Ruins Part 1

Mayan ruin decor
Mayan ball court - to the death! (literally.)
Community living
Sacrificial platforms - only for animals, fruits and veggies
The watchtower
Jungle living
The climb
Almost there!
A long, steep and scary way down
Coba ruins - one of the only places you can climb up one
Jungle for days
Ahhhhh....the Coba Mayan Ruins, probably the highlight of our trip! I had some serious internal debate about going here vs. the mighty Chichen Itza - one of the largest and most visiting archaeological site in Mexico. I wanted to see the biggest and baddest of all ruins, but the 2.5 hour drive was a big issue for me:

1) It was hotter than hell down there and sitting in an oven of a car for that long seemed, well, like hell and
2) Everything I read said you need to go first thing in the morning ie. get there before 10am before all of the tour buses and we all know the BF is not a morning person. There was no way we were getting out the door by 7:30am.

Alas, that's where Coba came in - a short 60 minute drive from Tulum in the heart of the jungle. WOW is all I can say. They might not be the biggest nor the baddest, but man what a cool place to explore (and I mean literally cool, most of it was fully shaded). After wandering around for a few minutes, we snagged a guide and spent the next 1.5 hours walking through the site. I highly recommend a guide - as impressive as everything is, it's really hard to tell what's what. If I travel all this way, I want to learn something darn it!

Not only did the guide provide valuable insight into the ruins, he also was able to point out local floral and fauna as well as answer our off the wall questions about the end of the world (12/21/12?), human sacrifices (not often done at this site) and hallucinogenic plants (done often at this site). 

The most unique thing about Coba is that they actually let you climb one of the ruins, which most other ruins won't allow. Our guide dropped us off at the bottom and up we went. As afraid as I was, I scurried up to the top, not wanting to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. Plus, there were 65 year old women working their way to the top - I'm competitive like that - what can I say?

We arrive to the top in one piece and all I can recall are my knees literally knocking together and my hands shaking so badly that I can't take decent pictures. I cling to the side of the small temple, snap a few pictures of the BF then shakily make my way to the rope and hang on for dear life on the way back down with old ladies passing me on both sides. NBD. I made it down in one piece.

I highly recommend seeing these or any other ruins in Mexico. Granted, it's hard to pull yourself away from the beach and beer, but it's well, well worth it! More ruins visits to come.....

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