Main Street, Tulum Tulum

    Most villages, towns and cities, small or large, old or new, have a Main Street. Main streets support shops, offices, hotels, restaurants, government compounds. Some have divided boulevards for traffic, bike paths, sidewalks for pedestrians. Main streets are where towns were conceived, the center of an onion that keeps growing outwards as people move away from ground zero in search of more room, privacy, quiet, better schools, less crime,more new, less old. This morning, the jungle pushes against the main road on both sides. This route would have been used by Ancients who built the palaces to the north that have been neglected and fallen into ruin, as well as other pyramids deep in these Central American jungles. This main road would have been more narrow then, would have been swept with palm fronds by slaves of conquered tribes. There would have been pageants here with elites wearing feathered head dresses parading to their quarters in the palaces for religious ceremonies and political celebrations. As this day begins, this Main Street of Tulum, Mexico is still checking its own pulse, waking up to the sounds of tropical birds and breaking waves rolling onto white sand beaches. It is not as grand as it once was, but peaceful, these days, is much better than grand.