Mexico Dec 2011
Coba 21 Years Later
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Coba 21 Years Later
Tuesday 20 December 2011
As soon as we started off in our minivan that was to take us and 11 other
people on a day tour to the Coba Archaeological site we knew we were in
trouble. The van seemed to sway from side to side, getting gradually worse.
Our driver, Gustavo, stopped by the side of the highway and he and our
guide, Pepito, got out and examined the tires. Sure enough, as Ray
suspected, one was almost flat. I think Ray and I are transportation jinxes.
No matter what country we are in, at least one of our rides ends up with a
flat tire or broken motor. Mexico is no exception.
We had signed up while in Playa del Carmen on Saturday for what sounded like
a great day. As well as Coba, which we had visited 21 years ago on our first
trip to Mexico, we were going to swim in a cenote, have lunch and visit a
Mayan village. We were already at least 1 ½ hours behind schedule. Gustavo
had picked us up first at 7:15 AM and then we had wasted more than one hour
rounding up the other passengers. People were not where they were supposed
to be, were late and one, an Italian Lady, seemed to have lost her husband.
She couldn’t understand why we couldn’t wait while she tracked him down.
Finally we were on our way when the tire went flat. Luckily there was a tire
service center just down the road. The service man was very efficient but it
took another half hour to locate the pin hole, plug it and replace the tire.
We continued on down the highway.
After that delay Pepito announced a change in the itinerary. All except Ray
and me had opted to visit Tulum Archaeological site and swim on the beach.
Ray and I had visited Tulum previously and we had stayed in Tulum twice
before. That is why we had opted for a swim in a cenote, one of many fresh
water pools formed by an opening in the limestone crust that covers most of
the Yucatan Peninsula. Instead of visiting Coba first, we would all have our
alternate activities in the morning, have lunch and then visit Coba. That
was fine with everyone. Pepito led the Tulum group through the ruins and
they all had time to swim in the ocean.
Ray and I were taken to Casa Cenote, about 5 km north of Tulum. We had swum
in a cenote on a previous trip. This one was better than we originally
thought. This cenote was right beside a road lined with houses facing the
beach. All we saw from the road at first was a small pond with a few people
already in the water. We had brought our own masks and snorkels with us, so
we changed into our bathing suits and soon slipped into the clear, cool
waters. Mangroves, with their roots sending their tentacle roots into the
water, form a barricade all around the sides of the cenote. The roots are
the perfect nursery for baby fish while larger ones cruise the bottoms. Much
to our surprise the initial pool was just the starting point for a cenote
river that meandered for several 100 meters between the mangroves. At the
end of one turn a heron stood undisturbed by the swimmers, waiting for the
right moment to snatch an unwary fish for dinner.
Cenotes are favourites with divers as well. The depth is often shallow enough for beginner divers and there are underwater limestone caves to explore. We swam above several groups, waving a greeting, on our journey through the system. There was a definite current in the river system, making us work to get to the end of the system, but making the return trip a breeze. We finished our swim when we started to feel chilled, as the water was cooler than the ocean. Luckily the sun was out so we soon were warm enough to change and take a short walk on the beach, just across the road, before being picked up by Gustavo.
We picked up the others in Tulum and headed to our lunch stop near Coba. A
few km later the minivan began to sputter and Gustavo once again had to stop
by the side of the road. It seemed that the car was out of gas. The gas
gauge wasn’t working and he had not kept track of when the van was last
filled. At least there was a container of gas with enough fuel to get us to
the closest service station where he put in enough to last us the rest of
the day. By the time we got to lunch we were all famished. It had been a
long time since any of us had eaten breakfast. Luckily the buffet lunch
still had enough food to feed our group.
Ray and I were curious to see what changes had occurred in Coba in the
intervening years since our last visit. About the only change we could see
was the increase in visitors. The site was never overcrowded but there were
many more small tour groups like ours there for the afternoon. Pepito told
us that Coba had first been studied by a team from the University of Chicago
from 1961-1963, working on a grant from then President Kennedy. After
Kennedy’s assassination, the grants dried up and virtually nothing has been
done since then. Just a small percentage of the site has been uncovered,
leaving many more important temples waiting to be cleared of the jungle
overgrowth that has covered them. Coba was occupied by the Mayans for about
1100 years, from the 4th
C to the 15th
C, when the Spanish Conquistadors arrived. It was one of the most important
ceremonial and astrological sites in the Yucatan, connected by a road to
Chichen Itza. There are two ball game sites on the site where the Coba team
would take on the Chichen Itza team. Nearby is a Mayan Calendar with 21
December 2012 as the end of 5,200 Mayan years. Legend says that after this
date there will be climatic and geological imbalances and that man’s life
span will decrease. Time will tell if these predictions are correct. I don’t
intend to lose any sleep worrying about it.
The tallest pyramid, at 42 M, in the Yucatan is at Coba and it is still open
for visitors to climb for the view. We both climbed to the top in 1990. This
time Ray declared he had been there, done that, and didn’t need to climb up
again. I climbed to the top. I was glad to discover it wasn’t any more
difficult a climb that my first ascent. The trees still obscure much of the
view but I did get a sense of how extensive the jungle is at Coba.
We stopped in a small Mayan village on the way back, mostly to see, and
hopefully buy, the souvenirs the locals make. I am afraid the locals did
make any profit from our group. We were all just anxious to get back to our
hotels after the long day. The most interesting sight for me was spying two
spider monkeys playing in the trees behind the home we were visiting.
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