2010 Tulum Mexico

Wendy and I were very fortunate to spend our 5-year anniversary in Tulum Mexico. Tulum is located about two hours south of Cancun. We started researching our trip about six months ago and most everyone suggested this region of Mexico. My parents were kind enough to volunteer for four days of watching the “B’s”. So while we were sitting on the beach enjoying the sun, I’m sure they were trying to catch their breath trying to keep up with those energetic little fellars, we can’t thank them enough.

We arrived in Cancun about 3 pm Thursday afternoon, picked up our rental car and headed south. We stopped for lunch in Playa Del Camen and then continued south to Tulum.

Tulum is a small town, the main strip is maybe a mile long. Right away I made several discoveries; Tulum was definitely starting to feel like “real” Mexico. We were trying to find our hotel and had the address but no map and soon noticed none of the streets were named. My second discovery is that unlike some of the bigger towns not everyone here spoke English, in fact most didn’t. About ten years ago this probably wouldn’t have been a problem but I haven’t spoken a lick of Spanish in that time, so the word rusty would be an understatement. So other than dodging the crazy Mexican drivers, not really knowing where we were going and getting pulled over by a non-English speaking cop for driving the wrong way down a one-way street, we had a uneventful trip. We finally found our hotel, some cervazas (the only Spanish I’d retained over the years) and relaxed in the pool.

The next morning we headed to the beach, which was fantastic. Cool blue water & white sand, it was definitely paradise. I was a little bummed that I brought our snorkeling gear all the way down there to discover the surf was a little too rough for snorkeling. We had the best fish tacos of our lives at El Tabano and spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the  Mayan ruins of Tulum. We finished off the day at our hotels sister resort Don Diego de la Playa, with a gourmet dinner on the white sand. It was fantastic!

The next day we somewhat randomly decided to check out some more of the Mayan ruins. We started about an hour out of Tulum at the Mayan village of Coba, which was very cool but didn’t compare to our next stop at Chichen Itza. We really hadn’t planed on visiting these areas but I was really glad we did. It’s not everyday you get to see something so impressive.

Sunday was pretty much spent trying to get home. Rushing to catch flights, barely making our connecting flight in Houston, all the fun stuff that comes with traveling, but it was certainly well worth the effort.
My random thought for the trip was that I think traveling to someplace new is great for the mind & soul, it’s so easy to go though life without really thinking about what your doing, because it’s your daily routine and takes so little thought. Wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner and go to bed.  Getting out of your everyday comfort zone really awakens you. The further you can get away from “normal” the better and this trip definitely qualified.

Thanks Wendy for a great five years!