The following is reprinted with permission from "Great Destinations: Playa del Carmen, Tulum & The Riviera Maya," by Joshua Eden Hinsdale.
“In the beginning all was invisible. The sky was motionless. There was only water, the quiet ocean, the silence, the nights. Then there came the word.”
—From The Popol Vuh, sacred Mayan scriptures
Playa del Carmen owes its growing popularity to the nearby resort town of Cancún, just 40 miles to the north, and Cozumel Island, just 12 miles to the east. The influence of these two towns has helped shape Playa since the days of the Mayans.
Playa del Carmen is named for Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who is the patron saint of Cancún. She was known as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a town in Italy, which was the first place where a chapel was built in her honor, in 1263, before her ascension into Heaven.
The first recorded visitors to the beaches of what is now Playa del Carmen came during the Early Classic Period (A.D. 300–-600) of the Mayan civilization. Then called Xaman-Ha, or “waters of the north,” Playa was a rest stop of sorts for travelers making their way from the great cities of the Mayan world to the island of Cozumel. These travelers readied their dugout canoes and prepared for the journey across the straits on the same shores that now house the restaurants, hotels, and nightspots of modern-day Playa del Carmen.
Cozumel, called Ah Cuzamil Petén, meaning “island of the swallows,” by the Mayans, was a sacred site and home to Ix-Chel, the goddess of fertility and wife of Itzámna, the god of the sun. Young women across the Mayan empire, from present-day Yucatán, Honduras, Belize, and beyond, journeyed to Cozumel on a sacred pilgrimage to pay homage to Ix-Chel and pray for fertility and healthy childbirth.
In return for the dozens of shrines and temples that the Mayan’s constructed, Ix-Chel is said to have gifted the people with the graceful swallow, or Cuzamil, which led the Mayans to give the island its name. Many of the temples for Ix-Chel have survived, including San Gervasio, which can still be visited today.
More information about the history of The Riviera Maya can be found in Joshua Hinsdale's, "Great Destinations: Playa del Carmen, Tulum & The Riviera Maya," published by Countryman Press and available at amazon.com or your local bookstore.
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Riviera Maya Hotels
Airport Transportation
Tours & Activities
Riviera Maya Guidebook
