Friday, November 25, 2011

Muyil and Sian Ka'an Biosphere

This morning we got up super early to watch the sunrise and get the 100% most out of our last day of vacation.  We did so much it had to be broken into 2 posts!  The first thing we did was hop into our double occupancy kayak and went for an early morning ride/snorkel.  More on that later.  Then, we got all ready to go and headed out to see some ruins and a biosphere.

Sunrise over Soliman Bay.

Ooohh...Aahhhh...

And we're off!  According to our guidebook no one bothers to go south of Tulum, so we would probably have these ruins to ourselves.  They were right.  This is the main structure, El Castillo, of the Mayan ruins at Muyil.

Buenos dias!!

El Castillo from further back.  This was by far the most impressive structure here, though the guidebook says it is a very under-excavated site with potentially hundreds more buildings to be found...

Entrance into Muyil also gives you access to a trail into the massive Sian Ka'an Bioreserve.  We began a lovely walk into the jungle...

An ojo de agua (freshwater spring) with gorgeous clear water.  Sian Ka'an is 1/3 marine, 1/3 swamp and 1/3 rainforest.  This little walk took us to all 3 parts!

Part way down the trail, we found this rickety old watch tower.  The sign said tourists may climb at their own risk.  I decided to sit this one out, but Eric climbed all the way up.  Yikes!

At the end of the trail, we came to this lagoon.  Apparently there are canals in here the Mayans dug thousands (according to the guy hanging out down here, though I imagine hundreds is probably more accurate) of years ago.  We opted not to go out on a boat that had an open gas can aboard for $100 USD, and just admired the lagoon from the shore.  This whole place reminded us a lot of the Everglades.

The walk back to the car took us back through the rainforest.

One last Mayan structure before heading out.  By this time we had attracted a swarm of mosquitoes, so it was time to go.

We headed back into Tulum and back down the beach road in search of lunch.  We found a place to go, but they told us they wouldn't have food for a half hour, so we wandered through the neighboring artesenia shops trying to pass some time.  We went into one, and saw David Denman, also of TV, buying a Lucha Libre mask.  Figuring out who that guy was took some doing, but it was definitely him.  Who knew Tulum is where the minor celebrities go on vacation?  Anyway, after that it was time to go back to the restaurant, and boy were we glad we waited....

First, we had Coco Locos!  Yay!!!  Then...

The most illusive of all American Mexican food that really only Americans eat....the burrito!  And they had them!  And we ordered them!  And they were awesome!

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