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Published: April 12th 2014
After a short boat trip from the Cayes we landed on Mexican ground - once on land we went through a very strict border control with lots of scary looking policeman, which luckily for us did not result in a cavity search. Onto a bus and 6 hours later we were in Tulum.
We had run out of time in Central America and we had only left ourselves a week for the Yucatan area. We see Mexico as a place which is quite accessible to the UK and hope to return one day to spend some time in the country. For the short time we had we thought that Tulum was a good choice as there is lots to do and see. Having been lucky enough to have already been to Tulum a few years ago l was happy to get back to the beautiful town and long picturesque beach with turquoise waters. There has been a few changes, the town has got bigger and the beach has more boutique hotels rather than the type of beach shack l stayed in, but it was still lovely. We also got to catch up with an old pal whom l lived with
Cycling fun
Grand Cenote, Tulumin Ibiza, Jamie who has been living in Tulum for a few years now.
Our first stop of things to see and do was swimming in the cenotes. A cenote is a natural pit or sink hole resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. The water in cenotes is very clear and come from rain water which filters slowing through the ground. The area is well known for its cenotes, and there are lots of different sized ones. They can reveal underwater cave systems and cave divers voluntarily swim through them, some of which have been documented at lengths of 60 miles!... You can choose to snorkel, which we both did at the Grand Cenote, and also dive, which Craig chose to do at the two eyes cenote (there are two HUGE sinkholes here connected by an underwater tunnel - which Craig dived through). Whilst l was snorkeling merrily around this one Craig was in a dark underwater tunnel, he said at one point they all turned their torches off and it was very eery - that does not sound like my kind of fun, no thanks. They are amazing, and when you are looking
underwater into the depths there are spots which look like underwater cathedrals.
Next stop on the tourist list was a visit to the pre Colombian mayan ruins, which was formally called as Zama (meaning city of dawn as it faces the sunrise), and then changed to Tulum. So we hired some bicycles and cycled our way there to have a look. This city was seen as a holiday home by the pool to the Mayan people, it was one of the last cities to be built and inhabited and was a port city for trading. Its got a lovely location with the white sandy beach below which leads to the turquoise waters. IT was HOT HOT HOT there, not a lot of shade and LOTS AND LOTS of tour groups, so we saw what we needed to see and got the hell of of there. I forgot to mention and huge numbers of large Iguanas which were 'hanging around' the site, we don't know if they were put there for the tourists, they lived there, or had bused in from a high end hotel somewhere, but they had taken a fancy to the bench l was sitting on and
decided my time on it was over and jumped right next to me, forcing a little yelp out of my mouth and drop my breakfast (a croissant), little buggers!
Our final tourist hot spot was catching a
collectivo (a bit like a taxi, but the car picks up and drops off people on the way to where your going and beyond) to Akumal (meaning the place and turtles) and you guessed it, going swimming with turtles. I was very excited by this, and despite a little rain, the water was still very clear and we got to see lots and lots of big loggerhead and green turtles (both are endangered and use the beach for nesting), but we also saw a spotted eagle ray, a manta ray and an spotted eel swimming around us - this was great, l heart turtles.
We ate LOTS of good street food here - lots of different variations of the same ingredients - tortillas, meat, veg, chilli - which translated into tostadas, tacos, soft taco, burritos. One meal we ate, which was pork soft tacos and amazing, was going all so well, until l looked into the cauldron looking pot which had
all the meat in it and a pigs snout stared back at me. The closest l get to seeing raw meat is when l pick up my cleanly wrapped packet on the shelf at Morrisons, not straight from the slaughter house. Brilliant :-)
One night we went our for dinner with our dorm buddies and the food cart was on the road, with us sitting on plastic chairs facing the cooking, it was raining with lots of puddles around so, so when cars drove by the puddles kept going up our back whilst we were eating - thats what l call proper street food.
Despite it raining most of our time in Tulum, we enjoyed all that it had to offer, and l hope someday we can go back. Next stop on the coast we stayed a night in Playa Del Carmen (this is in-between Cancun and Tulum, in both location and also reconnecting with the western world and one step closer to America world). The main street was a little like the west end in Ibiza, but not so dirty. There were lots of shops, bars and nightclubs. Having not really has these things for a while,
we put our dancing shoes on and painted the town red, had lots of fun and made some friends along the way.
The next day (feeling not too great) we caught the bus to Cancun and boarded the plane to the USA USA.
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Momma Toni
non-member comment
The water looks crystal clear, it looks a lot of fun snorkeling, i think Craig is very brave going down those deep caves i think i would get panicky feeling agrophobic in confined spaces so well done! those iguanas have a definite dont mess with me vibe!!
and nevada, where to next after america? take care lots of love