Tulum: Zamá by the Sea
In the middle of the Mexican State of Quintana Roo lies a beautiful city overrun by tourists from across the globe, Tulum. According to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia or INAH, the Mayan ruins were originally called by its inhabitants, Zamá. Zamá, meaning “morning” or “dawn,” was founded in 564 AD and was later named by the colonial power of Spain “Tulum” in reference to the wall around the important buildings of the site, which is where the nearby city gets its name. I stayed in the nearby location of the Riviera Maya and made a short journey to Tulum to visit this fantastic Mayan ruin.
Today’s site boasts an impressive wall that one must enter through the corbel archways to access. Once inside, you are immediately greeted by a large, mostly flat area and a cliff where many tourists walk, enjoying the fantastic views of a once-great civilization. Zamá is said to have fallen under the influence of Cobá and later Chichén Itzá, which acted as an essential trading hub with access to the sea. The site is known for depicting and worshiping Ah-Muzen-Cab, the diving or descending god. The site is known for its amazing views of the sea, its beach, uniquely preserved Temples of the Frescoes and the Descending God, and the intact wall surrounding the main important religious and political buildings. The main pyramid, El Castillo, shares the name and is also attributed to the Temple of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá. However, do not be confused with the colonial misnaming, as these temples are vastly different in size and appearance.
Once inside, you can easily explore the ruins, which have roads that work in a circle and go left or right, ending in the same place. The view near the pyramid overlooking the ocean is one of a kind. You will leave in a single file line through a different corbel archway in the wall.
Getting to the ruins at Tulum is easy as the site is offered on many tours that combine cenotes and other Mayan ruins like Coba and Chichén Itzá, among others. We opted to take a taxi, something that almost everyone should heed the advice of others and stay away from because of their shady background and practices like not running a meter and changing prices once arriving at a destination after agreeing on a price. Our luck was that our hotel had an agreement with two taxi companies with a long list of agreed-upon prices printed out and displayed at the bellhop desk. The Hilton bellhops, who speak excellent English, would contact a waiting driver to take us from the Rivera Maya to Tulum. After dropping us off at our hotel, the driver was paid 100 USD and waited up to three hours in the parking lot to take us back. It was a steep price but one we felt was worth doing. If time is essential to you, it will cost you in this area, and if it is not, I recommend a guided tour through a reputable company, but many of these are all-day affairs lasting eight-plus hours. My historical background and study of the Maya made me opt for a faster self-guided visit, considering our time and my wife and child, who would be in a hot, humid, and sunny environment. The site is small and can quickly be done in less than two hours, but we took our time, and I acted as a tour guide for my wife as we enjoyed the views. This site was the most secure of the sites I visited, where my bag was checked for plastic bottles, cigars, cigarettes, and drones, which are forbidden. Many sites allow for larger cameras and recording equipment for extra fees.
Entering the ruins can be confusing as you must purchase tickets right at the security checkpoint and then go through security, which consists of a handful of local police and National Guard soldiers. One crucial fact is that if you do not go through a tour where the fees are included, you must buy a ticket to enter the ecological zone and then walk down a road surrounded by jungle where men will point you to a mobile home-looking building to buy tickets to the ruin itself. This is common at almost every Mayan site we visit, and while the ecological zones take credit cards, the archeological zones only take cash.
Outside the ruins before the ticket office and checkpoint, you will see a market where restaurants, gift shops, stalls, and refreshments can be found. The new airport in Tulum, as of June 2024, and the Mayan train station are now open. While the southern route is delayed soon, it will link up to the others, opening the Yucatan peninsula to multiple cities and Mayan archaeological sites. The train experience will be explained in later articles on Chichén Itzá and Uxmal.
Would I recommend this site to others? First, a big yes and maybe with some caution. Shop around if you choose to do a tour, as prices and added experiences vary dramatically, but someone will get what they paid for. If you find your own ride, there are guides at every site that you can pay for. If you know very little about the Maya, get one. It improves the experience, but some give out information that needs to be updated, over-explained, or sometimes wrong. Be wary of the souvenirs as, in many cases, the Maya-specific items are mixed in with Aztec or other Mexican items. If you want something to represent the Mayan site and visit, you will usually see this issue with the calendars. The site is small; if it is all you can do, do not think twice about it. If you can skip it for another site like Cobá or Chichén Itzá, focus your time on those sites.
Steven Ramos