Club trip to Cancun

A mid-winter break for my Club trip gave us the chance to see Cancun and experience not only the strange experience of an all-inclusive resort- but also see the ancient Mayan cities of Tulum and Chichen Itza.

We checked into the Club Med and found a sparsely furnished room (no TV’s – the point of the resort is to “mix and mingle”, not sit in your room and watch TV).

With the full list of all of the inclusive activities, we ran to our rental car to escape the ClubMed experience.

We took a day trip to visit Tulum, the walled city. The walls surrounding the city made the fort a perfect place to defend against any invading forces.

On one side, the city was protected by steep sea walls and on the other by a huge wall. Tulum also became a important trading port.

We escaped for another day trip to Chichen Itza, about 117 miles west of Cancun. It was a center of pilgrimage for the Maya for over 1,000 years . The Temple of Kukulcan (Quetzacoatl) is the largest structure-a huge stepped pyramid with a staircase on each side.

El Caracol served as the astronomical observatory.