Visit the Mayan Ruins of Coba

Any traveler to Mexico's popular Riviera Maya – usually to the towns of either Cancun or Playa del Carmen – will discover a variety of interesting places to visit during their trip.

For example, there's an endless number of picture perfect white-sand beaches, a handful of small islands such as Isla Mujeres and Cozumel as well as a few eco-archaeological parks where one can snorkel, swim with dolphins or lazily float across a stunning lagoon.

And perhaps the most-visited attraction of them all is the famous Mayan ruins of Tulum, well-known for it's cluster of structures and small pyramids located right along the coastline.

It's no wonder that thousands visit Tulum every single day. But what about those that travel to Mexico in hopes of wandering away from the crowds, to visit a Mayan site that has yet to be taken over by trinket stalls and tour buses? Luckily, there's a solution. Deep in the jungle, located some 45 minutes inland from Tulum, lies the ancient Mayan city of Coba.

Coba consists of a massive set of ruins and a mysterious atmosphere that seems to linger from the days when it was as one of the most important city-states in the Yucatan region.

As you wander across this site, listening to the wind blow through the trees and catching glimpses of temples, pyramids and even ancient ballgame courts, it is easy to feel as if you have not been transported back to 400 AD, when the city of Coba was in it's prime.

The highlight of the site is the spectacular Nohoch Mul temple pyramid that rises 130 feet above the tree-line, making it the tallest Mayan pyramid in this region of Mexico.

You can even climb the steps to the top where you'll be rewarded with an unobstructed view of the dense surrounding jungle, with the tips of smaller structures scattered throughout the landscape.

When I visited Coba, I ended up staying at the top of Nohoch Mul for over an hour, just staring into the distance while sitting next to a large block of stone that was once used for human sacrifices.

At one point, a local man sitting near me kindly provided a thorough explanation of Coba's past role as a major center of power and trade. He also gave me an interesting demonstration of exactly how those human sacrifices were carried out (minus the machete of course!).

Late in the afternoon during my visit, after the sky had turned a brilliant shade of purple that I had never before seen in all my travels, I found myself walking through an eerily quiet section of Coba.

And as I approached a small, semi-hidden stone structure, with the jungle floor crunching beneath my feet, I realized that while Tulum may be impressive, Coba is hypnotizing, offering an off-the-beaten path experience that the normal tourist sites of Mexico's Riviera Maya simply cannot match.

About this week's CheapOair Guest Blogger: Earl Baron left home in December 1999 for a 3-month trip to Southeast Asia that has still yet to end. Addicted to the first-hand education that world travel provides, he now writes about his nomadic adventures over at WanderingEarl.com where the focus is not so much on the places he visits, but on the human interactions and lessons he learns along the way.