More Tulum

Here are some more pictures from Tulum.

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The only souvenir we bought in Mexico was this replacement shirt for Matt after getting thrown up on. It is a hideous shirt but will always remind us of this amazing vacation.

TULUM!!

The small rock square with the opening on the left of the tower has a neat story to it. On June 21st sitting from where I took the picture, the sun will shine perfectly through the hole at sunrise. Our guide was telling us how the Mayans and the Egyptians both used a calendar of 12-30 day months and both also had 5 ceremonial days through the year which adds up to 365 days. The Babylonians also used the 12-30 day months but didn't include the additional 5 ceremonial days so every six years they had to add an extra month. It was such a blessing to run into the LDS guide in Tulum because he added so much more insight that we would have missed out on with the local guide.

This is the temple.

The surroundings of Tulum were phenomenal.

I am so impressed at the construction of these building from years and years ago without any machinery, etc.

Our guide was telling us that not far off of the beach was the second largest reef in the world. He explained that there were always many ship wrecks along the reef but in the center was an opening. The way that the Mayans would return safely to Tulum was by using the temple as a point of reference. If they went straight towards the temple, they would avoid the reef. I really loved hearing all of the symbolism and history that the guide shared with us. If we center our lives around the Gospel and focus on getting to the temple, it is the only way we can return to our Heavenly Father.

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All of us together at Tulum.