P erched aloft El Mayab's highest palisade scanning the glistening Caribbean, this ancient citadel is so wonderfully photogenic, and sufficiently close to Cancún, that it has become the most visited ruin site in El Mayab.

First sighted by, perhaps, Córdova in 1517, and, probably, by Grijalva in 1518, when describing a city as "large as Seville," Tulúm had been in full swing from 900 AD. Yet, by the time the famed journalist, John L. Stephens, "amid the wildest scenery we had yet found in Yucatán," penetrated the site in 1842:

"The stranger sails along the coast unconscious that among the trees lie shrouded the ruins of an aboriginal city"

-a milieu which would endure without challenge for the wild range that had become El Mayab's Caribbean Coast (today's Quintana Roo ) until the founding of Cancún in 1974.

It was here also where Stephens took first notice and described:

"Over the doorway (of the Castillo ) is the same curious figure we saw at Sayi , with the head down and the legs spread out (the regionally prevalent 'Descending God', Ahmuzenkab , above)."

And:

"The doorway is very low. Throughout the country at times we had heard the building of these cities ascribed to the corcubados or hunchbacks (dwarves), and with the unusual lowness of all..."

Strangely enough, while archaeologists have since taken recorded notice of the former, none have of the latter.

Neverthless:

Venture-Out finds it unconscionable to include Tulúm, the Lagoon of Xel-Ha, El Garafon and Xcaret on any of its normal excursions. Venture-Out will arrange to undertake tours to these locales for those with qualified academic interests only -particularly on sustainable tourism. For explanation please contact:

John Pastore @ Venture-Out
Cancún, El Mayab, Mx

Btw, here's the photo:

"A teepee is a pyramid, isn't it?"