Advertisement
Published: January 15th 2011
[youtube=MmdMUwmboEQ]
In August of 2010, my wife and I moved back to our house in Las Vegas. We had been living in our loft in Montreal for 8 months. Having both gone through pretty intense winter blues, we decided to go for a sunny break in Mexico. March was the opportune time for us to go, but we were reluctant as we knew it will coincide with March/Spring break and we would have to deal with the hectic and somewhat rowdy visitors. So we looked for a spot far down on the Yucatan for some peace and quiet. Tulum offered just these. In Maya Tulum means "Wall".
It is definitely a place where you can reflect on life. Long lazy afternoons sitting on the beach, looking out at the surf can induce this. Once in a while, a local, peddling some home made jewelry or baked snacks broke the concentration, but it was always a welcomed break to get a local insight for other places to see in the area, what to do and what not to do and for some enlightening conversations about how the locals felt about tourists. Respect is a priority.
On days that felt adventure was
CAROLINE SICARD in Mayan Riun
My wife Caroline Sicard posing for me patiently.
in the menu, we would rent a car. The rental prices are steep for what you get and I suggest to get full insurance coverage. Never speed and learn the rules of their road, for example, turning your signal on "Left" indicates you want a tail-gate driver to pass you on your left. You can also slightly veer on the shoulder to let them pass. Always smile and give security check points a "Hola".
So we drove to the famous and highly photographed Mayan ruins in Quintana Roo. It did not disappoint except for the abundance of tourist. Not that I did not want to share, but it was hard to get a good shot of anything and the noise level took away from the mystery of the place. We waited for a while and just enjoyed Caribbean sea, soon, we got most of the place to ourselves. The next day, we set off for the Coba Ruins. We rented some bikes to explore this mysterious place. It felt more primitive than Chichen-Itza which gave it that much more for us. On the way back, we stopped at the Grand Cenote. It is not as popular as the resort
TULUM-IGUANA
Photo: Paolo A. Santos type/run cenotes but it was incredible. The water was slightly chilly but you get used to it pretty quick. It was clear and clean and you can explore the caverns and caves on your own without guides, but take caution and know your swimming and free diving limits. You can also scuba dive there and go through the tunnels and caverns as far as you want, maybe even to other connecting cenotes.
Everything in Tulum was wonderful, until we drove down towards Sian Ka An. We stumbled upon a very quite little cove where the beach composed of mostly sand, obviously, but peppered with plastic debris from washed up ocean pollution and illegal dumping. It was so much trash that it looked like it was a 70-30 split of sand and crushed plastics, rubber & aluminum.
It was very upsetting as this area is supposed to be a natural preserve. It made me think more about my contribution to pollution and my participation at destroying beautiful places through my actions as a consumer of petrol-based products. This experience helped my wife and I become even more conscientious of what we purchase and the amount of packaging, because one
CAROLINE SICARD IN TULUM
My wife Caroline Sicard enjoying the beach day, these packages somehow will make it out into the beaches that we love.
Travel is a privilege and what we do where we live can affect the places we dream of seeing.
Please check out the video below at YouTube! If your computer and connection can handle it, please watch it at 720p HD. Enjoy!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.125s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 67; dbt: 0.0735s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
