Acantilado del Amanecer

This guide to the Acantilado del Amanecer on Isla Mujeres opens with young Maya women paddling a canoe across open Caribbean swell toward the island's easternmost cliff, on a crossing that marked their passage into womanhood. It traces who they were traveling to meet, the goddess Ixchel, and the temple that once doubled as a lighthouse for canoes working this treacherous stretch of coast. You'll hear why the ruins left today are modest rather than monumental, and what was never meant to impress from a distance. Best visited at first light, when the cliff earns its name.