Temple of the God of the Wind

Perched strategically upon cliffs overlooking the turquoise Caribbean Sea in Quintana Roo on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula lie the ruins of the Mayan city of Tulum. In the twilight of the Maya period, Tulum was an important trading port, linking the outside world with the jungle interior. The Mayans succumbed to Spanish diseases, and Tulum was abandoned just 70 years after conquest in the 16th century. This photograph shows the iconic Temple of the God of the Wind shortly after a January dawn.