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Published: November 27th 2008
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Tulum is one of those places that appear on the outside to be all about the hotels, the bars and the expensive restaurants. Discovering the real treasures means going underground and getting into the water.
After traipsing around looking for a hostel free from bedbugs, we scored with Posada los Mapaches. The four-bed dorm was nicely furnished, the mattresses were ideally firm with fresh smelling sheets, a flower and a candy left ready for the next guest. Breakfast was included and could have come from a five star hotel, the fruit salad was a work of art and was followed by delicious Mexican staples like burritos and the obligatory ration of refried beans. Guests are issued with their own bike, mine was the coolest ever, a retro Schwinn..I want one of these when I get home!
The Mum and two brothers Joaquin and Daniel made us feel right at home and were very exicited to take us to the cenotes after they'd rushed round and done their cleaning chores (under orders from Mum). Dos Ojos, menaing two eyes, is popular with cave divers and we hitched a lift from a guy who had been mapping the underground caves for
over ten years. Climbing down a hole into Bat Cave it was like entering the bowels of the earth, it opened out into a huge cavern with chilly clear water and dripping with stalagtites. Donning our snorkels and following Joaquin into the darkness, we swam under a low rocky ceiling and dived under into the next cavern. Here the sunlight streamed in creating sapphire coloured shafts in the water. Amazing! I did have the notion that cave diving might be fun but after reading the book at the hostel about how many people have died doing it (and weighing up the dollars v. fear ratio), I plummed for the easy snorkel option...you'll be pleased to know this Mum!
Tulum ruins are the other main draw for this region and they certainly boast an impressive location on a cliff above the Caribbean. The city was once an important Mayan trading port for salt, textiles, jade and obsidian. Though the swarms of American package tourists blight the best views. I had the intention of lazing on the little beach in the ruins all day but it was closed off because of the strong winds whipping up the waves. So I headed
to the beach and was treated to a lot of sand in the face before I found an empty boat to sun bathe in. Kinda' chilly when the sun went behind the clouds aswell, some sort of freak weather front apparently! Still, it
looked gorgeous!
I was loving been back on a bicycle and we decided to cycle to town that evening to the bar advertising 'free drinks for ladies'. Being slightly lubricated by cheap rum already and busy chatting to Jessica I failed to notice the large rocks blocking the 'under-construction' highway. Literally ass-over-tit I somersaulted over the handlebars taking the impact on my hands but acquiring a nice scabby elbow and a purple hip. Yes it hurt, but I thought either go back and be miserable or carry on to the bar and drown my pain in free tequila sunrises...
Despite the slight headache and bruising this morning, we set off for Yal Ku. This is an inlet where the fresh and salt water mix creating a
helocline, which gives the water an oily effect. Snorkelling here was like being right over a reef, the colourful tropical fish were everywhere and placidly unaware of the big
humans bobbing on the surface. Further down the coast we stopped at an ordinary looking beach full of cafes and fishing boats and snorkelled off the beach in search of turtles. After the floating bottle decoys of Zipolite I didn't really expect to see many but there were five distinctly different ones! Giant ponderous ones nibbling on the sea grass, one with two green fish hitching a lift on his back and a couple of speedy ninja ones! Swimming with the sting rays was a bit disconcerting after knowing what happened to Steve Irwin (RIP) but I thought I'd be alright as long as I didn't try and prod them with sharp sticks.
And that's all for now, off to Chetumal next for the border crossing into Guatemala...There are earlier blogs and photo's to follow, missing three weeks worth...will get there in the end! x
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