Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Guatemala
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I started out by taking a Carnival cruise out of the Port of Tampa. The excursion began around 7am by taking a 45 minute shuttle boat ride from Cozumel to Tulum. After getting off the shuttle boat, we hopped on a bus that took us to the ruins in Tulum. Our guide, Beto, is Mayan and gave us a history of the Mayan culture while riding on the bus to Tulum. This is his account: The universe began when a trinity of Gods, Heart of Sky, created water, followed by land trees, and animals. At this point, Heart of Sky created humans to be in charge of the planet to keep harmony with the cosmos and nature. The animals weren't intelligent enough to complete this task, so the Creators made humans because they wanted to create a being who would walk, work and talk articulately and would worship their Creators while giving their Creators offerings. Heart of Sky first created people from clay and mud, but the people were destroyed by water because they were fragile and empty. The next line of humans were made form wood but they didn't worship Heart of Sky and they were destroyed. The last and current line of humans were made from corn (maize) because humans, like corn, will come from the dirt and follow a similar cycle. Corn begins with a seed in the dirt, becomes a corn stalk and eventually food. At this point, the corn stalk dies and goes back into the dirt as the cycle continues once again. The cycle of planting corn is every 260 days, the same as human gestation. According to Beto, "when Katun 20 comes, the people of corn will no longer be humans". I asked Beto what his personal interpretation of this meant to which he replied, "Something bigger will happen to change our perspective of life." We're currently on the Mayan's fifth Sun. The First Sun was destroyed by water, the second by fire, the third by hurricanes and the fourth by natural catastrophes. On this current sun, we are called the "People of Corn".    The main Tulum temple (to the right) is also angled.
    My tourist photo.
Hopefully, you know which one is me LOL
Return back to the Mayan Calendar A Few Souveniers  This is a hand-carved Mayan calendar, which is similar, but differs from the Aztec calendar. Return back to the Mayan Calendar  Here is a glyph necklace (Zotz) for my birth month of October. Return back to the Mayan Calendar  A silver glyph necklace that
spells "Peace".
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Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Guatemala
May 2008
   This is one of my favorites!  This is the back of the temple.  An opposite view from the backside.  Some dumbass...lol  I had to go back to the cliffs for some more pics.  This asshat keeps ruining a great picture...lol  This is a smaller building to the left of the temple.  This is a cool shot from the water looking up.  This is the smaller building to the left of the picture above.  A smaller temple that stands in front of the main temple.  My souvenier from this trip. This is a Jaguar Mask that shows the jaguar at the bottom of the mask, a secon d jaguar at the top right hand side , the serpent at the top left and the last Mayan King, Pacal, in the top center of the mask. |
