One of the best preserved coastal sites of the Maya, the walled city of Tulum is also one of the most heavily trafficked.  It’s proximity to the all-inclusive package pleasuredomes of Mexico’s Caribbean coast means that most any time of day you’ll find a bus – or five or ten – discharging armies of wristband wearing tourists who’ve somehow managed to drag themselves away from an endless supply of Corona and all you can eat beach buffets to see “the real Mexico.”  They’re  unavoidable.  So don’t trek to Tulum expecting to find a private moment communing with the spirits of an ancient civilization that is still – slowly – revealing its seemingly bottomless well of advanced knowledge and mystery.  Unless, of course, it raining.

the ruins of Tulum

the dense thicket of mangrove that surrounds the city

one of the city's fortified gates