Dos Gringos Locos

Had an early rise at 6 a.m. to get ready for the supposed 7:10 a.m. pick up by our tour bus…the guys didn’t arrive until closer to 7:45, but no worries, we were on our way in no time. We booked the Tulum & Beyond tour with Yucatreks since our Chichen Itza tour got cancelled (I know, I’m kinda bummed) but we’d heard this other tour was great too so we went ahead. We only had to pick up at one other hotel for 6 people and we were on the road south to Tulum. It takes about 30 minutes or so to get there and we’re then loaded on these caboose-like things that are towed by a farm tractor – sort of like a train of cars, but not quite as nice – to take us to the entrance of the site from the parking lot. Once there our guide hired an actual Tulum guide to take us around. This guy, while knowledgeable, was kinda annoying and I think I could’ve done the site on my own with a guide book, but it wasn’t look so we had lots of time on our own. I was very disappointed that Tulum, like so many other sites, is being roped off so you can’t get very close to the actual ruins anymore. Some places we couldn’t get within 50 feet and that’s a shame when we were really looking forward to it. I guess too many people were damaging the site so they put a stop to it like they did at Chichen Itza and others. Oh well. Scott’s camera battery died (long story, fixed now), but I had my camera for back up so I hope I did the site justice. It’s the only Mayan site that sits on the ocean and is on a cliff perched above an awesome white sand beach…great photo ops. We also got to see a bunch of resident iguanas and feed them hibiscus flowers…pretty neat.

A short time later we were back on the bus (not really a bus, I guess I should call it a van) and headed back on the highway to the first of two cenotes. Since the Yucatan Peninsula is made entirely of limestone, years of rain and water seep through the stone and form a vast network of underground rivers and lakes, and when the rooves collapse they form a cenote which are cool freshwater pools that are great to swim and snorkel in (and some also have scuba diving through the network of underground rivers). The cenotes were very important to the Mayan people as they were a freshwater source and a spiritual place. This first cenote was called Gran Cenote. Scott and the others did some snorkelling, but me not wanting to take off my glasses just paddled about and floated with a life jacket in front of me (just in case, lol). It was so refreshing after a hot morning in the sun. There weren’t many stalactites or stalagmites in this cave, but there were loads of birds and bats…and some tiny fishes.

Once we packed up from there and dried off we headed to the beach in Tulum (not at the ruins, but closer to the beach resorts). It was a super windy day and it made for huge waves. We had a nice lunch on the beach of typical Mexican food (tortillas, chicken, salsa, guacamole, refried beans, etc.) and got to set up under some palm trees for a bit to enjoy the sun. Scott tried the waves again, but he ended up being more interested in the dog that was hanging around. The owner said he likes to fetch coconuts, so Scott and another guy on the tour took turns throwing a coconut into the water and the dog would swim out and get it even thought he’d get swamped in the waves. And he’d bring it to shore and promptly lie down with it…I guess he never learned the rest of the came of fetch ’cause he didn’t want to share, so they’d have to pry it out of his mouth to go again. Once they were finished the dog came in and shook the water off his coat and proceeded to roll around in the sand…it was priceless! (we got photos! lol).

Our next stop was another cenote. This one was called Cenote Azul and came highly recommended. When we got there the place was packed, so obviously word has spread. This one had a cliff you could jump off, so you know where Scott was most of the time! lol He also spent some time snorkelling as well (when there space in amongst all the people). Our guide, Mitch, said it was the most people he’s seen at one time there. I wasn’t big on the crowds, nor the catfish who nibble on you (can you say fish pedicure?! lol) so I sat on the rocks and watched. We didn’t stay long as everyone was tired, and as I said, the place was packed. We were back on the road and in the hotel by 4:30 or so.

After a quick shower we headed out to the Peep Meet at Bad Boys. A ‘peep meet’ is a get-together organized by various people from the Playa.info forum that happen to be in Playa at the same time – really it’s just an excuse for drinks! lol There were dozens of people who showed up and some immediately recognized me so a bunch of us sat together and chatted. There was Bren and Dave (Bevoz) who we had met before (from Vancouver), Dave and Marsha (campaholic) from North Bay, Ontario, Scott and Jennifer (S+J) from California and a few others at out table. Then along came Sara (buggirl) and her husband (sorry, I can’t remember his name), Rick (Babaloo), (GApeaches) (didn’t get her ‘real’ name), and a bunch of the others that I cannot for the life of me remember their names…I wish I had’ve written it down! Another ‘peep’, Playamama (again, don’t know her ‘real’ name) came along to collect up the donations we all had brought for Angel Notion (such as aspirin, first aid stuff, etc.).

After a few buckets of beer Bren, Dave, Dave, Marsha, Scott and I (the Canadians) headed to Babe’s Noodle Bar for some dinner as we hadn’t eaten yet. The place was packed but we managed to find a table in the back. We ordered some seafood spring rolls to start, with an order of sweedish meatballs (go figure), and I had pad thai and Scott had another type of shrimp stirfry (I think). I also had the largest frozen strawberry daiquiri I have ever seen! Great meal, totally stuffed. Had to spend 10 minutes trying to figure out the bill since they wouldn’t split it for us…and then we found out they automatically added a tip to the bill! Nice. Anyways, got it all figured out and started walking back up 5th towards a reggae bar called Roots and Fire that we heard was great. We all sat down at a table on the street and ordered a few beers and waited for the music to start…they said a few minutes but it took forever. By that time we were already heading back to our respective ‘temporary’ homes, dropping off Dave and Marsha first. Bren and Dave walked with us as they were first across the street from us. We walked about 11 blocks I figure…all with sunburned and blistered feet! Ouch! It was a LONG day so we finally called it a night.

Itinerary for tomorrow: hopefully going to see Coba…but we’re not sure yet. Then we have to fit in some shopping!

Leanne

Tried to get up for an early start but by the time we showered and got out the door it was closer to 9:30. Decided to try out La Vegabunda for breakfast which came highly recommended. Scott had an omlette suprema and I had a Mexican egg and tortilla dish (I can’t remember the name)…all pretty good, though the service was a little slow. Walked back to the hotel to talk to Genero about getting to Xpu Ha and as luck would have it another guest (Susan from Boston) and her daughter (Caroline) we at the desk asking Genero and Tony about it as well, so we all shared a cab which cost us around $8 each and we even made arrangements for the cabbie to come back in a few hours.

Xpu Ha is a beautiful beach located about 15 minutes south of Playa del Carmen and is much less crowded. We went to the La Playa Beach Club and as long as you buy food or drinks you get to use the loungers for free so we chose a place under a palapa and set up for the day. The wind was pretty strong and it was whipping up the fine sand most of the day making it hard to keep sand out of your drink (or your mouth for that matter). The wind also created huge waves that we almost worthy of a surf board (there were a few kiteboarders out there giving it a shot), so Scott couldn’t resist swimming out to splash around…and try to freak me out. I stayed firmly on solid ground (well sandy ground anyways) and ended up with a sunburn (or it could’ve been because of the sandblasting I was getting, lol). A few tour buses came and went with huge groups of people bringing them for just an hour or so at a time so it got busy for a bit…but we cured that by taking a walk down the beach further or just chilling on our loungers. Got a bite to eat – shrimp tacos, guacamole (I’m going to turn into an avocado, I swear, lol) and quesidillas with a few beers – definitely cost way more than anywhere in town, but where else are you going to go when you’re miles from town?! Monopoly? I think so. Spent a great day in the sun and finally met back up with the girls to grab our waiting taxi and head back into town.

Once back at Luna Blue we showered and napped for a little bit and tried to deal with the patchy internet service to not much luck, so we headed out for dinner at Blue Lobster since we both wanted to have a lobster meal on our trip. We knew the price would be slightly overpriced since it was just off 5th avenue but we figured it was their speciality. They come to your table with the huge wood cut out of a lobster that has the menu on it (no individual paper menus)…kinda tacky, kinda quirky at the same time. We picked our size of lobster and what we wanted for appetizers and watched the people walk by as we waited (doing a lot of people watching, lol). Started with, you guessed it, guacamole, and Scott also had a lobster bisque. Finally our lobster tail arrived (no, you don’t get claws or body, just tail…besides, these are caribbean lobster so they’re totally different) with a little bit of veg on the side. We both had steamed lobster and I gotta say I was not impressed at all (especially for the price!). It didn’t taste good and was actually kinda chewy and overdone. Scott wanted to finish it off with Mayan coffee which was quite the show. The guy comes to our table and starts lighting various alcohols on fire and then pours them back and forth between glasses before adding coffee…it was pretty neat and we have photos and video (to be posted shortly). After paying way too much money for an unsatisfying meal we headed back to the Luna Blue.

We checked out the live music at the bar again (Mike Grabow for a second time, and he was great). I’ve been joking with Scott that I’m somewhat of a celebrity here as a lot of people from the Playa.info forum have recognized me from my avatar photo and have been coming up and asking “are you newfiegirl?”, lol. It happened the first night when Rick (Babaloo from the Playa.info forum) and Sara (a.k.a buggirl) came up to me at the bar, and it happened a bunch of times over the past few days…including that night when Bren and Dave (a.k.a. Bevoz) stopped in the Luna Blue for a drink. They were staying across the street in a condo and are quite familiar with Luna Blue. Had a great chat with them over drinks and we had to call it an early night so we could get up at 6 a.m. to prepare for our tour day at Tulum.

Leanne