After washing off the Gomorrah-esque residue of Playa del Carmen, I searched out the seaside town of Tulum. The former Mayan port and stronghold of Tulum has a chilled out vibe that is personified in its people and adopted by her visitors. I figured on staying for a night or two but, in typical me time, I soaked up a week of Freudian Id. There was no table dancing to be had nor Mexican karaoke to be sang but I did meet some awesome internationals taking up digs (or working) in the same hostel and who were up for seeking the goodness.
I made fast friends with an Italian Lady that was working at the hostel, had her lovely mother in town from Palermo and basically took me under her wing. A couple of Sevillana (Flamenco) moves might have been busted out to recorded music pumping out of a late-night bar and I am certain that we killed off a bottle of tequila (el Jimedor) a night or two later. I was also befriended by a couple of German cats that grew up together, were intent on enjoying all to be enjoyed and accompanied me on a mescal journey. It should be noted the said mescal journey was supposed to have been taken by my bros in Loveland, Colorado but as it turns out, you cannot ship booze to the US from Mexico – Sorry SORO!
Sobriety be damned aside, I also visited the Mayan ruins of Tulum and Coba. It is cool and all that Tulum is on the ocean but for me the ruins at Coba were way more enjoyable. Coba is more vast than Tulum, has 6km of trails which one can rent a mountain bike for about $3.50 and by default introduces a new fun factor to archeological spectating. On the same day that I visited the ruins of Tulum and Coba, I also went snorkeling in the Grand Cenote. Despite the fact that there were a few other patrons enjoying the site, swimming around in a large submerged cave with stalactites and fish and turtles was pretty damn cool!
Chetumal – I stayed there for two nights, visited the Mayan Museum and hung out by the pool at my hotel.
San Ignacio, Belize – I just got here, it’s my birthday and I’m crossing into Guatemala tomorrow.
Cheers!
