"TULUM - The third most visited archaeological site in Mexico, after Teotihuacan and Chichen Itza and before Mont Alban, is located on 12-meter cliffs, along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula"
"GENERAL VIEW - Spectacularly located on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea, Tulum is a Mayan settlement that flourished from 1200 AD until the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadores"
"RUINS BY THE SEA"
"TEMPLE OF THE DIVING GOD (left) - The main god honoured is the «Diving god» or «Descending god»"
"THE MAIN TEMPLE - El Castillo"
"EL CASTILLO - The largest and most prominent building is The Castle"
"MAIN TEMPLE - El Castillo, a temple as well as a fortress, was originally covered with stucco and painted red. A wide external staircase leads up to the doorway, with three niches. In the central one, a beautiful sculpture of the descending god may be seen"
"RUINS"
"WALL - Tulum was protected on the sea side by the high cliffs and on the landward side by a 400m long and 8m thick wall that reached 5m in height"
"TEMPLE OF THE FRESCOS (the two middle pictures) - Directly in front of the Castillo, was used as an observatory for tracking the movements of the sun. It contains interesting 13th-century frescoes. The frescoes represent the rain god Chaac and Ixchel, the goddess of weaving, women, the moon, and medicine. Remains of the red-painted stucco can still be seen"
"IGUANA DANCE"
"MAR DEL CARIBE"
"CARIBBEAN SEA - Tulum is the only site with Mayan ruins located by the sea, i.e. by the beautiful turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea"
Posts
54 comments:
Hi Everybody! Sorry, but today I’m a bit down...
I’m tired... These last weeks have been terrible; times are hard, crisis is in the air, travelling plans are inexistent ;) and some blogger friends seem to be gone... ;-(.
It’s sad to acknowledge, but this blog (not to mention the Revivals 80s and 90s...) doesn’t seem to generate any interest at all... Since its inception, three months ago, it had only one thousand visitors and in the last three days its number reached the unimaginable figure of six (6) each day... ;) Meanwhile, the old Blogtrotter, closed three months ago short of space, reached more than 115,000 visitors so far and still has an average of 150 visitors a day (not much, but twenty five times more than the visitors here... ;)). Maybe I should make a break in posting to rethink the format... Anyhow, while it doesn’t happen, here you have the Mayan ruins of Tulum to enjoy! Have a great week. Easter for those who celebrate...
hey im so sorry for this blog's traffic. when my blog ran-out of spaces for photos, i opened a flickr account pro (if i remember it right for $25). then i hosted my photos there. maybe you cud do that to your old blogger 'coz it has gained so much following.
anyways, these photos are real amazing and everyone should see this.
take care my friend. :)
Those ruins are fascinating, and it's amazing to think about the history and time in those jungles.
Oh that would be sad if you quit posting. I love looking at your travel photos. It's always a tough go when you first create another blog. It will pick up. The weather is starting to get nice and people want to be outside, not on the computer. We've had a rough cold winter and now it's time for some sunshine. I think you always get less traffic on blogs when spring comes.
I bet it was great to look through the temples, a part of history.
Hi trotter, sorry to be away for a while.I hope the friends return 'coz your travel stories and pictures are wonderful.
I 'm trying to find out why on many occasions trying to comment on blogs, there's 'oops a link missing' message and I'm back to square one!!
Hope you're keeping well.
Gil,
Another good post! Your blog is interesting, and your travel photos fabulous so your friends should return - if not now, in future.
I hope you get a chance to travel too. Cheers!
GMG! Don't lose hope ..comments will pick up soon :) they just need to get used to the new address. By the way the Mayan ruins are breathtaking.. you and your wife are so fortunate to have set foot there! amazing. thanks for sharing it with us!
Hi Gil,
Tulum in Mexico seems to have superb ancient sculpture n temple...
That Iguana dance pic is quite funny but nice...
The Caribbean sea looks so beautiful n green...
In all these post i noted one thing that u give a nice finishing touch on every post n end them with superb pic i like it..
Fantastic and interesting places.
Maybe it's better not to see how many but what kind of comments you get.
Wow! Absolutely spectacular pictures! Loved them all!
Well, still are the people who visit and comment, aren't they?
I love your photos and gladly 'travel' with you!!!
Beautiful photos of facinating place again:)
Greetings, and have a great week:)
What an awesome sight, the Mayan ruins.
GMG, don't lose hope and keep up the good work! Have a great day. ;)
I am amazed that your traffic is down. I love your blog but, of course, I love travel and, since my job of 21 years ended, I travel vicariously through you!
I have always loved Tulum and XelHa. The Caribbean is so beautiful there. The Mayan rulers sure knew what they were doing, choosing that site.
Very interesting to visit the ruins. Nice to learn more about ancient history. Hahaha I love the "Iguana Dance" and I once did the "Gecko Dance".
I always like to see places like these. Such a great location close to the sea. The Mayan must have enjoyed this place!
Very beautiful and interesting places. Lovely and eye catching pictures. Marvellous post.
A very early sea side resort!
There must be something wrong with your counter! I can't imagine that you have so relatively few visitors! Please, please,don't give up!!! ... even for your own pleasure and for us who - also with great pleasure - try to be faithful and regular visitors!
Muito Bem!!
Ne sois pas désespéré Gil, tu ne voudrais tout de même pas que nous soyons en file d'attente pour visiter ton blog ? Qu'importe le nombre pourvu que tu aies la qualité.
Je me dis que les messages que je fais sont pour moi essentiellement, ils me permettent de revivre de bons moments, d'approfondir la connaissance des lieux, de les éclairer autrement, de refaire le voyage à l'envers et quelque part de m'évader de nouveau...
Tes messages nous permettent de voyager à ta façon avec ton regard et c'est très intéressant de le partager. Je ne pense pas que j'irai jamais sur tes pas, partout où tu nous entraînes ; mais imaginer les siècles, les millénaires qui nous contemplent du haut, pas très haut de ces pyramides (comme disait quelqu'un de connu) aujourd'hui est très émouvant.
Great shots! I'd love to visit Mexico some day :-)
Les blogs sont souvent faits pour nous permettre de mettre de l'ordre dans nos activités ou dans notre esprit et par dessus tout pour nous faire plaisir. Il ne faut pas le faire pour aux fins de stress. Bon tout du moins c'est comme celà que je le prends et je ne vais jamais regarder le trafic!
The Tulum Mayan ruins are fabulous as well as the iguana's dance. Your wife probably discovered that she was a good dancer as well!
Les ruines sont encore tellement belles qu'on a pas trop de mal à s'imaginer la beauté de l'endroit au moment où tout était encore en bon état.
I enjoy the virtual travel that you offer. Please don't stop. Is it really important how many visitors you have?If you enjoy recounting your travels and we enjoy reading them, isn't that enough. I don't get many comments but it doesn't stop me enjoying blogging.
Your pics are great and the water is so blue. I read a book about the Mayan Civilisation. It was fascinating, so I imagine the visit was very interesting.
It used to be red? I can't imagine. :)
magnifique ce bout d'histoire, on doit se sentir bien petit devant ces batiments
What a very interesting post, this place also is on my travel list. It's amazing how far they were already while others were still running around naked or in fur, lol ! Like the romans on our side of the world.
You know with blogs it's such a thing, write for yourself and don't care who reads you, I never look at the number of how many people comment. I get a report each sunday and I am very surprised about the weekly visitors I have ! But they don't leave any comments. Last week I had Page Views
Total 23,260
Average per Day 93
This Week 649
by visitors on my travel blog ! I really am surprised.
The adress of this service is
http://s32.sitemeter.com/
Maybe it gives you courage to continue. It would be a pity to stop !
Sorry to hear things are difficult. As to blog traffic, don't let that get you down, and know that those who visit appreciate your work. This post is one of the very best. The Mayan ruins always amaze me, and your knowledgeable commentary is highly informative. Don't stop. My philosophy on blogging has always been that I do it for myself. I reach fewer than 100 with each post, and most of those receive the email version. Only a handful go to the actual blog. The online blog has 5 subscribers and I've never heard from 4 of them and don;t know who they are.
Hi,
You always give wonderful posts, the low traffic may be because it is new. :) Please continue.
Lovely shots this time too with fascinating collages, particularly the iguana dance. :)
Lovely! Que lindo!
I enjoy all the travel photos here, and I especially like when you add photos with you in the collages. What beautiful smiles the two of you have and I see that you truly enjoy yourselves in all your destinations.
I would visit your wonderful blog everyday, if I could, but unfortunately, life has been getting in the way of my blogging life. So I'm not able to stop by as much as I would like. I think you should keep blogging unless you want to take a break (blogging is hard work). Visitors will continue to come. I don't think you should worry about the numbers so much. It will continue to build and surprise you. My humble opinion. ;-)
Paz
No wonder you are tired
Blogging can become very hard work.
This one of the ruins is wonderful.
Life could be paradise if only people would be nice and calm down and just do the right things.
I have come to conclude that Israel belongs to the world. It should be handed over to the UN and turned into something like the vatican city and all this warring should stop.
You can't give it to the Arabs because they will destroy history and build mosques over it and it is a place that has already suffered so much pain.
Wish you and your wife a Happy Easter. Take care.
:)
Je pense aussi qu'avec le beau temps les gens prennent un peu le large, par rapport à l'ordinateur... en tout cas, Gil, il ne faut pas poster que pour les visites ou les commentaires... Trotter est quand-même un monument du net !
Hang on tight my friend! It does take time to build up a following again! Don't forget that people who subscribe to your blog are also reading it but it doesn't generate as traffic if they don't click to actually stop by the blog to leave a comment. You generate a lot more traffic than I do!
I've always enjoyed your photo posts! :)
Ican only sigh with envy. Beautiful. It's at the other side of the world from me.
Regarding your new blogsite, i dont think you have to change anything! This is perfect. Blogsites take some time to "ripen" even in the internet world. Id say your format is great as it is, this coming from one of your ardent followers - "me". Keep up the good work.
You are SOMETHING!
Aloha from Hawaii my Friend
Comfort Spiral
This is absolutely incredible. I had read about this in school, but never seen it before. Beautiful shots
It looks beautiful, Gil! The blue of the sky and of the sea are amazing.
Hi Gil,
Just don't worry (don't give up) my friend I know that I have not been been visiting , as much as before but that has privat reasons, Your blog is always and has been always INTERESTING, and I am proud to be one of your visiters, be patience and don't give up making a blog!!!! Please???? I like your travels, your photography, your stories, and your blog! :)
Mexico has also been the place we have been visiting , a short while ago, we visited Yucatan and Cancun, also Tumum and Chitchen Iza, so thsi pho's are very familiar to me....
Please -when you can- visit my blog to see a small impression of my Barcelona visit ( not as good pho's and story as your blog haha!) So I invite you to my blog,
Thanks and happy EASTERwishes!
JoAnn/Holland
Very nice post and I love the pictures of the Mayan ruins. My wife would love to see this someday. She is a Spanish teacher and would make for some great cultural lessons.
You had me until I saw the iguanas. Me and reptiles don't get along very well.
Please don't end your blog, I enjoy reading it and looking at all the beautiful pictures and hope to one day see all you have.
Dear Gil,
Thank you for all that you put into your posts! The time, the photos, your words. I truly appreciate you and all that you share! For instance, I have NEVER seen these sacred Mayan ruins and probably never would have if not for you and Mrs. Trotter and your passion to travel and share your experience.
Happy Easter and Spring.
A time for hope and renewal.
xox
Constance
Hello Gil! This is a splendid post about Mexico! Your images are always so nice and thrilling! I think you should keep on posting even if the readers are less!
I wish you a very Happy Easter! :-)
Wow amazing. I'm fascinated with the Mayan civilizations. Looks like they were thriving then.
Thank you so much for the tour.
I agree with Lawstude you should try uploading at Flickr Pro its unlimited.
A blessed Holy Week and Easter.
Replies, Part Three:
Lucie,
Ah non, files d’attente, jamais! J’en ai eu déjà assez pour acheter des billets pour l’opéra et les concerts… ;). Et c’est vrai que l’idée que la quantité génère la qualité a eu son temps… ;)
Tu as raison quand tu dis que les messages sont surtout pour soi-même. C’était comme ça au début: je faisais des posts surtout pour la mémoire des voyages que je ne faisais plus si souvent… Et pour approfondir et revivre les émotions d’auparavant!! Mais, après quelques années d’habitude à avoir des visiteurs, on cohabite mal avec la solitude… ;)
C’est intéressant que tu me dises que tu n’irais pas sur mes pas, car ça m’évoque les posts de Celine (Indicaspecies) aux Himalaya que j’aime bien, même si je n’ai pas envie de les refaire… ;). A propos des millénaires qui nous contemplent du haut… il faut que tu attends un petit peu: peut-être vers la fin de l’année… ;)
Merci!!
Thérèse,
C’est vrai que, du moins au début, les blogs sont faits pour nous faire plaisir; mais, comme je doute des écrivains qui n’écrivent pas pour son public, je me doute si je continuerais un blog seulement pour moi-même; au moins pour la famille la plus proche… ;)). Mais c’est peut-être une bonne idée de ne pas regarder le trafic… ;)
The iguana dance is definitely not Guida’s favourite shot on this post… ;)
Hélène,
C’est vrai que les ruines sont belles, mais il me semble que la plus grande part de la beauté dérive directement du fabuleux endroit où elles se trouvent… Quand même, je me demande si l’original, avec des panneaux en rouge, serait vraiment fascinant… ;)
Diane,
OK! Recounting is a way of reliving, but it always helps your self-esteem when you notice that your work is valued... ;)). Anyhow, the Mayas had a great civilization and I’m now reading Jared Diamond’s «Collapse» on the fall of societies, including the Mayan... I’m not sure the eco-catastrophically determinism will explain everything, but it’s an interesting challenge!!
This time I knew already what to expect; in 1983 it was much more exciting… ;)
Lynn,
Neither can I; had already enough of reds (Benfica, Manchester United, Liverpool, AC Milan...) in football this year... ;)). But the red temple against the turquoise Sea must also have been a daunting vision... ;)
Olivier,
Ils ne sont pas trop grands, les temples, mais tenant compte de l’époque, c’a vraiment de la grandeur… C’est drôle le mystère de la fin de la civilisation Maya… On ne réussi vraiment pas, même aujourd’hui, à savoir comment réellement tout ça s’est évanoui… ;))
Gattina,
I see that our travel lists have lots in common… ;)). Well, these guys have been around, it seems, from 2000 BC until after the Spanish arrival in the early 16th century; but Tulum itself was occupied around AD 1200. So, there were no more Romans around at that time... neither Gauls... ;)
That’s a tough thing that of writing for yourself; of course, one writes primarily what he/she would like to read, but if you post, you believe you’re going to be read... ;)
I used to have that site meter feature installed in my previous blogs! One day, nobody could enter Blogger’s sites; it seems to be blocked everywhere. In the chat forum someone mentioned there was a compatibility problem with Sitemeter... I removed it forever; no further problems of that kind... ;))
Anyhow, 93 are much more than six!! Lol...
Ted,
The most problematic is probably being stuck here, with no chance to get off..., though some acknowledgment always helps your self-esteem... ;))
It’s amazing that story of the email version; sometimes I receive answers to my comments on other blogs by email, but I would definitely prefer to have them on my posts. That’s what I usually do with the comments I get here...
Followers, there are thirty nine here; twelve never dropped a line and I can’t imagine who they are... ;))
Part Four and counting:
Indrani,
Any reason is good to explain the low traffic, provided that it doesn’t affect the «quality» of the venture... ;)
Thanks for the support! With all of you taking your time to comment here, it wouldn’t make sense not to give something back...
That Iguana Dance doesn’t collect the unanimity in appreciation: at least the human dancer doesn’t appreciate it very much... ;))
Paz,
There is a choice in the pictures shown, but there is also a great pleasure in travelling, even thirty six years after we started doing it together... ;)). I’ll try to see if there is anyone interesting in the pictures to insert into the collage... Hope we won’t need to get to New York to have it... ;). Btw, don’t you want to organize a short Blogger’s meeting in New York? It would be great... ;))
I would rather say, don’t let your blogging getting into the way of your life... ;). I will work it in a way not to bother with figures; at least with those that don’t refer to IRS... ;))
xoxo
Lady,
It’s true that when one wants to make some decent work, it takes times; either on blogging or on anything else... ;)
Life without stress is probably a dream; maybe the Mayas had it; but they didn’t survive to tell... ;))
As for the Middle East problem; I don’t know if someone was paying attention to your proposed solution, but it seems that Israeli jets launched eight air strikes early Friday on Gaza...
Happy Easter!!
G@tto,
C’est vrai qu’il ne faut pas poster que pour les visiteurs et les commentaires, mais disons que tout ce travail pour soi-même est peut-être un luxe… ;)
Merci pour le «monument» ; mais vivant… ;)
Yvonne,
That’s probably the reason why there are at least twelve Followers who have never dropped a line at Blogtrotter Two; they’re reading the blog somewhere else and don’t even bother to come here... ;)) Thanks for your continued support. Much appreciated!!
Eye,
I also have some places to envy on your blog... On the other side of the world for me... ;)
I wonder whether the collages, which allow me to show much more pictures with much less quality however, make any sense... And I’m not sure that posting larger pictures doesn’t contribute to degrade the quality of the photo, which anyhow it is not my main objective with the posts...
In any case, thanks for being such a fervent enthusiastic follower of Blogtrotter; it’s reciprocal!!
Cloudia,
Thanks!!
Rajesh,
Schools should have «on the spot» lessons, so that students may actually see what teachers are talking about... Now it’s much easier: everything is on Google Earth... ;))
Paul,
It’s the most incredible combination I’ve seen in the Mayan sites (and you may believe that I’ve seen several... ;))
JoAnn,
Wow! Welcome back to the blogosphere!! Hope your private reasons to be absent are gone now and that we may profit from the excitement you always bring to your posts and comments!!
So, travelling again and furthermore to Mexico... My true Mexican experience took place in 1983 and was a complete thrill! I even got Montezuma’s revenge… ;))
I’ll see your Barcelona pictures; haven’t been there for ma while and will love to see how it looks like at present...
Happy Easter!!
Ron,
A cultural lesson on the spot, explaining how the Maya civilization ended and how the Spanish came in would be fantastic for the students; and probably also for your wife... ;)
As for the iguanas, you would have to deal with the managing director of the site, as they seem to be everywhere around Tulum... But they aren’t as big as in Galapagos... ;))
Truly, I couldn’t end blogging even it was only for your support: you’re the only visitor who has commented in my last, at least, 92 posts! Incredible!! Thanks Ron!!
Part Five and final, now... It was the longest answer I made, but these were also the longest comments I've ever got!! Thanks again to you all!
Constance,
Thanks for your support! I’m sure that one of these days you’ll be heading south and you’ll see all the beauties the Maya left in Mexico; they truly deserve the trip!! You’re right about this passion to travel, but that’s probably the main cause for stress: being stuck with so many things to see... It’s not such a small world, you know... ;))
Happy Easter!
xoxo
Pietro,
OK! Let’s forget the numbers... ;)
Happy Easter to you also!!
Regina,
This was only a small part of the Mayan heritage; the bulk of it was seen in 1983, and I tell that there are some splendid spots: Monte Alban, Palenque, Chichen Itza, Uxmal… Gorgeous sites!!
I’m not so sure about Flickr, as I mentioned in the reply to Norman (Lawstude); but I’ll survive and Blogtrotter will also survive in the near future… ;))
Happy Easter to you and yours!!
This place looks like Heaven to me!
Joyce M
Joyce,
It's almost... ;))
I'm adding a comment here too, Gil, so you have to make one more answer...:-)
If I ever visit Mexico this is the one spot I'd love to see. It's such an ancient culture! Did thye allow you to walk up the steps of the ruins and go inside them?
If your older blog still gets a lot of web traffic perhaps you could put this new blog URL in the header or prominently on the sidbar, so everyone will know where to find you?
Great ruins, it's nice to seem something different! Thanks for taking me on more of your travels :)
Meanwhile, it's Spring in Moscow!
Pat,
My pleasure to answer you here!
Tulum is wonderful, but don't miss Palenque and Chichen Itza that you may find here. In 1983 I went up the castel in Chichen Itza; now, it's no longer allowed to climb ot to go inside...
Good idea for the publicity regarding this blog on the old ones!!
Ashira,
My pleasure! You're always invited... ;)
I have enjoyed to see the Mayan temples and ruins, that was beautiful and for sure a great experience! I wish I could have been there visiting too!
One word to the visitor numbers: I wish I would have 150 visitors every day...! :)
The very last collage "in blue" is very nice!
Susanne
Sue,
Thanks for the good wishes and for the support. That is what actually counts...
Hi GMG, is the situation about # of visitors better? I know it takes lot of work to keep the numbers going. Hey, have you considered getting your own domain (lot of work again!)? Because that will definitely help improve your ranking, etc.
I'll be in Mexico next week and I hope to visit Tulum! Looks incredible. :-)
Priyank,
Well not much; now there is an average of 20 to 30 a day; but never mind... Actually I don't have time to bother with it... ;))
Hope you hav a great trip to Mexico!!
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