Magnetic
Fields in
the Universe II: from Laboratory and Stars to the Primordial Universe
Cozumel,
Mexico, January 28th to
February 1st, 2008
Travel and tourist Information: Cozumel
Cozumel, the largest Mexican island, located in the mexican
caribbean sea off the eastern coast of the state of Quintana Roo,
in the Yucatán peninsula. It is a teardrop-shaped coral island
ringed
by crystalline waters 71 kilometres south of the popular tourist resort
Cancún. Cozumel population is about 75 000, of which the
mayority lives in the town of San Miguel.
The earliest (mayan) inhabitants called the island Ah-Cuzamil-Peten which means Island
of Swallows. Thanks to Jacques Costeau, Cozumel has been a favourite
destination for divers since 1961. In this year, Costeau made a
television documentary on the island's glorious reefs. Today, no fewer
than 100 world-class dive sites have been identified within 5km of
Cozumel and no fewer than a dozen of these sites are shallow enough for
snorkelers to enjoy.
Please check the visa agreement between Mexico and your country of
origin.
A list of countries that do not require a visa can be found here:http://www.inm.gob.mx/pagina_ingles/911000.htm
A list of countries that require a visa can be found here:http://www.inm.gob.mx/pagina_ingles/912000.htm
If you need a visa, please contact us as soon as possible and we will
send you further instructions.
Maps
A map of Mexico is available here,
click here for a PDF version.
The simplest way to get there is to arrive directly to the International Airport of Cozumel (airport code CZM). However, prices are somewhat high since it is not a very demanding airport. A more economic option is to arrive at the International airport of Cancún (airport code CUN). From there, you will need to take ground transportation and a ferry. The whole ground plus sea trip from Cancún to Cozumel is about 2.30hrs.
If you land at Cozumel airport, you can take a taxi to the Park
Royal Hotel, approximately $25. USD (number 14 on this
map).
If you arrive in Cancun airport, you first need to get to Playa
del Carmen and from there take a ferry to Cozumel. There is a
bus service that will take you to Playa del Carmen in about
an hour for approximately $8. USD. Alternatively, you may take a
private van (tickets sold inside theairport terminal) to get
to Playa del Carmen. The prices for these are:~$62.USD for a party
of 2-3 persons or ~$78.USD for aparty of 4-6 persons. Once you
have reached the ferry dock at Playa del Carmen, take the ferry
to Cozumel. The crossing takes about 45 minutes and the cost is approximately
$12. USD. The ferries run daily on the hour, from 5am to 11pm. However,
weather conditions might completely change the schedule without prior notice.
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History
Mayan settlement here dates from 300 AD. During the postclassic
period, Cozumel flourished as a trade centre and as a ceremonial site.
Every Mayan woman on the Yucatán Peninsula and beyond was
expected to make at least one pilgrimage to the island to pay tribute
to Ixchel, the goddess of fertility and the moon, at the temple erected
in her honour at what's now San Gervasio, in the northeast quadrant of
the island.
At the time of the first Spanish contact with Cozumel (in 1518, by Juan
de Grijalva and his men), there were at least 32 Mayan building sites
on the island. Grijalva came and left in peace and a year later
Cortés and his force of 11 ships and 500 men arrived. According
to the respected Spanish chronicler Friar Diego de Landa, Cortés
sacked one of the Mayan centres but left the others intact.
Describing Cortés, Landa wrote: "On the admiral's ship he set a
banner of white and blue in honour of Our Lady, and whose image,
together with the cross, he always placed wherever he destroyed idols."
Through an interpreter, Cortés reportedly persuaded the Mayans
on
Cozumel "to adore the cross, that he placed in their temples with an
image of Our Lady, and therewith public idolatry ceased", Landa wrote.
Soon after, Cortés left the island for the mainland, where he
began his conquest of Mexico. The destruction of the Mayans on Cozumel
began not with Cortés, but -according to Landa- with smallpox
brought in 1520 by one African slave on a Spanish ship. The Maya, who
had no immunity to the disease, fell like sheep. Within a year, half of
the 8000 Maya on the island had died. Of the survivors, only about 200
survived genocidal attacks by conquistadors during the late 1540's.
While the island remained virtually deserted into the late 17th
century, its coves provided sanctuary and headquarters for several
notorious pirates, including Jean Lafitte and Henry Morgan. Pirate
brutality led the remaining populace to move to the mainland. It wasn't
until 1848 that Cozumel began to be resettled by Mexicans fleeing the
War of the Castes.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the island's now mostly mestizo
population grew, thanks to the craze for chewing gum. Cozumel was a
port of call on the chicle export route and locals harvested chicle on
the island. Although chicle was later replaced by synthetic gum,
Cozumel's economy remained strong with the building of a US air base
during WWII. When the US military departed, the island fell into an
economic slump and many of its people moved away. All those who stayed
fished for a livelihood until 1961, when Costeau introduced Cozumel's
glorious sea life to the world in one of his great documentaries and
tourist began arriving immediately. back to top
Travelling around: continental Mexico
There is a big problem if you only visit Cozumel while visiting
Mexico: "you don't really visit Mexico". It is definitely worth to
spend some time in the Continent. At least, you should visit some of
the places on the Riviera Maya. For $XXUSD return, get the Ferry from
San Miguel de Cozumel city centre to Playa del Carmen. Playa is
increasingly becoming a very important tourist resource. There is a
wide range of hotel prices in Playa, from the most expensive to the
really economic ones. The advantage of being in Playa is that it looks
more like a real Mexican town, in contrast with Cozumel, that doesn't
look like the rest of Mexico at all.
The Riviera Maya is a 200km North-South motorway in the east coast of
Yucatán's Peninsula. It belongs to the state of Quintana Roo and
around this way, you can certainly find some of the most beautiful
tourist resources around the world. The advantage of staying in Playa
del Carmen is that it is more or less at the middle of the Riviera
Maya, so it is a very good place to move around. From there you can
travel to Cancun (60km), Tulum (130km) -you should not miss the Mayan
archaeological site Tulum while visiting the Peninsula de
Yucatán! Tulum is a fascinating fortress Maya city. One of the
walls of the city is actually the Caribbean sea. That makes the
pyramids to merge with the landscape and the sea in a very unique way.
There are many, many places you can visit in the Riviera Maya, but if
you feel that pyramids and big archaeological sites is what you are
looking for, Yucatán has that for you. At a distance of about
300km west of Playa del Carmen, it lies one of the four biggest
archaeological Mexican sites: Chichén-Itza. It is worth
travelling to Chichén if you want to see the Caracol Observatory
built by the Mayas and also to discover some of the astronomical
alignments that the Kukulkan main pyramid on the site has. It is
somewhat shocking to discover the great advancement in astronomy that
the Mayas (and all Mesoamerican -middle American) had. back to top