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Published: September 14th 2007
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(August 8, 2007-August 11, 2007)
Since planning this past trip, Tulum was the only place that every single individual talked about. Lucia described it as the best place on Earth. Kozme said "Es lo maximo." Any individual that I talked to, told me about Tulum. This website also provided me with wonderful blogs, along with beautiful pictures, that only whetted my appetite to visit the small, secluded village. My travel guide even had a surprisingly good section on the town. By the time we had arrived to the Yucatan, Janneth was sick and tired of me talking about Tulum. However, by the end of our four days, she fell in love with the place just as much as I did.
Tulum is located about 2 hours south of Cancun by bus, found on the Rivera Maya. The town is a bit in land, but a five to ten minute taxi drive, 30-45 pesos depending on the driver and time of day, can take you to any of the white sand beaches--named after the hotel or cottages.
We left tired and hungry from Villadolid mid-afternoon on the 8th, and arrived into a grey Tulum. The town was quiet, but with
a good amount of people, half locals half tourist, walking the streets and sidewalks, which clearly showed that the tourist industry has helped the main drag of the town. Because of the exhaustion we took the first room in the first hotel we saw, Hotel Maya about a half block south of the bus station. The place is big, and not too expensive, our room was 200 pesos a night--cottages at the beach can run you the same, 200 pesos, to all the way to 1800 pesos. Our room was small, but we only needed it for sleeping.
After showering and resting a bit, we left for the beach. The sun could barely be seen through the clouds as the evening approached, and most of our walk was on the rocks that cover part of the beach, looking at the nice cottage locals.
We tried to head back into town by foot, but the mosquitoes soon changed that plan, and we had to hail a cab. In town, most restaurants are over priced compared to the places we had visited, but if you walk north on the main drag, the last restaurant on the street offer delicious food at very
low prices, including the beer. There we had seafood once again; who can resist fresh seafood. The village has plenty of bars and different stores to enjoy a night out in the town. We settled on a few places, and enjoyed beers throughout the night.
The next day we left early and spent the whole day on the beach. The taxi driver was great. He was very nice, and even had said that people often mistook him for Colombian--he had an accent from the coast. He fueled our intentions while in town, and even gave us advice on several things. He left us at Playa Paraiso, which to him was the best beach in Tulum. It was beautiful. Tulum must have been the place where the Corona ads got their location, because the place is stunning. We had a few beers before heading out to lay in the sun. I don't know what it is, but the place seems as if time stands still. People literally sit, stare, and relax, for hours on end. And when you realize how long you have been sitting and taking in the marvelous surroundings, you believe that the hours you just spent staring
at the beauty were only 3 minutes. The water is clear, calm, and warm. The depth isn't too deep, and one can go lots of meters out into the Caribbean and still be standing.
Lunch time soon arrived as the hours that we spent in the sun seemed to disappear in just seconds. We ordered fish, catch of the day. Small restaurants line the beach, and the cooks simply go and purchase fish every time a boat comes in with the new batch. Imagine, we washed down the food with ice cold beer. The rest of the afternoon we spent goofing around in the sand--by far the best sand you will ever feel on your skin; extremely soft--and taking dips in the water.
That night, we had a very nice meal, talked, and drank more beer, before finally going to bed.
Friday morning we left the hotel early, in order to get a peak at the ruins. The market outside is nice, and worth a visit. The walk to the ruins, especially in a hot day, was awful. The entrance was free for students, but the guy at the second gate gave us trouble as the IDs weren't Mexican.
It was the first time that we had had trouble because of IDs from outside of Mexico. We decided to skip the ruins, and come the next day--unfortunately we weren't able to come back. Instead, happily I may say, we headed to the beach for another day of sitting and staring at a beautiful beach. A gorgeous day. Hot, but the waters were nice. We took in the sun all morning and bathed in the waters. At midday, we headed to a bar that was near us--it is located at the northern end of the beach. Great food and drinks at great prices. The bar has swings surrounding it, and the views onto the beach are marvelous. We had lunch, beer, and shade, before heading out once again for the whole afternoon into the sun. Late afternoon we went back to the bar, and drank beers late into the night. The sky was so clear that the Milky Way could be seen. The most interesting part were the blue lights that went on and off under our feet when in the ocean. We couldn't figure out what they were.
Late we grabbed a cab, and headed back to the hotel.
The next morning, we left late from the hotel, ate breakfast and headed to Cancun. We spent two days in Cancun, as it was the place where we were flying to Colombia from. The differences from Cancun and Tulum are huge. Cancun is filled with hotel after hotel that line the beach. The waves hit you strong, and the floor in the water fluctuates depths.
We stayed at the Flamingo Resort. Very nice place, with a wonderful pool. Our room was amazing. Several restaurants are located in front of the hotel--we ate an Irish restaurant, which surprisingly to me was moderately priced.
We talked about Tulum the whole time in Cancun, and discussed it with anybody that would listen to us in Colombia--we still do. It became our favorite place. By far a must visit, and definitely will go back.
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