Travel with Impact – First Trip to Mexico

We took our first trip to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula nearly twenty years ago.  We visited several Mayan sites, Tulum and Cobá, on that trip. Perched on the cliffs overlooking the Caribbean Sea, the ruins of Tulum were so beautiful it nearly took my breath away, but there were a lot of tourists there. Later in the trip we visited Cobá. Much of this area is still unexcavated, but once you become attuned to what to look the ruins hidden under dirt mounds and covered with jungle start to emerge from their surroundings. At the time, there were very few visitors, and scattered around the dirt parking lot a few vendors sold drinks and handmade crafts. The feeling of having the place all to myself was overwhelming and allowed my mind to wander and visualize what it must have been like in its heyday.  The serenity and solitude of Cobá had a huge impact on me and sparked a lifelong passion for learning about the Mayan Culture. I went back to Cobá about five years later and it had changed some, but was still relatively unvisited. I’m a little afraid to return now in case these peaceful remote ruins have become overly commercialized and have lost some of what made them so special.