Day 200: Cancun – Mexico – Jan 3rd

Can’t believe we’ve already hit Day 200! Time really flies…

Taking a day to explore another set of ruins in the scenic Tulum, it may possibly be the few places on Earth where you can witness buildings that are centuries old, while overlooking the blue waters with white sandy beaches. Tulum is situated on the edge of the Yucatan peninsula, overlooking the Caribbean sea.

Thinking Tulum was closer than it actually was, it in fact took a 2.5hr bus ride before we got to the ruins. The buses lately have been crowded and jammed pack, similar to what we’ve experienced during our Asia trip. At least these buses were air conditioned and were somewhat comfortable.

The bus stopped outside of the Tulum ruins, and of the whole bus full of about 70 people, we were the only ones that got off!?!? Okay well, they don’t know what they missed out! When we first got to Tulum, we were bombarded with a slew of people trying to sell us snorkeling packages etc, and we were a bit surprised as we thought, well, the ruins are here and the beach is further away and we have no interest in going snorkeling, as we can do all that later in several other places. We want to see the ruins!

Well, when we got there, we were a bit surprised. Situated behind a walled compound, Tulum is as exquisite as you can think for a set of ruins over several hundred years old. There are 3 sides to the wall, as the Carribean Sea makes up as the 4^th wall. The ruins totally takes a step back for what everyone seems to come here for: the ocean. It’s pretty amazing to think about how people dealt with the waters, and the deities that they believed to have govern the world. Now, there’s an actual beach people go swimming and have a great family time at! We were quite confused when everyone had towels and snorkel gear when they were walking into the ruins, and now we understand! The ruins itself were pretty amazing and were in immaculate shape, and the landscaping was some what of a dread as it reminded Alan of nicely manicured golf courses… it’s THAT nice! Iguanas lay about, bobbing their heads and hiding in stone crevasses, periodically poking a head out to see whtat we mortals are up to.

The ruins of Tulum are definitely worth the visit as it is really a spectacular place, but it’s probably best if you came as a detour from Cancun/Playa del Carmen instead of coming here for the sole purpose of visiting it.

We took another long bus ride back into town, grabbed dinner at a decent Italian restaurant (with really good service!) and called it a night! Our dorm-mates left and was replaced by a younger, seemingly more naïve roommate who also went out partying as we were going to bed at around midnight. She came back at 2am, but she seems pretty drunk even the next morning when we spoke to her.. ha ha, good times youth.