4: Tullum - Mexico

Days 8-13: Tulum's Beaches and Maya Ruins, Snorkeling and Kayaking
Beth, Written 26/10/12

Hola from Tulum, a lovely little beach town 3 hours down the coast from Cancun. Well the town is not so lovely but the beach is, quite like Cancun really! We are staying in a hostel that is by far the most hippy-ish place we have stayed in and even has a resident old hippy called 'rain-water-bob'- need I say more?!

We spent the first few days here on the beach relaxing and swimming (even Liam!), it is a beautiful white-sand beach again and much quieter than Isla Mujeres so we prefer it :) We have come to the conclusion that we kinda tried to do a lot in one week last week and that we can't keep up that pace, so we're staying here for a bit to ground ourselves. It was such a rushed last few weeks in UK that we didn't really have time to prepare ourselves for coming away and all we are trying to do, so we're taking a bit of Mexican me-time to figure it all out, and here is a great place to do it :)

 

 

Tuesday we went to see Tulum's Maya Ruins, which is the main reason we came here. These are different from the others as they are the only ones bulit on cliffs-tops and so they make for stunning views. You can really see the changes in architecture between the different time periods of the Mayans as these are smaller, less ornate and built from different stone, none-the-less still impressive and beautiful :) The view from the top over the sea really was amazing though and we loved wandering around the sight.

 

Most nights we have either hand scrubbed our washing in a bowl (!!!) or been chatting to people in the hostel, got talking to a guy who makes hammocks, one who gave us salsa lessons and people from ALL over the world :) One night we bothered to make meatballs from scratch for 2 hours, only to find the next day someone had stolen them from the fridge! Damn hippies!The next morning I woke up with SHIT LOADS of bites! I counted 42 in total and Liam had NONE! Something must have got in my sleepsheet and gone crazy, I spent the whole day constantly itching, arghhh! We spent some time in the hammocks that day and went to the beach quite late at night, when a storm blew over and it started to rain for the first time since we got here! It was alrite though and warm and being on the beach makes everything seem nice lol. The storm was over the ocean and we watched the lightening hit the sea and it was quite a thing to witness, I heard the UK had some snow!? Haha :D

The Friday we decided to try snorkeling for the first time, was SO excited! We went to a nature reserve called the Sian Ka'an biosphere with a man who lived there (René), he had a pretty sweet life doing this all day! We had to sea kayak out to the coral reef and we were both a bit scared at first, but after 5 minutes were having the BEST time and wondering how we hadn't done this before! Due to the storm the water was sandy and visibility wasn't great, but it was amazing to be snorkeling around the reef and I saw the most beautiful/strange corals and brightly coloured/weird fish and so many new things, I was like a little kid! I even dived to the bottom to get a closer look :) After learning about corals for years seeing one for real was incredible! Liam was initially worried about all the swimming and sea-sickness but he loved it so much he didn't even think about any of that :D 






Back on shore we went to the lagoon, a very different environment again! Mangroves growing everywhere with so many huge birds and fish beneath you. We rowed miles (after sorting the logistics of being in a double kayak lol) out to an osprey nest, which was rele kwl to see, and even saw a crocodile too (great but scary when your in
 a little kayak!) We stayed until sunset which was beautiful to watch over the lagoon. It really was one of the best days we've had so far, and even got offered the chance to go back anytime to help with conservation there so will probably take him up on that!
 



That's really all we did in 6 days lol, its been rele good to sort of relax and we're ready to get on and see the world now =) We have a bit more planned for here before moving on to Bacalar next week! Still can't believe its only been 13 days.... :D

Will post about the rest soon,

Love Beth and Liam x x x x