A land of love in pre-Hispanic times, a haven for pirates in the colonial era and a pleasure island today, Cozumel has always traditionally received its visitors with open arms.
Cozumel has many features that combine to make it a tourist center par excellence, including white sand beaches, turquoise waters and important Mayan archeological sites. It is also a true paradise for divers and lovers of water sports.
Cozumel is beautiful and comfortable, making it a prime tourist destination; it also has over three thousand years of history.
Description
The Mayans were the first inhabitants of the island of Cozumel, approximately 2000 years ago. This natural paradise was the site of fertility goddess or Ixchel’s sanctuary, and was a destination place for pilgrimages coming from the entire Mayan region. The inhabitants of the area built many temples in this goddess’ honor, in return as a sign of her approval, her favorite bird; La Golondrina was sent to this island. And that is way the Mayans named it Land of the Flying Gurnard.
In 1518, the island was visited for the first time by the Spaniard explorer Juan de Grijalva, a year later it was visited again, this time by Spaniard conquistador Hernan Cortez, who destroyed nearly all the Mayan temples leaving the island in ruins. Between the years of 1519 and 1570 the island was flagellated by the chicken pox plague, which killed thousands and thousands of people leaving the island almost unpopulated.
In 1848, during the war of the races, Mayans fled the peninsula, fighting to recover their original lands and taking refugee in the island of Cozumel.
oday, Cozumel’s population is 65,000 inhabitants, it is the largest Mexican Caribbean Island and the most populated also. It is located to the east of the Peninsula de Yucatan in the Federal State of Quintana Roo. It is approximately 39 kilometers long by 12.8 kilometers wide, with a total land extension of 647.33 square kilometers.
Location from the Airport
The Cozumel International Airport is 10 minutes from downtown (Telephone: (987) 872 0485 and 872 2081) A taxi costs around 40 pesos.
Time Zone
Cozumel is at -06:00 GMT, six hours behind London and one hour behind U.S. Eastern Standard Time.
Like the rest of the world, Mexico applies the summer schedule, setting clocks back one hour between April and October, although this year, it will be applied only from May through September.
Currency
Like everywhere else in Mexico, the official currency is the Mexican peso, but the U.S. dollar is most frequently used in Cozumel, all tourist services are priced in dollars.
Tourists from the United States do not need to exchange their money as the U.S. dollar is accepted in all local establishments. Tourists from other countries will need to buy dollars or pesos. Banks and currency exchange offices buy and sell over ten different currencies: U.S. and Canadian dollars, pounds sterling, yen, marks, francs and liras.
Weather
The average temperature in Cozumel is 27 degrees C. From July to August, the maximum temperature varies between 27 and 32 degrees C. From December to January, the average temperature fluctuates between 20 and 25 degrees C.