Exploring Cozumel

If you enjoy culture this tour is a must. San Gervasio, although not so spectacular as the ruins on the mainland, played a key role as a unique pilgrimage destination from all over the Mayan territory (Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico). Then to cool off you can plunge into the Caribbean Sea, have a drink and get lots of photo opportunities against a backdrop of turquoise waters.

During the Mayan Classic Period, San Gervasio was already inhabited, as well as the rest of the island. Cozumel was a witness of key events happening in the Mayan history such as when the city of Caracol (Belize) defeated Tikal (Guatemala) in 562 BC, or when Teotihuacan started to decline.

At the time San Gervasio was being created, Mayan artists started to use more representations of the female figure in the historic monuments. The famous painter Aj Maxam created in Naranjo (Guatemala) magnificent works of art using multiple styles. It’s the beginning of the Mayan muralists that made the paintings of Cacaxtla (Tlaxcala,México) and Bonampak (Chiapas,México), Chichén Itzá dominates the Yucatan peninsula, the Toltec civilization expands their trade routes from the South of the North American territory to Yucatán, and the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan is founded.

For centuries San Gervasio preserved its importance as an oracular shrine honoring the Moon goddess in its different manifestations, by being one of the only three oracular shrines in the whole Mayan world together with Chichén Itzá and Izamal. It used to attract massive and frequent pilgrimage from mainland where thousands of devotees came to visit Ixchel with prayers and offerings.

Ixchelbel Yax, Chak Chel, Ixtab are manifestations of the goddess as an old warrior, midwife, patroness of suicide, or mother of the gods. The Mayan artists also depict this deity as a beautiful or old female that pours the benefic rain or the horrible floods, embraces rabbits or elderly people.

Cozumel, although hardly comparable to the monumental Dzibanche, the popular Kohunlich, the mysterious Ich kabaal, the old Chacchoben or the exotic Tulum; is the only house of this goddess in the whole Mayan world.
San Gervasio preserves a humble character that still today inspires respect regardless of the many onslaughts throughout history ranging from the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, the pirates that used the island to supply and repair their ships, or the consequences of a growing population.

Departures (Local Time)

10:00 AM (Hours: 4 to 4.5)