Tzamá / Tulum
Tzamá, means “dawn” in Yucatec Maya, and is believed to be the original name for the archaeological site that we today call Tulum. In Gods of Rain and Blood, the city-state of Tzamá is the great vortex of power around which my story unfolds. Located at the top of 12-meter-tall cliffs, the ancient City of the Dawn enjoys spectacular commanding views of the surrounding land and the beautiful Caribbean.Tzamá came to its greatest prominence between the 13th and 15th centuries, but Maya continued to inhabit the site until well after the Spanish conquest. The first Europeans to describe Tzamá, then brightly-colored and heavily populated, were members of Juan de Grijalva’s expedition, sailing along the coast of Yucatan in 1518. Presented with the unexpected spectacle, the party’s chronicler, Juan Diaz, wrote in his logs a comment that I felt compelled to borrow. “We sighted a city or town so large that Seville would not have appeared bigger or better…”
Protected by steep sea cliffs on its ocean side; on its landward side Tzamá is surrounded by a formidable defensive wall of stone. The thick wall stands ten to fifteen feet tall and stone watch towers guard its corners. A magnificent, soaring pyramid called El Castillo dominates the city, and nearby stand many other impressive structures: the Temple of the Frescoes, the Temple of the Winds, the Temple of the Descending God, and more. Also enclosed within the city walls lies an excellent white sand beach, where large ocean-going trade canoes once landed. Tzamá’s importance as a major seaport is confirmed by the large number of trade artifacts recovered that originated from throughout the Yucatan and as far away as Guatemala and central Mexico.
Today, the city’s well-preserved ruins are the third most-popular archeological site in Mexico, behind Teotihuacán and Chichén Itza. Their reputation is such that more than two million tourists journey there every year. Tzamá/Tulum is definitely not to be missed, but if you go, be sure to arrive early to avoid both the crowds and the heat.
