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Published: April 26th 2011
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Cuba finished, we filed onto the Yak 42D for the return flight to Cancún. This time our seats were towards the back. It seemed like the constructors of the plane had miscalculated – the legroom got progressively less towards the back, almost as if they had tried to stuff just a few extra rows in.
The seat was so narrow my knees didn't actually fit and either stuck out into the aisle or jammed into the back of the poor woman in front of me. Still, it took my mind off how sick I was feeling – deep breaths all the way back to Mexico.
Back into Cancún. Big cars, advertising, traffic. Just a little bit weird, it almost felt a bit familiar, a little homey. Upon arrival we discovered a massive rort at the airport. It had cost us 150 pesos in a taxi to go there from the centre of town 3 weeks ago. On the way back, however, we discovered that local taxis are not allowed to pick up at the airport. Your only option is to go in a shuttle at 150 pesos each, or hire a private taxi at 500 pesos. It hurt, but the
driver was a nice bloke.
Our luggage was safe, a quick bribe obviously goes a long way. I was still feeling shithouse so stayed in while the other lot went out to dinner. They brought me back some dry biscuits and bananas which went down pretty well. Saladitas. Like Saladas but with added Ita.
One thing Cancún does have are big American style shopping centres, and we needed some stuff. We wandered down to Plaza de las Americas and spent up big. A camera for Klaire, new sunnies for me, superglue for stuff, a tortilla press...lots of good stuff. And that was about enough of Cancún to last a lifetime.
It has become apparent that growing up in Australia has basically ruined us for beaches elsewhere – we lacked any real desire to see beaches in other parts of the world. Still,
Tulum was meant to be nice, a bit less touristy than the standard Mexican beach destinations like Playa del Carmen, and it had a set of Mayan ruins. We also needed a bit of a break after three weeks of constant travel in Cuba.
The bus trip was pretty short, and we jumped in a
cab to a place we picked from the lonely planet. Right on the beach – Cabañas Playa Condesa.. Our room was literally a stone's throw from the water. The beach itself was very nice, as beaches go – pure white sand, palm trees, azure water, the whole bit. Even better, the annoying watersport posers and overtanned future skin cancer victims were mostly right up the other end of the beach at the more resort type places. Sat on the beach, drank beer. Went for a swim in the Caribbean, which I swear was less salty than the Pacific, and with a perfect temperature. Finished the day watching the full moon come op over the water. Not bad.
And that was pretty much that for the next few days. Save, of course, for the various cases of sunburnt feet, dehydration from brackish water and constantly feeling a bit salty.
To get to the ruins required a walk up the beach, pretty much. The ruins themselves are the most visited Mayan ruins in Mexico, mainly due to their location, and there were a few other tourists there, but no so many that it was oppressive. Spread out over about 5
or 6 hectares, the ruins weren't that extensive, but they were interesting enough, and the setting was fantastic.
The town of Tulum istelf is a couple of kms away from the beach and nothing to write about. There's a strip of hotels, hostels and cabañas along a couple of kms of the beach and that's where we stayed. It did limit eating options somewhat, but the restaurant where we stayed was pretty good, and there were some very nice places up and down the beaches at various different hotels, and at various prices. In particular, we had a great feed at a Thai place right next door to where we were staying. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but it's run by a Thai lady and the food was excellent.
The week of lazing about also helped each of us recover from bouts of gastro, but this doesn't really need to be discussed in any great detail.
The bus station we needed to get to for our next leg – to Valladolid – was in the town of Tulum itself, so we flagged a passing taxi as we stepped out onto the street. We had it figured
that the bus would cost 90 pesos each, and was to leave at 11 am, so we had plenty of time.
As per usual, the cabbie asked us where we were off to, and, also as per usual, had alternatives to offer. This time, however, it turned out to be a good deal. He was quite prepared to drive us the entire way fro 400 pesos. There was a moments hesitation, mainly due to me getting the Spanish straight in my brain to make sure he hadn't said 4000 pesos or something, and we agreed. It would cost a whole 40 pesos more than the bus, and get us there before the bus would even leave Tulum.
The trip itself was about an hour and a half, and we arrived in Valladolid, a small town nearish to Chichen Itza in the state of Yucatan.
Valldolid, mentioned in the Lonely Planet as nothing special, was unexpectedly nice. The hostal we looked at from the lonely planet was full, and twice as expensive as mentioned, but we found a reasonable hotel after a bit of looking around – the Hotel Lindi.
The Plaza de Armas was nicely maintained, with
free wifi, and there were a number of nice restaurants and the like around the place, as well as a large cafeteria with different food options around it. That, and jewellery shops. Lots of jewellery shops. We also found a great little coffee shop with proper coffee on a side street, also with free wifi.
Having a look at Chichen Itza, one of the so-called New Wonders of the World, was something that you did from Valladolid. You can don a tour, but that was stupidly expensive, so we jumped on a bus that drops you off there. Once you've finished looking around you can grab another bus heading the other direction quite easily.
Lots of tourists, very developed, and maybe a little sterile compared with other Mayan ruins we had seen. The status of Chichen Itza as one of the new wonders of the world is questionable. Still, it was worth the entry fee, and still impressive.
Typical tight arses, we declined to pay for a tour of the site once we arrived, ignoring the touts. Instead we wandered about at our own pace, occasionally tagging on to the back the myriad other tour groups to
garner a snippet of information about the particular structure or temple. And there were many. The ball court, in particular, was the biggest one I've seen. Possibly the highlight was the giant stone noughts and crosses game.
But, as so often happens, the town of Valladolid impressed me more than the main attraction nearby. Still, we'd crossed another of the wonders off the list, only 5 more to go.
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Sue Gollschewski
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It was worth the wait!
This looks like my sort of town, love ruins....appears they took lessons from the Greeks, I see familar building styles, so cleaver.