Cozumel is the largest island in the Mexican Caribbean (Haggins, 28). It is 30 miles long, and 10 miles wide (28), so as you could imagine, there’s plenty to see and do. When we got off of the cruise ship we immediately saw bright, colorful buildings, petty cabs all along the dock, shops full of unique hand-crafted souvenirs, and people galore. We had booked a shore excursion to the city of Tulum to see the ruins, so we had to hurry to our destination, but would explore the shops and sights later that evening.
Tulum is 25 miles southwest of Cozumel (Horngren, p.43) so our excursion started off with a long bus ride, but we had a very friendly, humorous tour guide who made it fun, and there were plenty of sights along the way. Historic Tulum holds the ruins of Mexico’s earliest civilization; Mayans (Salloum, 249). Mayans inhabited Cozumel more than 2,000 years ago (Haggins, 28). Therefore, our first stop was at a Mayan Cooperative Center where we got to see a Mayan Calendar and learn about the culture. They told us interesting facts like how the Mayans never meant to predict the end of the world with their calendar, as some people believed. We also learned that each of the coins in the Mexican Peso currency have an image from the Mayan Calendar on the back of it, and if you put the coins all together they depict the complete Mayan Calendar. It was very interesting learning about the culture of the people who built
the temples we would see at the site of the ruins. We also enjoyed looking inside the shop where they had lots of Mayan souvenirs, sombreros, and one of a kind hand-crafted gifts.
When we got