Quintana Roo - and especially its beaches (Cancún, Playa del Carmen) are by far the most touristic places in Mexico. Tourism is so big there that basically Cancún has literally nothing to do with the rest of Mexico and is rather just another Miami with skyscrapers, McDonalds and a LOT of fancy (ugly looking) hotels, spas, resorts and so on. I did not stay in Cancún, I only just spent like two hours there as my flight was from there. And I spent half a day in Playa del Carmen, because my friend lives there and I went to visit him. I stayed in Tulum, which is also very famous and touristic but mainly only the pyramids which are just outside the village. The village itself remains largely unspoilt by tourism (other than the high prices which are normal on the whole peninsula). In Tulum there is only one street that is basically tourist street and the rest of the village is just a Mexican village (well, as Mexican as it gets in the Yucatán peninsula). It is somewhat similar to San Cristobal de las Casas. And just like San Cristobal it is the place where backpackers stay, rather than party goers who stay in Cancún or in Playa.

I visited the pyramids of Tulum - of course. I almost didn't go but I have visited few Mayan pyramids so far and Tulum - while not very important from an archaeological point of few is one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico. I realized being there that this is not due to its beauty or its importance but is simply a function of the distribution of tourists over the country: this archaeological sites just happens to be the one closest to all the beach resorts. It also became very apparent, even before entering the actual site, that history (or prehistory) is not the main thing in this site. It is just a tourist attraction and historic facts are neglected to make it what it is. Before you enter the actual ruin site you get to see the spectacle that is called danza de los voladores (I think I have a picture of it in my El Tajín photos). The problem with this is, that this dance is only (really only) known from one place, which is El Tajín in Veracruz (some 1500 km to the west of Tulum), and the culture who practiced this dance had nothing - literally nothing - to do with the Mayas. Whereas Aztecs and Mayas were in contact all the time and their cultures were very similar, the culture of El Tajín was very different, much older and although not much is known about it, just the building style shows that it is very different (again you can check my El Tajín pictures or just search on the web). I was so annoyed with this fact that I almost turned around and left, but at the same time I also got curious. Why did so many people come to visit this site if it is so bad? And well, I have just given you the answer. They are in Mexico (well, they think they are), and they want to visit pyramids, and apparently also they like the spectacle. The pyramids themselves are also very unimpressive. The site of Tulum was more important for trade than for religion which is why there aren't really any impressive buildings. The beach is nice, of course, but it's the same on the whole stretch of the peninsula, so you might as well avoid the masses and go to any other place.

Now, so much for archaeology. There is a sign in the ruin site that says that the ruins also happened to be important in the last struggle of the Mayans against the colonialists in the 1700s. I was looking for more information about it but because of the touristic importance of the site, web search results are not very scientific…

Most of the eastern part of the peninsula also is protected in some way (national park, natural reserve etc.). Unfortunately this does not seem to prevent further expansion of tourist resorts too much. The parks are also not really made very accessible and while I do understand that there are negative impacts on national parks caused by too many visitors I dare say in this case that, would they put a higher emphasis on education and national park tourism, the parks would probably be valued more and development stopped. I rented a bike and tried to bike into the natural reserve. I can't say I liked it very much because literally the only path available (for biking or hiking) was the main road which was made of sand and every car that passed me left me in a cloud of sand. And there were quite a few cars… The nature was nice but not overwhelming, partly also because it was just not possible to enter the forest. The beach was nice too, nice and deserted, but that also meant that no one cleared away all the trash that the sea washed to the shore: plastic bottles, plastic bags, sandals and what else.

One day I actually went to the beach. There is a little village just north of Tulum that is known for its beach where you can see turtles. I asked in a dive shop where you can go snorkeling in the area and I was told to go there. Obviously the man in the dive shop thought I was an average tourist who just wanted to see the spectacle. Well, I didn't know that. Anyways so we went to that beach, arrived and were told that basically we were not allowed to snorkel unless we booked a tour and we were not allowed to leave the area that was marked and so on. So we were a little unsure what to do and we found a local family that had come to picnic at the beach. We asked them and they told us, that of course we could swim wherever we wanted and do whatever we wanted - it was a public beach after all. So we did, and I saw several turtles and I swam out far enough to also see some part of the coral reef - not the most impressive one but still. It was nice. I also noticed that the tours do not go that far out into the sea so they literally only go to sea turtles and then turn around and leave. The touristy way…

And finally, my last day in Tulum also was the best day. I had gotten tired of tourist attractions and was looking for something else to do. I checked google maps and found that there is a ruin site close to Tulum just at the western entrance to the natural reserve. I had given up hope about the natural reserve but I didn't know what else to do. Literally nobody seemed to know about the ruins. That means, no one goes there which I like. So we rented bikes again, biked on a highway this time. (I forgot to mention that around Tulum there are actual bike paths, which is quite nice - and also a sign of how different the place is from the rest of Mexico.) Google maps had lied to me about the distance but the way was actually really nice with forest on both sides (which obviously means that there was also a lot of road kill). We saw vultures and parrots and other birds. And then we arrived at the ruin site. It cost half the entrance fee of Tulum and there were barely any people but the site was just fantastic. The forest was mainly intact or reforested so you were walking in the forest and every now and then you suddenly saw a pyramid in a forest clearing. Some of the ruins even had trees grow on them. It is a really amazing site, I loved it! Judging by the pyramids it was a small but relatively important site. Which made it even harder for me to understand why Tulum got so many visitors and Muyil so few but I am glad it is this way really. There is a trail from the pyramid site to a lagoon that I had not seen on google maps. Well, I had seen the lagoon and the road to get there but not the little path. They tried to charge us 50 Pesos entrance fee to the lagoon if we were to take the path. Since I knew that there was a road just a little to the north I said I wouldn't pay the fee there. We took our bikes and went down the road where no one tried to charge us anything. Just to make this clear: this is not Mexico, at all! Mexico doesn't do such things. This is only the tourist Mexico where apparently people try to make money out of everything. In the rest of Mexico taxi drivers might charge you too much if you don't speak Spanish and when you buy something in tourist shops you might have to bargain the price in order to not be ripped off, but things like that just don't happen in Mexico. Which is one more reason for me to not like the tourist Mexico of Quintana Roo.

Anyways, we arrived at the lagoon, again there was nobody and it was so pretty. It was one of the best places I had been to in all of Mexico. Well, I know objectively there are a lot prettier places but I just really love lagoons like that one. And it was so quiet and peaceful. I was really glad I had not asked for more touristy things to do and just gone off on my own account to where I thought it would be nice. And I am wondering if this place was so nice because tourists don't go there or if tourists just can't appreciate real beauty and that's why they don't go there, because there is no spectacle or anything to sell. I still don't know, but judging by the kind of tourists there are in this region the second option may well be right.

It is quite obvious by everything that tourists who go to Quintana Roo don't care about Mexico. They go there because it is warmer and cheaper than at home. They go there to go to the beach to either get drunk or tanned (or sunburnt more often) or both. And then they go to the ruins of Tulum to get the idea that they have actually visited Mexico and learned about its history. Of course, all this time they will only drive on the really nice roads that only exist in this one state, use the fancy "shuttle busses" (as the colectivos are called there, where the shuttle busses are new and air conditioned while colectivos tend to almost fall apart in most places). They come by with their English and the five Spanish words they know. They don't know that they are being ripped off all the time. They think the danza de los voladores is a Mayan tradition. They think that Mexican hotels are just like American hotels. They think that Mexican architecture is just like at home. And they have not seen any sign of poverty. Which reminds me, I wanted to say that, yes, people living in this part of Mexico tend to be pretty well off. Not as rich as the tourists, of course, but pretty well off. And the strange thing is, I haven't seen any beggars or anyone who looked particularly poor. So poor people are either very well hidden or just driven away (possibly by the high prices for food and houses). Because the kind of tourism that is found in this region can certainly not offer enough income for everybody. Most of the big hotels are foreign owned, most tourists eat in restaurants (rather than on the street) and there are so many tourist shops that selling jewelry on the street is probably not a very good business.

Supposedly there are still Mayan villages in the national parks. I have barely seen one sign of that - apart from one man who was carrying water in big canisters from a well, supposedly to his house. But I have not seen any Mayans selling food or art in the villages so I wonder what they live off. Because it is mainly mangrove forest or really wet forest with lots of lagoons it is probably impossible to farm the soil in this area.

Oh, and just to see how far removed Quintana Roo is from the rest of Mexico: since the day that I left, they also have created their new time zone. So they are now the only Mexican state in the Eastern American time zone. Geographically this does not make a whole lot of sense but it will certainly be better for the tourists. When I was there it would was still light from about 5.45 to 17.45. Which is almost the way it should be but then, apart from me, not many tourists tend to get up at 6 am, so if it is light from 7 to 7 that is certainly more tourist friendly. You also don't have to get up at 5 am to se the sunrise (which I did). I am not so much against changing the time zone but the thing that I don't understand is, why the state of Quintana Roo just does it on its own rather than together with Yucatán and Campeche (which are all on the peninsula and in the same geographical region), then it would make some more sense. But again, Quintana Roo is just not Mexico…

This is it, I am back in Europe now. I will not stop moving around the world, of course. I stopped calling it travelling though, because my way of travelling tends to be so different from everybody else's. Let's call it discovering for now. So now I am off to (re-) discover the place where I grew up. In the Alps, in the middle of Austria. I also said before that this is the prettiest place on Earth and I invite everybody to come and visit me to find out yourself. Just let me know when you want to come.

I will still write about Mexico some more and then I will write about Austria but I will probably not write as often as I did when I was in Mexico. But be sure that I will also move on soon. Thanks for reading this, by the way. Take care.