COBA for the full tour!

Coba is great if it's not too hot. Or if you have a cooling neck thingy. Or if you buy a cold water bottle and rub it all over your neck and arms before drinking some. There is shade, and bike riding, and especially mystery - since the huge complex is mostly reclaimed by the jungle. The trees here are really cool, I'm glad I came back to explore more after our first trip. That trip was walk in, ride a bike, climb the big temple, bike back out.
This time we rambled around and had time to admire how effective the jungle has been at smothering the efforts of men long gone. The trees are impartial to the hopes and dreams of the humans that placed rock upon rock trying to shape their environment.
There are also 3 cenotes nearby. We randomly picked one, it was a unique experience. There were butterflies, spiral stairs, a snow-globe cave, cold water, little lighting, and it created quite the scene down there with only a small opening at the very top. Going down was kind of cool, stair after stair 70 times, winding down wondering how far down it really was. Going up was claustrophobic, too many people going both ways in a tiny staircase.

The jungle wants to erase the contributions of men. Doesn't it kind of look like the tree is going somewhere and walking over whatever is under it?

The trees are now taking back what was theirs. 

The trees are so interesting. I love them. I have this question. Wouldn't it be cool if the trees grew as a representation of the energy in that spot? Like if this place was where many couples were married? Or something more sinister? Depends on the plot line of the book you want to write, I suppose. It could be a place where a group of people died while they were in the middle of dancing.

Crazy trees. Maybe this is an area where a half demon was banished, leaving behind some corrupt seeds.

Coba is a big site with ruins that are hard to see, it must have taken a lot of work to get one building all fixed up for viewing by us tourists and history buffs. I seat so much, just walking around. Building it? Lots of sweat, tears and blood, no doubt. It was probably not a culture of paid workers with unions and benefits.

This tree is clutching the ruins, like it's feeding off of it.

Bike back out, leave it in the parking lot.

Coba was estimated to have 50,000 inhabitants at its peak of civilization. The built up area around here extends over 80 square kilometers!

When I am on top of the tallest pyramid in Mexico, I feel like a million bucks. A million bucks someone tossed in the oven. Even with the incredible view there was only one other top of a building visible. I can only dream of what it looked like when it was full of people.

The place where I looked it up said that Coba was occupied until at least the 14th century.

They say Coba may have been settled between 50 BC and 100 AD.

Taking a rest at the bottom of the stairs is a good idea. I think I took a rest both before and after the climb. In my defense, I had to ride a bike to get there.

The cenote looks different from every angle. Not a lot of light. Zero natural light and 1 of the 3 man made lights was not working. It looks light in the pictures, but it was a bit spooky, in a cool kind of way. It is basically swimming in a cave, which is a pretty wild experience. It feels sensational after a hot day of hiking. The water temperatures in many cenotes is under 70 degrees fahrenheit.