Blogs from Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico, North America - page 10

Den Tag beginne ich mit einer Abkuehlung im Meer. Das Fruehstueck schmeckt nicht schlecht: es gibt Ruehrei mit Schinken, Toastbrot mit Butter & Marmelade und dazu Kaffee. Danach mache ich mich auf die in Stadt. Diese besteht mehr oder weniger nur aus einer Hauptstrasse. Nach einer Stunde ist alles erkundet. In einer kleinen Strassenkueche esse ich etwas zu mittag. Diesmal bestelle ich "Gringas con queso y pollo", dazu eine Coke. Ich bekomme einen Teigfladen belegt mit Huehnchenstuecken, Kaese, Kraut, Avocado, darueber Joghurtsauce und verschiedene Dips. Es schmeckt. Danach mache ich mich wieder auf den Weg zurueck zur Unterkunft. An der Rezeption unterhalte ich mich mit dem Besitzer. Ich sage ihm dass der Strom in meinem Zimmer nicht wirklich funktioniert und das Zimmer recht dunkel ist. Deshalb werden auch die Badehose und das Handtuch nicht wirklich trocken. ... read more

We got boat to Mexico, and then endured a terrible 3 hour bus to Tulum, crying kids, no ac, just saturated in sweat!! Tulum is an amazing beach, where the sand never gets hot and the water is crystal clear. But the beach cabanas are very basic, no ac, cold showers, sand floors or concrete, mosquito nets with holes… none of it is too terrible but after two months on the road and already plenty of cold showers we were not keen. Oh and the local mosquitoes were on steroids!! Worse than the Amazon jungle! One interesting moment was when we struck up a conversation with a middle aged american lady. As the conversation went on, she said how she had lived in Belize City for last 7 years and was returning to the states. She ... read more

(Day 770 on the road)Buenos dias. Buenos noches. Muchas gracias. Hasta la vista. Adios. Habla espanol? Por favor. Esta bien. Uno, dos, tres. No entiendo. That's pretty much the level of my Spanish at the time I entered Mexico a few days ago. Appalling! I feel I can speak more Chinese or even Indonesian than Spanish. But luckily many words are similar to English, German, Latin and French (the last two not being a strong point of mine either I have to say), so after a while here in Mexico I realised that I was able to understand quite a bit, even though I can speak almost nothing. I really need to pick up some more Spanish along the way, which will come in real handy travelling across Central America for the next few months. To ... read more

On our third day in Tulum we finally set off to visit the ruins. Spectacularly located on a cliff overlooking the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea, Tulum is a Mayan settlement which flourished from around 1200 CE until the arrival of the Spanish. The Tulum ruins are the third most visited archaeological site in Mexico after Teotihuacan and Chichen Itza. We took a taxi to the site and were left in a plaza surrounded by market stalls, with people plying their trade and a few costumed dancers drawing a large crowd in the centre. We eventually managed to locate the ticket booth which offered a return trip by bus to the ruins. Unsure about how long a walk we were facing and deciding that in the heat staggering 10 metres might be a challenge we ... read more

They are ridiculously blue. We've hit beaches around the world looking for those postcard blue waters that seriously could only be the byproduct of great photoshopping. But image editing is not needed for the beaches of Mexico - just all-natural turquoise goodness (although that was before the BP oil spill). We headed out early from Valladolid to continue our tiny roadtrip around a small chunk of the Yutacan, with the goal of ending up at Isla Mujeres, one of the many beach hotspots in the region. Upon the persistent urging of our hostel host, we decided to check out the Valladoilid mercados (market) on the way out, which turned out to be no big deal (village markets lose their charm when you live in China and actually have to frequent those for your weekly groceries). It ... read more