway (Carretera Federal), heading south, one enters the bioreserve called Sian Ka’an, with its own ruins, beautiful lagoons and jungle.
Sian Ka’an is now dedicated to preserving its inherent beauty and biodiversity, limiting tourist access to minimize environmental impact. Tours are operated daily by different groups, of which we used “Community Tours, Sian Ka’an”, a group of local Mayans, bilingual and historically knowledgeable, especially dedicated to this area. Small boats shuttle tourists across the lagoons into water canals, dug out over a thousand years ago, where one can float with life preservers down these twenty foot wide canals, where Mayan commerce was once was at its height. A gentle current carries you for approximately one hour, along this ancient, warm watered swim back into Mayan history. After the tour everyone returns to shore for a beautifully prepared Mayan lunch, with a most hospitable staff.
Returning to Tulum (20 minute drive), you enter the town proper along the main highway, and a right hand turn leads to the bucolic and bohemian boutique hotels that dot the pristine coast. There are around forty hotels, the majority with solar and wind generated electricity, again limiting environmental impact to this ancient area. The drive along this narrow, two lane road, parallels the Caribbean, with palms and shrub jungle on both sides, as you weave your way down what was once a dirt and pot holed path. Once you step out of your car, the shoes come off, the shirt unbuttons, and your nostrils open to the pure and slightly salty air, that baths your body and sends that pent up energy straight down to the fine white grained sand, where stood an advanced culture more than a thousand years ago. Your first walk along the soft sanded, white beaches, with the turquoise waters lapping at your feet, transports you to another world, inhabited by the gentle sounds of water, vast open skies, warm nurturing sun and a tranquility of mind that one rarely encounters. Your have arrived at a destination designed for calming body, mind and soul.
Continuing our beach walk, we pass one boutique hotel after another, we stop to talk with Ramiro Pacheco, an Argentinian born energy worker who also works in Tulum . He and his wife and three kids have lived in the area for ten years, under austere conditions, utilizing a generator for basic electrical services. Acclimation of the adults was much easier than for the kids, but they are still adjusting to living in the jungle neighborhood. Ramiro is well known locally and in Cancun, for his energy work and massages, with clients driving several hours for an appointment.
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