Tulum: Sun, Sea and Sinkholes

---

So here we are. Having passed our penultimate border crossing and having our bags lined up, sniffed by dogs and prodded by riffle toting officials for the last time, we had arrived in Mexico once again. As we had arrived in the border town of Chetumal by boat, we still had to catch a taxi over to the main bus terminal and hop on a bus to take us four hours up the coast to the well renowned tourist town of Tulum. Being back in a Spanish speaking country, it was a brief battle to find someone who could help us find our hostel. We eventually found the small hostel set back off the main road in a quiet location, dropped our bags off and headed off in search of a nice cheap restaurant for dinner before making our way back and going to bed.The next morning, we were up early and ready for the day ahead. We started by taking a stroll down the main road to a nice bakery which were baking fresh bread, pastries and cooking up scrumptious looking brekkies. Directly next door (and actually owned by the same people as the bakery) was a dive shop. So straight after breakfast we went next door and after a quick discussion, Rich had booked himself a dive and Gem a snorkel for a couple of days’ time.As the main town of Tulum is located about 5km from the beach and with many of the Yucatán’s famous Cenotes (‘Cenote’ is a Spanish word meaning ‘Sinkhole’) being located within a few kilometres, we decided to hire a bicycle to make our way about. Before we knew it, we had our bikes and were on the road. However, it did take a while to feel comfortable using the brakes; which were operated by pedalling backwards opposed to being on the handlebars. We had a short pit stop back at the hostel to pick up a few supplies, then were on our way to destination number one; Gran Cenote. Located only 3km outside Tulum along a nice flat, cycle friendly road; after little more than 15 minutes of pedalling away we had arrived. With the bikes locked up safely, we paid the small entrance fee and made our way down a set of wooden stairs. At the bottom we were greeted by a jungle like environment with crystal clear waters illuminated by the sun which gradually darkened the further it went into the cave, until almost total darkness. Despite being only 10am, it was still about 30 degrees and after the cycle we were both pretty hot and sweaty, so it didn’t take long until we had both stripped off down to our swimwear and were diving in. We soon realised that to make the most of the crystal clear waters, we would need to hire a mask, snorkel and flippers. Taking it in turns, we took the gear and were swimming around, diving down and exploring further and further into the caves. With a pretty large area to cover, we explored, spotted a few very friendly catfish and turtles and saw some pretty impressive stalagmites and stalactites. Exploration complete, we got out, dried off and made our way back to the bikes.Back on the road and we were en route to destination number two of our cycle; Tulum beach. Being only 3km away from the main road, we were surprised how long it actually took to get there. The actual beach is located behind a long row (about 10km) of hotels and resorts which line the beach. Therefore in order to gain access to the public beach, most of the time you have to enter through one of the hotels. After spending the past 4 months in tons of different hostels (some nice, some awful), we decided to treat ourselves for the last five days of the trip and book into a nice hotel on the beach. We therefore also used this day to do a bit of scouting in hope of finding a lovely yet still affordable hotel. After poking our heads into a few significantly over priced (in our opinion) places, we decided to stop for lunch. We found a nice little ‘beach bar like’ place overlooking the beautiful white sands and turquoise waters of Tulum beach, chilled with a drink and munched on some enchiladas. As lovely as it was, we didn’t really think it warranted the £25 price tag. With that in mind, we knew an all-inclusive hotel was going to be the way forward for the end of our trip. After lunch we had a dip in the sea and laid out on one of the hotels sunbeds on the beach. A few hours in the sun and we were ready to make our final cycle back to the town, drop off our bikes, pick up some food and head back to the hostel. After rustling up the usual tuna pasta, we headed off to bed.Ring, ring, ring…it was another day and another alarm call. Today, we were off to see another one of the ‘7 wonders of the world’; The Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza. After breakfast at our usual place, we made our way down to the travel agency who were operating the tour. After waiting around for about 45 minutes, our coach finally arrived and we got on board and were briefed on the day’s activities. First stop was at one of the most famous Cenotes, then onto a restaurant for lunch, followed by a guided tour of Chichen Itza and then finally a stop off at the second most important city in the Peninsula for a look around the main square.As we arrived at Il Kil cenote, we were told we had only 45 minutes to get changed, take a swim, get changed again and get back to the bus. So we wasted no time, got changed super quick, lobbed our clothes in a locker and rushed down the winding stone staircase which runs round the giant sink hole and jumped straight in. With a 30m drop from ground level to the surface of the water, foliage covering all over of the walls and small waterfalls entering the pool, it was an incredible place. Along one side of the pool, a staircase and ledge had been cut out of the rock to form a platform to run and jump into the water…you can only imagine our excitement when we noticed that. Before you could say ‘splash’, we were atop of the platform and leaping into the water. After about 20 jumps each and a couple of laps around the incredible pool, it was time to run up to the changing rooms, dry off and make a dash back to the bus. Safe to say, we were the last two back on the bus.Back on the bus and feeling hungry after all that excitement, it was luckily time for some lunch. We drove for about 15 minutes from Il Kil to a restaurant close by the ruins. Here, we had a Mexican style buffet complete with dancers, dancing away with bottles on their heads. Not quite sure what the dancing with bottles on their head was all about, but the food was pretty good. We had a short amount of time for our lunch to settle and then it was time for the main attraction of the day; Chichen Itza.Another short journey and we had arrived at the historic site. Our group was then divided into English and Spanish speaking groups, given a tour guide and we were taken around the various sites of Chichen Itza. With ancient game courts where the losing teams captain would be beheaded, stone walls with skulls carved into them and the various different temples dotted around the site, it was a very impressive place. By this time it was 3:30pm, about 35 degrees and we were roasting hot and extremely thirsty. So with the tour done, we quickly grabbed a big bottle of water and took a stroll around taking photos of the main pyramid. With the main attraction done, we were ready to make our way back to Tulum town and rest our heads after the long day. But no, we had one more place to visit, which turned out to be a less than inspiring town plaza which we felt we had seen a million of in the last four months. Most frustrating of all, the town was actually 30 minutes in the wrong direction, therefore we now had a two hour journey back to town.About 8pm we were back in Tulum, we grabbed a quick pizza and made our way back to the hostel where we went to bed. Tired from the long day, we were soon both away in the land of nod!The next morning, we were up and back at the dive shop/bakery, having brekkie before packing up our gear and heading off to another cenote. We were en route to ‘Dos Ojos’ (which translates to two eyes), where Rich would be diving in the caverns whilst Gem snorkelled. Once we were all geared up, we made our way down to the water’s edge where we said goodbye and Rich descended into the crystal clear fresh water and disappeared into the darkness. Unaware of what he was fully getting himself into, Rich and the other divers slowly made their way round the vast underground network system which forms Dos Ojos with torches in hand. Using torches, a guide rope and closely following the dive master, Rich swam though various underground rooms which were full with enormous stalagmites and stalactites. The underground formations were unlike anything he had ever seen and the water was so clear that the only thing that stopped him seeing even further was the limited power of torch. 45 minutes later and Rich emerged from the darkness, climbed out the water and made his way back up to meet Gem. With no time to waste, we had a quick snack, drink of water, changed over our tanks and were on our way back down to the water for dive and snorkel number two. Another 45 minutes of spectacular formations, incredible light shows, a real bat cave and a slight tangle with the guide rope and Rich was back on the safety of land.Once all the gear was packed away, we were back in the car and en route to the dive shop. From there, it was adios to Tulum town. We were off to spend the last five nights of our trip in relative luxury at an all-inclusive hotel on the beach. We jumped in a ‘collectivo’ (shared taxi), which took us down the road near to the entrance of our hotel. After a slightly infuriating check-in, we eventually managed to get into our room (with a free upgrade after all the hassle), dump our bags and walk out the back doors of our room straight onto the beach and relax on a sun lounger…where we spent most of the next five days.With the usual all-inclusive breakfast, lunch and dinners, we thought the food would be drab and repetitive; it wasn’t. With the hotel being Italian owned, they had clearly brought a little bit of Italian cooking with them. The hotel as a whole was pretty nice and all in all what you would expect from a 4 star all –inclusive resort. Over the next five days, we ate, sunbathed, ate, sunbathed, ate and slept. One morning, we decided to break the cycle and take a short walk to yet another cenote which was located on the same road as the hotel. Looking remarkably different to all the other cenotes, we snorkelled around the vast expanse of waters, in amongst the mangroves which lined the waters. We made a pretty hasty retreat when Gem bumped into four pretty large, suspicious looking fish.On one afternoon, we decided to take a stroll along the beach. Just as we were chatting away about a finding a message in a bottle, we looked up and immediately saw a typical ‘message in a bottle’ bottle lying on the beach complete with cork. We rushed over thinking “surely not”…unfortunately there wasn’t a message inside. However this gave us the idea to write our own message in a bottle and throw it out to sea. The next day, with the message written and securely placed inside, we walked down the sea and Rich gave it his most to launch the bottle as far out as he could. Can you guess what happened?! Yep, it was washed back up within two minutes. After another couple of attempts with the same result, we realised that the only way of making this happen would be to ask someone to take it out in a boat and drop it off the side for us. With a dive school being located on the hotel grounds, we wandered over and Gem sweet-talked the guy into dropping it off for us and even made him promise he would do it! Who knows where it could be right now…Before we knew it, the five days were over and our four months of travelling had come to an end. All that was left now was to check out and make our way back up the coast to Cancun, where we would be catching a flight back to London.It’s all come to an end. Next stop…Cancun International Airport.

---

Photos

Launching the message...
...it didn't get very far!