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Puerto Adventuras,Mexico
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Cancun,Mexico
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Playa Del Carmen,Mexico
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Welcome to the Caribbean Coast of Mexico
The Mayan Riviera
Quintana Roo
The craggy limestone shoreline is speckled with stunning mixes of long stretches of sugar-white, palm-fringed beaches, secret grottos, tropical coves, Maya ruins and deep clear cenotes. The Maya of interior Quintana Roo live much as their forefathers did - still preserving many of their ancient traditions.
At A GlanceThe state of Quintana Roo (keen-TANA ROE) was named after Andres Quintana Roo, Yucatan's first poet. Born in Merida on November 30, 1787, he died in Mexico City in 1851. In a fateful paradox, this was the first landfall of the Spanish conquistadors (1517), but the last land in Mexico to be conquered. Once a part of the states of Yucat n and Campeche, it became a federal territory on November 24, 1902. It was not until October 8, 1974 that it became a full-fledged Mexican State - just in time to build the Cancun resort.
CAPITAL: Chetumal.
MAJOR CITIES: Cancun, Chetumal, San Miguel Cozumel, Felipe Puerto Carrillo, Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen.
POPULATION: 495,000 - indigenous Maya and Spanish descent.
CLIMATE: Hot and humid inland, the coastline is cooled by ocean breezes. Rain in the summer.
VEGETATION: Jungle, mangroves and some savanna.
GEOGRAPHY: Lowland, cenotes, Caribbean beaches, islands.
SIZE: 20,337 square miles (50,843 square kilometers).
WILDLIFE: Spider monkeys, deer, jaguars, tapirs, water birds, crocodiles and armadillos.
ECOLOGICAL RESERVES: Sian Ka'an, Punta Laguna, Cozumel Reefs National Park, Isla Contoy.
MAJOR ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES: Tulum, Cob , Rio Bec, Kohunlich, Muyil, Dzibanch (also spelled Tzibanch), San Gervasio.
Known as the 'Turquoise Coast' because of its brilliant blue Caribbean Sea colors and fine white sand, the coastline south from Canc£n rates among the world's best beaches. The craggy limestone shoreline is speckled with stunning mixes of long stretches of sugar-white, palm-fringed beaches, secret grottos, tropical coves, Maya ruins and deep clear cenotes.
Puerto Morelos
Puerto Morelos is the embarkation point for the car ferry to Cozumel island. The town suffered a fair amount of damage from Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 but has since rebuilt. Visitors who stay are more likely to be here for a month than a week. The beaches are fine and the town is very low- key, a little like the older suburban development that it is. Fortunately, the high-volume building and tourism frenzy bypassed this location for Playa del Carmen and resorts south. It offers a good quiet vacation only 30 minutes south of Cancun. Two major attractions nearby are Croco Cun crocodile farm preserve and the Jard¡n Bot nico, a botanical garden featuring identification signs in English and Spanish, an epiphyte and orchid area, and a recreation of a chiclero camp. Chicle, the sap from the native chicozapote tree, provided the original base for chewing gum. Quintana Roo saw a boom then bust in chicle in the 1920s. Any trees you might see along the roadway with crisscrossing marks as if a strangler vine once wrapped the trunk are marks of chicle tapping.
Orientation There's a mini-bus every two hours between Cancun and Puerto Morelos that departs from the Cancun bus terminal. To get to the car ferry to Cozumel (it's not really worth taking your car there - US $45 plus US $7 per person on a three- to four-hour trip) turn right as you enter town and it's one kilometer or less down the road.
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Tulum,Mexico
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Playa Del Carmen,Mexico
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Puerto Aventuras,Mexico
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