Magical Tulum

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Tulum is gorgeous. An hour south of the craziness and American- ness of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, and you have a stunning strip of white, fine sand and clear waters, and rustic, noffensive cabana accommodation lining its shores.

Before I went out to the beach I decided to check into a hostel for the first night of being in Tulum. I had wanted to book a cabana if Steve had come with me, but thought it a bit excessive booking one for myself. I booked a dorm bed in a 4 bed dorm and have decided I am too old for this now! It wasn't awful, but I just like my own space and to not have to deal with anyone else!

I shared with only one other girl, a german girl called Stefanie, and we had been told that even with mozzie nets over the window that we should leave fans on all night as the stream from them deters the mozzies. SHe announced she didnt like fans and I insisted oni having one pointed at my bed - I didn't want to get stung and it drowned out the noise of the highway outside!

That was the other thing - the location. Tulum has a funny layout, the centre of town has lots of restaurants and hotels, but you really want to stay on the beach (in my opinion). I thought my hostel was on the beach, but it turned out it was a 10 minute RIDE to the beach (free bikes, so not too bad) and instead on the highway. So the thought of a fan to drown out the noise was appealing!

It was a 'posada' which I think means guesthouse, and it is the second posada I have stayed in and I will not be booking another! It was owned by a family who had a menagerie of pets - i think 2 dogs, 3 cats, and a cute possum like character called Oscar. I got to stay in another treehouse but the novelty soon wore off when I discovered aforementioned room buddy!

Luckily the family was lovely and helpful, and the posada was close to the Tulum ruins. I took my free bike (first time I have ridden a fixie since the age of about 8!) which was white with pink writing and a basket, and headed off to the ruins as soon as I arrived.

The Mayan ruins are very picturesque, right by the Carribbean and the grounds are impeccably maniucured. They are quite small, and dont take long to look around, and as suggested in the Lonely Planet, I made my way through them quickly for a swim at the end on a beach within the complex. It was lovely to float around in the ocean again and there is a bit of a surf here although not much.

After checking out the ruins I rode a bit further down the coast to check out the local free beach, which wasnt much, and promptly decided I would book myself into a cabana for the next 2 nights! I headed into town and managed to find a cabana with kingsize bed and ocean views for only $60 USD a night. This is a real bargain so I jumped at the chance!

The night in the hostel didnt prove to be too bad, although we were woken up by rustling during the night. I had bought some snacks for my dive trip the next morning and as I had only been warned not to keep fruit in the room I thought it would be ok to keep crisps and biscuits on a shelf in the room. We figured out that it was neither the German girl or I and when we turned on the light my pack of 4 biscuits was half eaten! Stefanie had gotten up a few times to go to the loo but always shut the door for fear of Oscar getting in. It remains a mystery - it was not Oscar but what other animal could have gotten in and out, and eats whole biscuits? Weird!

The next morning I checked out early and headed into town for my dive trip. We went to one of the local cenotes, or freshwater caverns. They are all around Tulum and are full of stalictites and stalicmites and you can dive or snorkel in them. I had initially decided I didnt want to dive in a cave, but these were called caverns as opposed to caves, as they have many openings in them and (as I deduced) would be safer than cave diving. The dive shops also take only a max of 4 divers per dive master, the dive masters have double tanks as a precaution and they require a certain level of certification and dives for you to go on the tours.

The cenote was Los Dos Ojos, or the eyes, and a huge cavern divided into 2 seperate dives. It was only about 10 meters deep which was my choice - being my first cavern dive I was keen not to go down to 18 or 20 metres.

It was absolutely amazing. Different set up from diving off a boat - you land in the middle of jungle in a car park, kit up in the blazing heat (full 5mm wetsuit!) carry all your gear down to a cave and are very thankful to jump into the cool water by that time!

There are lots of tiny fish but the main attraction is all of the stalictites and mites that fill the caves. Think Jenolan Caves x 100 and you're swimming through it. It was all the more amazing as I'd been in some similar caves in San Cristobal just a few days before and now it felt like I was floating through them! The colours are gorgeous - at most times you can see water that is illuminated by sunlight (as there are many holes and entrances into the caverns) and the blues, greens and turquiose colours were just stunning. I thought I would be claustrophic but I felt nothing of the sort. Definitely something to do if you ever go to Tulum, and I would recommend diving rather than snorkelling if possible, as you get the full experience.

Probably the one thing I wasn't too keen on was surfacing in the 'bat cave - yep, a cave filled with bats. Not my idea of fun, especially when counting 20+ all in the one spot. I was very happy to go back underwater and see more formations!!

I also met some lovely people doing the diving - in particular a Dutch couple who had just been all through Guatemala. It's great meeting other travellers and getting tips from them.

As is my tradition, after diving I had seafood for lunch. I found a great restaurant in Tulum town called El Capitan and had prawn ceviche - yum! It was a medium size but had at least 40 prawns and I couldn't finish it - which you know means it must have been big! Just glad I didn't get the 'large'. It was delicious, loaded with tomatoes and onions, although they use white onions here which are very sweet - and lime juice and coriander. I can still taste it!

I then headed out to my new home for the next 2 nights - the Retiro Maya cabanas on Tulum Beach. They were everything I expected and more! They are quite rustic, although have running water, comfy beds with mozzie nets and I had a king bed + 2 singles so more than enough room! I also had a little porch looking down towards the beach. I had read reviews that complain about there only being electricity from 7-11pm but this is really all you need - it gets dark around 6.30 and there is plenty of light during the day.

The beach was stunning and I made a beeline for one of the thatched beach umbrellas and beds. I went for a walk along the beach and checked out the other hotels and restaurants. There isn't much there except for hotels and I think only one convenience store. Due to this, restaurants in hotels are pretty expensive as you're held to ransome!

I ate in my hotel on the first night - yummy fish veracruz style, which is tomato sauce with peppers, capers and olives. A little salty but it was yummy snapper so I no complain! I got to talking to the hotel owner Salvatore who was originally from Mexico City but lived in many different cities. He startedto speak in SPanish to me when I told him I was learning and I realise I still have so much more to learn!

The next day I took a yoga class which was offered by the hotel, in their lovely yoga room. It was me, one other lady called Margot and the instructor Cios. It was kundalini yoga which I had never done before and was good - not as strenuous as I am used to but that was good given it had been about 3 weeks since I did my last class!

After class I had a swim in the ocean, then ordered huevos mexicana again (yum!) and got talking to Margot. She ran a hotel a bit further down the beach. She also introduced me to another lady who had come to the cabanas for a week and stayed for a month! It was nice to meet and talk to some other people.

I spent the rest of the day living in the shade, swimming and walking along the beach. It was just gorgeous. Lunch was a big lot of pineapple bought from a seller on the beach who offered me chili powder with my pineapple. They put chili on everything here! I'm not sure if I wrote in my San Cristobal entry, but one night when Steve and I were in a bar a little girl selling sweets came up, and the bar owners gave her a bowl of these crisp- like round wheel things available all over Mexico. She was only about 4 or 5, and took a bottle of hot chili sauce and put it all over them (the owner had to stop her putting more on) and then sat there and ate it, and licked her fingers at the end!

The rest of the day was generally just a lazy day! They have black pelicans here so it was great to watch them flying low and landing in the water also. I had another lovely long walk along the beach and a storm passed through so it was lovely walking in the rain.

I headed into town in the evening and had prawn fajitas at El Capitan and bought my bus ticket to head to Belize the next morning.

I got up to watch the sunrise the next day as I had to be up early anyway. The Caribbean sunrise is gorgeous and I'm glad I made the effort. I had one final walk along the beach before heading into town to jump on the bus to Belize, where my story will continue.

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Comments

[El Eterno Caminante]

amazing shot!
LOVED Tulum! 5 stars on this pic! happy travels!! Greg