Tulum

In 1518 Juan de Gurijalva sailed up the Mexican coast and from among the deepest green jungle saw the brightly painted red, yellow and blue watchtower of the Mayan port Tulum standing on high cliffs above buttery sands. What a breath taking sight it must have been to the Spanish sailors!!

I can confirm it is still truely amazing 500 years later and now one of the most famous archaeological sites to visit in Mexico that it graces the front of Mexico's Lonley Planet guide.

We visited on a beautifully sunny day and despite the abundance of other tourists couldn't help but be awestruck by the remains of a great and ancient civilisation.

I have always loved history and the feeling of standing on ground so many have walked before me. Each person who even stood or will stand here has their own unique story; some will be famous but most will go unnoticed by records, slip by in the sands of time yet they will feel joy and sorrow, the same as every human being and that is what resonates for me. These ancient buildings carved with stele that we can only hope to interpret now, but once must have meant so much to those who painstakingly created and gazed upon them embody a faith and dedication I aspire to.

Despite the modern name of Tulum the site was originally called Zama for the Dawn. The watch tower you can see in the picture above looks out east on to the Caribbean Sea and residents must have enjoyed the most beautiful sunrises thus earning the town its name.

Below the watchtower is a series of little coves filled with soft golden sand; the type you dream of.

Paddling in the turquoise sea I feel honoured to stand in such a beautiful location; the sea stretching forward towards the Caribbean Islands, Atlantic and beyond. Behind the brown grey stone building weathered by hundreds of years of coastal weather clothed in jungle and home an abundance of Iguanas. I wish I could travel more. If one single spot can offer this much how much more is there to see? Why do we spend our lives lusting after falsities in highstreet stores and attention starved celebrities when the planet we inhabit has so much to offer us? Why was I was one of the sheep before? Why did it take something so drastic as terminal cancer to make me realise how much I could be doing?

Well I will not need telling twice; every second I get will be embraced and absorbed.

Screw the limitations that I am inflicted with I will continue to push forward until the very last, and even if for you history doesn't inspire you to greatness, something will and I strongly encourage you to find it, pursue it, and remember your imagination has no limitations!

The clifftops at Tulum, holding our new Imagine It logo.