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| Home >>> Travel >>> On the altar of Spring Break |
April 26,
2005 |
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ON THE ALTAR OF SPRING BREAKFirst published on 20/4/2005 RYAN ANGLEM discover ancient ruins among a favourite Spring Break destination in Mexico. The Yucatan peninsular of Mexico contains the best-preserved ruins of the ancient Mayan culture in the country, some of the best beaches on the Caribbean, great examples of colonial Spanish architecture and a purpose-built holiday resort that fills every spring with US college kids on their Spring Break holiday. This is where I was escaping the snow and cold of London to go to explore and, having recently rented The Real Cancun on DVD, I felt I was more than prepared for what was in store during the next eight days. Cancun, the resort created specifically for tourism by the Mexican government in the 1970s is next to a lagoon on a beautiful spit of land bordered by the Caribbean – and is where my plane touched down. After meeting up with a couple of mates, I climbed in our rental car the next day and departed inland. The destination for the day was the state capital of Merida about 300km west, but our stomachs dictated that a stop in Valladolid – a small colonial city about halfway along the route – was necessary. Here we found street vendors selling tacos and for the princely sum of 12 pesos (about 65p) each, we procured enough to more than fill the empty spaces and were ready to get back on the road. Merida contains some classic colonial Spanish architecture surrounding the Plaza Mayor or main square, which contains a cathedral and the state government buildings, but it is also home to the best markets and craftwork in the region. Many specialist shops sell hammocks, rugs and similar goods at prices infinitely lower than the more touristy towns on the coast. We explored the city that day and at night had a meal of the local specialties sopa de lima (a kind of lime soup) and pollo pibil (barbecued chicken wrapped in banana leaves) with the usual accompaniment of tortilla chips, refried beans and guacamole. The next day we were back on the road early with the aim of beating all the coach loads of tourists to the Mayan ruins at Cichen Itza. It was a wise decision as after we had exhausted ourselves exploring the ruins the number of people in the area had more than tripled. The ruins here include the enormous pyramid, El Castillo, which aligns itself perfectly with the autumn and spring solstices, a platform where human sacrifices were made (now closed to the public) and ball courts – arenas where the result of games had deadly consequences. It was originally thought the losers of the games played in the ancient ball courts would have their heads removed, but some evidence now suggests the winners were the ones to die – such was the ancients’ reverence of death and beliefs of afterlife. After absorbing some of the historical aspects of the region it was time to head towards the beach town of Tulum and be booked into a cabana on the beach. Tulum is the closest town to the Sian Ka’an National park, a reserve of marine area and wetlands that contains a massive amount of flora and fauna both on and offshore. It has been designated as a World Heritage site and it was here that we decided to spend a day on a tour, which involved reef snorkelling and exploration through the park by jeep and boat. Although there are few phone lines and limited electricity (our cabana’s power went off at 11pm), Tulum is progressing with more upmarket accommodation being built and prices following the more exclusive destinations up the coast. One of the new establishments, ‘M’, was built by a New Zealand couple from Hamilton, who started a weekly dance party with DJs imported from Ibiza. Although the place has only been open a few months it’s already become a weekly ritual for travellers and locals alike. After a couple of days on the beach it was time to go to see why more than 2 million people visit Cancun every year and following a few hours drive north we arrived in Spring Break party central – and if you want to know more get to your local video store to hire The Real Cancun. | ||
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Tourist Numbers Rise... (23/06/2004) more > | ||
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