Mexico - Playa and Tulum

Shopping is a necessary activity in Mexico - more for the recreation and visual entertainment than the actual shopping finds. We spent Friday evening in Playa del Carmen on Quinta Avenidea - the many-blocks-long shopping street. I loved the explosion of colors everywhere - especially the shop below with all white clothes displayed in a red and blue building. We loved wandering through the jewelry and silver shops and had to take a picture when we found one with Mary's name on it. Scott found a shop with beautiful, colorful paintings - and he couldn't resist. I bought some pottery bowls for salsa, a silver bracelet, and, of course, lots of vanilla.





Scott was most excited to take his family to see the ruins in Tulum - a pre-Columbian city on the east coast of the Yucatan peninsula. It is the only Mayan city that was built along the sea coast. The city/fortress is surrounded by a thick wall on three sides and the cliffs that drop to the sea on the other side. The scenery is fantastic, with the Caribbean as a backdrop for the ancient rock structures.

The city flourished in the 13th through 15th centuries - though there are known to be structures underneath the buildings that are much older. When the Spanish explorers discovered the city, they were shocked at the size of the city and beauty of the architecture. The city was abandoned, and the Mayan people were either wiped out or migrated to the jungles to escape disease and the Spanish conquest. The ruins (completely overgrown by trees and jungle plants) were rediscovered by an American archeologist in 1841.

Nine of the twelve of Scott's family that went on the Mexico trip. Ron & Jill, Corey, Sue, Cameron, Scott & Debbie, Melanie & Spence.