We woke up early Monday, hoping to get to Tulum before any crowds. Made a quick breakfast of eggs and toast and dashed out the door to catch another colectivo down the coast.
This time we took it all the way from it’s start to finish, in the center of Tulum. The ruins are about a 2 minute bike ride from the center of town, as we discovered.
But first…rain. When we woke up it was sunny and bright in Playa. As we drove, clouds appeared. Then they got dark. Then they started spitting on us. Then they just opened up into an amazing downpour. Once in Tulum we found a cafe and sat and used the Wi-Fi while eating a baked good and drinking our caffeinated drinks until the rain stopped.
When you look up Tulum, biking is a thing. There are a ton of bike shops in town and it’s super easy to get a few bikes for the day. Just be sure to bring id to leave for the rental.
At this point, it was ridiculous out. Hot (Canada style) 28C weather, plus a ton of rain equals humidity of horror. Still not as bad as Cin’s wedding (where there was no wind), but pretty bad.
We cycled to Tulum ruinas, where we learned that “cycle Tulum” actually just means cycle TO the ruins. Once inside you had to walk. Which was ok by me, as I wanted to take a bunch of photos and cycling isn’t really good for stopping and being slow.
As we bought our tickets, we decided to get a tour guide. I remember in Guatemala that the tour guide was amazing and totally worth the price, and hoped we’d have a similar experience. We got a friendly Mexican lady who’s English was very good, but clearly was entirely related to her job – I had to help her with a few words as we talked and walked. That’s fine – communication is a two way street no matter the language.
This place is gorgeous! Clearly taken good care of, the ruins are roped off, with manicured dirt paths lined with wood, and freshly cut grass. The sky was blue, the grass was green, the ocean was turquoise and the ruins were a motley of greys. Just a really picturesque place.
After taking us though most of the place, our guide left us once we reached the top of the ruins – rather abruptly, but we were glad to have the time to wander and take more careful photos.
The rest is fairly boring. We had lunch at the “Coffee Bar+Restaurant”, which was edible but not delicious. After we ordered, our waitress brought me two Corona’s, saying it was a promotion. Well, alright. 🙂 I didn’t finish both, but made a good effort.
We wandered, booked Miranda’s birthday event and then cycled back to Tulum. I’m writing this on my phone on the bus back – strangely it seems that the bus is exactly as expensive as the colectivo…40 pesos each. We have lots of space between us and ac.
I think I’m going to post photos separately, when I get back, so i can do some processing on them. Sorry!
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