Tulum

Perched atop the cliffs rising out of the azure sea, these magnificent ruins are home to the temple of the Descending God. There is a stillness here that belies the churning energy of the waves. We arrived early and wandered on the old roads peeking into dark chambers and through falling archways. Iguanas ignored us and allowed our approach as if they owned the ancient site and maybe were its guardians, unchanged after all these years. We wandered up to the edge of the cliff and looked down into the foamy spray cutting away at the limestone below. Out in the waves kite boarders hung from brightly colored fabric, defying gravity as they lept and spun thirty feet or more in the air. We climbed down a spiraling wooden staircase to the white sandy beach and played tag with the surf while trying to gain access to a secluded part of the beach where caves cut into the side of the cliff. We gazed back up at the fortess above and wondered what it must have been like a thousand years ago.