EASY LIKE SUNDAY MORNING

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Belize had not quite supplied the beach time enjoyment we had been looking for after our hectic excursions through central America. Therefore we decided that Tulum in Mexico may be a better option. As I said in my previous blog we were met after our flight by a driver who took us from the Belize border town through the checkpoints and onto the station to get our bus to Tulum. All pretty easy and uneventful as he managed to get us through all the queues stress free. The bus we wanted to get was supposed to be a luxury one but in the end we would have had to wait 4 hours for that so we took the economy bus which was leaving in 20 minutes. Apart from the fact that there was no toilet there was nothing wrong with it and the journey was comfortable. We arrived into Tulum town early afternoon but had to find somewhere to stay. We had a bit of a dilemma as the town is 3km away from the beach area. We had been given some advice from people that had travelled here to stay on the beach but at 40 pesos each way to the town in a taxi we were concerned about how expensive it would be. It was baking hot as we dragged all our kit off the bus and went in search of tourist info (which we could not find). In the end we wondered into a hostel that kindly gave us a map. Still not quite sure of our decision we opted to get a taxi to the beach. Papaya Playa had been suggested to us by a couple we met so we decided to start there. We asked to see the cabinas and although the beach looked pretty the room was dire. Nothing more than a bed with mozzy net, no shade or outside seating and it was a shared bathroom, the guy wanted 400 pesos. We kindly declined and trudged down the road in the hope of finding something better. A couple of places were out of our price range and one could not fit us in. We then came across Punta Piedra cabinas and were welcomed by a guy that had two cabinas available. The first was dowdy and run down but it had ensuite, a seating area outside and a hammock. The second was a newer build but was 50 pesos more a night with no shade or hammock. We opted for the cheaper room at 350 pesos per night. It wasnt perfect, seriously needed a lick of paint but with a beautiful beach cove to look at and clear blue seas to swim in we did not imagine we would spend that much time in it!!

We settled in quickly and were soon swinging in the hammock in our beach gear enjoying being very lazy. The area we were staying in had a couple of restaurants, a small bar and a shop with ice cold beer, sorted. We decided we were right to come to the beach as the town was hot, dusty and the accomodation understandably offered nothing like the views we had. We spent our first afternoon doing nothing but chat and swing in the hammock. Our first night was a bit of a surprise as we had forgotten that LP had said that the area was pretty much electricity free. This was very true and we only had any light between 7-10pm. It was okay though if a bit precarious not falling over things. The one thing we had not thought about was a fan and we soon missed it as we settled down to sleep in our hot little shack!!! It was a rather uncomfortable night but a fresh cold shower and just walking out the door in the morning made it all worth while. The place was beautiful, who actually cares that you are sleeping in a hot sweaty rundown beach hut??? We didnt. The place even had a few sunbeds so on the second day we stated claim to two of those and literally didnt move unless it was to fill our water bottles. The sun was very strong but with free drinking water aplenty we kept well hydrated and soothed our skin frollicking in the sea. One of the best things about the beach here is that unless you are staying in the few cabinas in the cove you have no reason to be there so it was very quiet most of the time. One of the areas we were lacking for was food options. The couple of restaurants we had close by were okay but the heat was so overwhelming that we had little appetite. We soon realised after a few days we would have to rectify this as it had been way too long since we had eaten a decent meal. Beer and a few nachos is not a stable diet and I found myself forcing down a salad on our second night. Tim has a short attention span for sunbathing, reading, sunbathing, reading, swimming, sunbathing, reading so I was not surprised when he decided to go on the daily snorkelling trip. I waved him off in the little boat full of keen sealegged people and settled back on my sunbed to do nothing at all. Utter bliss!! Three hours later Tim is back having enjoyed his excursion and told me he had seen the maya ruins on the coast from the boat. This was the only other thing we really wanted to do here so after rescheduling our time we booked for a further 3 nights and decided to rent some bikes to visit them.

After another sticky night we rose to another super sunshine day and were soon on our bikes off to the ruins which were only about 3km up the road. We got there pretty early and having locked up our bikes we headed straight off to investigate the only Maya city ever to be built on the coast. The coastal setting does make this place somewhat unique, couple that with how quiant it is and you have yourself a very nice setting. The buildings were not anywhere near as grand or large as we have seen before but it was quiet and offered fabulous views of the crystal blue waters below. We had a lovely time meandering round, which is pretty much all you can do in the heat. By the time we reached the cliff areas the sea was becoming very busy with other tourists who had decided to take a dip to appease the heat. We thought better of joining them and hopped back on our bikes to find a spot down the beach which was a bit quieter. We soon ran across a large stretch of beach which was pretty much deserted. The only problem was there was limited shade and what was on offer had been eagerly snapped up by the earlier arrivals. Unfortunately the only place that had shade was the small beach bar which was a real pain for us as I´m sure you can imagine. After downing a couple of bottles of freezing cold water we soon turned our attention to the sol stacked up in cool boxes. Needless to say that we enjoyed a very uneventful but very enjoyable afternoon sampling plenty of the local cerveza´s. The beach was really pretty and the sea just as inviting as at the ruins so we felt pretty chilled and happy as we departed the beach and headed back on our bikes. By the time we had frollicked some more on our beach and then showered it was pretty late and as neither of us felt like eating again we opted for a few crisps and plenty more to drink. I would like to point out that we are not raving alcoholics in fact quite the opposite but it would be rude not to enjoy some of the locals traditions every couple of days now wouldnt it. Anyway we has decided at this point we were on official holiday if that makes sense????

We were quite surprised when we counted up our days (which gets harder and harder when you dont actually know what day it is) and realised we were due to leave the next morning. We had been here 6 dys and it felt like we had just arrived. Our days spent reading, swimming, staring at the view and then reading some more were very successful and rewarding and as one local put it "Tulum is a great setting for doing nothing at all". Being well into this notion we booked for another 2 nights as we had a bit of spare time tucked away. So we repeated the process a while longer and thoroughly enjoyed it. The nights stayed hot and at one point we decided to sleep in the hammocks outside but we had been beaten to them by everyone else missing a fan. It was quite entertaining in a morning watching everyone waking as the sun heated up!! We shared our room with lots of visiting ghekos and even a crab but they all scurried away when they saw us. Our one visiting cockraoch got chased away by Tim with my hairbrush of all things (wasnt impresssed he chose that) but on the whole we came quite attached to our little hovel.

We were both a bit sad on the morning we packed everything up but we were ready to move on again. Eight nights in one place has been our longest stay in months and although we loved it there was still lots to be seen in Mexico. With our bus tickets booked we headed back into the town to use the internet. Our bus left to Piste (Chichen Itza) at 2.30pm on Friday 29th August we were on our way to our last Maya city and the only one we had actually planned to visit......................................

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Photos

The local Iguanas
We had hours of free entertainment watching these guys run up and down the beach

Our Cabina
The first one on the left with the blue roof cover!!!

The beach at the ruins
Pretty impressive huh??