The United States of an African

Originally posted July 2017.

Tulum is the first place I’ve visited in Mexico. So it only made sense that my brother and I would indulge in tourist activities. I was particularly excited about the cenotes and the ruins.

A cenote is a natural sinkhole. The limestone bedrock breaks apart and reveals an underground water cave. Tulum is known for cenotes, so of course we had to visit at least one. It’s interesting, there’s a whole ecosystem in there with fish, bats and birds.

On our way to the Mayan ruins, we came across this guy with an iguana. Being who I am, I decided to hold it. My brother also came over his fears and held a snake.

Back in the day (pre-Columbian period) Tulum was inhabited by the Mayan people. My brother and I visited the 13th century archaeological site which houses the ruins. The ruins consists of mostly temples, a cenote house, and a castillo (castle) located on the cliff overlooking the Caribbean sea. 

Unfortunately, the castillo was closed for maintenance. So I only got a distant shot of it. 

Even more unfortunate, my brother and I were so deep in conversation about the problems and differences between our generation, the generation before and the generation after, that we unknowingly exited the site and couldn’t get back in without paying for another ticket. Sucks, because there was a whole lot more of the ruins that we missed out on.