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Published: January 19th 2011
Punta Allen Dock
Punta Allen Dock & MarinaOur last morning at Casa Del Sol. We had pancakes for breakfast. Delicioso! They're more like crepes than american pancakes. Yumm. After deciding not to head to Punta Allen yesterday, due to the non-stop rain, we spent the day being entirely lazy with the rest of the people in the hostel. It was actually cold. We had on jackets, pants. Brrrr. It was super duper windy & the air was cold.
We had a fairly uneventful day. I got my hair cut & Geoff left the camera at the shop. Yikes! We didnt realize it for hours & searched our room, the hostel. Then remembered the last place we saw it. Thankfully, the woman who cut my hair, Sandra from Guatemala, had hung onto the camera & gave it back to us when we arrived there looking for it. Whew! We bought her some pan dulce (sweet bread) as a thank you. Otherwise, that may have been the most exciting part of our day.
We read, ate, went to bed early. It was so cold sleeping last night, I slept in my jacket. We only had a sheet to sleep with & that was too much the first few nights but
On the Punta Allen Pier
Geoff on the Punta Allen Dock last night, wow, the cold was serious business. I honestly didn't realize it could even get that cold here. Nothing like Seattle, but still cold.
Ok, plugged into palapa power (thank goodness for midday electricity!). Just lost last entry due to not saving it & computer died. Bugger (I've already read 2 books written by Brits & we've been hanging out with a Brit, I love that word!)! Ok, one more time!
So, today we left Casa Del Sol around noon after reading, internet time, eating, etc, & rode bikes into town to buy wine (since there isn't any in Punta Allen & I'm having a craving) & try to deal with capitol one who keeps emailing & calling. Annoying.
We were looking for a payphone that took monedas & not just tarjetas in order to collect call Capitol One. But apparently those don't exist in Tulum. They want to definitely get your card in there so they can charge you $3 a minute!
Post bike ride we made our last torta at the hostel & got our packs & headed to the Colectivo Estacion to catch our van to the dock to Punta Allen. We met Julia,
Streets of Punta Allen
Streets of Punta Allen from Italy, Brad, from England & a couple from Germany all waiting for the van. At 2 the van hadn't arrived (which is when we were scheduled to leave) so Mr. German called the number on the door & Tony, the driver, said he decided not to come today & we were out of luck from his perspective. Awesome! So Julia started talking to the 6 dudes all standing around waiting for their fares & they all went on & on about how terrible (feo) the road was & that they didn't want to do the drive & how the rain had made it even worse, etc, etc. Of course, they started talking of charging more per person than the typical fare of 200 pesos. But Julia was a rockstar & talked to them consistently & was just so sweet, as she is anyway, & worked out a deal where one of the guys (the youngest there) decided he would take us. Thank goodness there were 6 of us waiting for the van otherwise Geoff & I wouldn't have made it here either. They weren't kidding. The road did suck. It was 30-40km of dirt/potholed/muy feo road. The driver said he hadn't driven it in 7 years. Don't blame him even though it's only about 20 minutes south of Tulum. It was bouncy to say the least. After we paid the park entrance fee of 25 pesos pp, we continued on down the terrible road & ended up at the "dock," which is a small wood dock that was set in the most beautiful entrance to the mangroves. You could see the ocean to the south but just lush green mangrove all around. It was quite beautiful. We took our little fishing boat across the canal for 20 pesos pp & ended up at a little dock tucked in true mangroves. It is spectacular here. The village of Punta Allen is tiny. It consists of the families who live here (about 70-100 families) & the "hotels," most of which are extensions of their homes that have been turned into rooms, palapas, & a few beach cabanas. The water is gorgeous blue, the sand is amazing white. The wind is crazily blowing from the north, so it's still a bit chilly, but not like the last few days. It's an incredible place & I'm so grateful we made it here! Worth every bit of haggling we did.
We walked into the village with Apollonio who is a local fisherman that was emptying his boat when we docked. He led us to Posada Sirena, where we are staying. Sirena lives here & has quite the interesting history. She loves to tell stories about her 10 years sailing in central & south America & all the boats she lost to fire, sinking, & much more. She is a treat to talk with. She's Californian & has lived here in Punta Allen for 22 years after being shipwrecked here on what ended up being her last shipwreck. Check out her website for more stories.
www.posadasirena.com. We spent the evening walking down the road (which is made of sand) that follows the beach with our newest friends, Julia & Brad, & named the stars we all knew & told stories about our lives. It was very fun. We had fish filet grilled for dinner. Seriously so delicious! I love food! 😉
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