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Published: December 25th 2017
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A young coati
Found trapped in the rubbish bin one morning, so Nils (owner of Dream Diver) set it free - but it doesn't look grateful. Geo: 20.125, -87.45
I thought some general pictures of Tulum might be of interest. Some days we do something special, like the cenote dive, or take the bus to a different place, others we just potter around within walking distance. Ten minutes walk from Dream Divers takes you onto the tracks into the jungle. We like to wander along them, looking for birds. Every walk produces something new. Yesterday we were lucky and saw our first Mexican humming bird. Lucky, because it is the size of a thumbnail, and if we had not been so close it would have been mistaken for an insect.
Most people we pass say hello and many stop and have a few words, asking what we are looking for, or offering advice (yesterday it was about the danger of snakes, but we haven't seen one yet!). The only time we feel any sense of discomfort is when we pass a property with guard dogs and they race to the fence and bark/growl. I am always afraid there is a hole in the fence. Dogs wander around in the roads but they are usually docile.
It is very difficult to get good photographs of birds but Jim is
persevering. He did find a co-operative turkey vulture sitting in a tree hence the 2 pictures of him – a sign of Jim's gratitude.
If we eat at home in the evening we download radio programmes, mainly Radio 4. I am carrying on with the Maths but there is a small discrepancy between my present skill level, and where Jim thinks it is. I am still on fractions but he is trying to teach me Calculus, imaginary numbers and something called Fourier Transform, which changed the world, but I have yet to appreciate how. We listened to the Melvyn Bragg programme about imaginary numbers and we both fell asleep so I think we need to revisit it. Other evenings we sit and watch the garden below us to spot fireflies.
When I say we eat at home, the food is very simple as there is no kitchen here. I might have matching table cloth and napkins but apart from those we possess a penknife (for chopping salads etc) and 2 sporks, I think they are called, - one implement which is a fork at one end, spoon at the other, and knife along one edge. A great idea in theory
but it is surprising how often 2 tools are needed, otherwise the food scoots off the plate. The penknife came out of a Christmas cracker last year, as did our compass and mini notebook, (up market crackers that Christmas!). Breakfast is bread (from a wonderful bakery which took some finding but was necessary as most shop bought bread is very sweet), cheese and fruit.
Although I talk about how cheap our accommodation is I wouldn't want to mislead anyone. There are luxury “boutique” hotels here which provide everything possible from wood burning stoves, through personal jacuzzis to yoga, meditation and even group chanting. However, they are all low rise, usually single storey and are well hidden in large gardens, so they don't spoil the landscape. Many try to be eco-friendly and require that you only use preparations such as deodorants, that are not harmful to the environment. Quite a few are run by ageing hippies which adds to the laid back ambience. There are also expensive restaurants but they offer basically the same food as in the cheaper ones, they are just more cosmopolitan in appearance.
We have had some very heavy rain, but it never lasts long and there is
always the lovely warmth so we are still contented lotus eaters!
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