Muyil Ruins

The buildings are the surprise. Instead of the low, wide, molded architecture of the coastal sites, Muyil's temples are steep-walled pyramids in the Petén style — the tradition of the southern lowlands, the one that produced Tikal in what is now Guatemala. The Castillo, the tallest structure, has a solid masonry core and a small temple at the top, and its silhouette belongs several hundred kilometres away.

That is a statement about trade. Muyil sat on the canal system linking the lagoons to the Caribbean, and moved jade, obsidian, chocolate, honey, feathers, chewing gum and salt. Goods and ideas came up the coast and inland from the south, and the town kept strong ties with Cobá, 44 kilometres to the north-northwest. The modern locality here counted 191 inhabitants at the last census; the site is quiet in a way nothing else near Tulum is.

The boardwalk

Behind the temples a raised wooden walkway runs about half a kilometre through mangrove and low forest to the Muyil lagoon, with a viewing tower partway along. This is the part people remember: the boardwalk is inside the Sian Ka'an buffer, the birdlife is constant, and at the end of it the reserve opens out into water. The CONANP quota is collected here rather than at the highway.

The first is to arrive with an operator that holds a permit, in which case the boat, the guide, the quota and usually breakfast are already handled — the cooperative's canal tour and the six-hour Muyil-and-lagoon trip are the two on this page. The second is to drive to the gate, pay the INAH ticket and the CONANP quota, walk the boardwalk and negotiate a boat at the lagoon, which works but leaves you dependent on who is there that morning and on the wind.

The float itself takes about forty minutes: a life jacket, a slow current, mangrove walls and sky. It is the only piece of Maya infrastructure on this coast you can still use roughly as it was built to be used, and the reason the reserve trip is worth its price. The Sian Ka'an page covers the gates, the quota and the operators in full.

The site sits between forest and mangrove, so the early morning is when the birds are working: herons and egrets along the water, parrots overhead, and — if you are lucky and quiet on the boardwalk — the low roar of howler monkeys carrying from the trees. By eleven the forest has gone silent and the day has turned humid.

The seasons matter less here than on the coast. Rain makes the boardwalk slick and the mosquitoes worse, but the temples and the lagoon are unaffected by the sargassum that lands on the beaches in the warmer months, which makes Muyil and the cenotes the natural plan for a week when the sea is weedy. Wind is the one thing that stops the float: the lagoon crossing is uncomfortable in an afternoon breeze, and every operator that runs an early departure runs it for that reason.

A southbound colectivo from Tulum takes about 25 minutes and stops at the gate if you ask for Muyil or Chunyaxché; the return works the same way, though the flow thins in late afternoon. There is no village at the entrance, so bring what you need with you.

The forest here is wetter and buggier than the coast. Repellent matters more than sunscreen, and after rain the boardwalk is slick. Carry pesos in cash for all three charges, because there is no card reader at the lagoon end.

• Cash in pesos — MX$145 at the window, MX$225 quota at the lagoon, the boat on top
• Insect repellent — this is mangrove and forest, not beach
• Water — there is no shop at the gate
• Swimwear under your clothes if you intend to float
• A dry bag for a phone; the float is a swim, not a boat ride