Tulum

Our trip to Tulum was pretty much the complete opposite of our luxurious rest in cancun, but no less amazing. Tulum is famous for 2 things, its beach, and its beachside mayan ruins, the only ones built this close to the coast. Our 3 hour bus ride ended in the sleepy little backpacker town of Tulum, from where we had to go a bit further to reach Tulum beach, right next to the ruins. Well, we slightly miscalculated the distance to this beach and we ended up walking for 1.5 hours under the scorching midday sun. Not nice.

We arrived on the beach, not really knowing what to expect nor where to stay... and right next to us were some rickety beachside cabañas, so we went inside and asked about availability. This is where we met a mayan hammock-maker who was all too happy to explain to us the different types and materials of hammocks... well, we got swept up in it and decided then and there to purchase ourselves some hammocks made from Cisal (cactus fiber, apparently the lightest and most comfortable material for hammocks.


So there we were with our hammocks in hand, we set up under a shady tree right on the beach and took an inaugural siesta. The beach was easily one of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen... the sea was even more blue than in Cancun (if that's possible) and the beach was wide and practically deserted. We lazed around there for the remainder of the afternoon, spending the evening dancing and hanging around the beachside bar, and the night laying in a beached boat staring up at the millions of stars in complete solitude.


Sleeping on a hammock on the beach is on my list of things I must do before I die... and so with great enthusiasm we settled down for the night... well, its not as great as it seems, lets just say that out of 9 hours I sat in my hammock I didnt get more than 4 or 5 hours of shut-eye. Well, that and about 10,000 mosquito bites (no, I'm not exaggerating, the morning after the whole surface of my back had swelled up by 2 cm thanks to those little shits). Who says tourists dont contribute to nature?



But it was completely worth it... as the next morning we sat next to the shore and watched the sunrise without another soul on the beach. The fishermen came shortly and set off in their boats, while we walked off to explore the ruins before the hoards of tourists were to arrive. They were great as well, not as big or majestic as the other ones I'd seen but the backdrop of the turquoise carribean sea was more than stunning enough.

Back at camp Itook the best siesta I have ever taken, waking up at 1 pm to jump into the cool waters and lay back on the white beach... then, too soon, it was time to go back to cancun, so we reluctantly packed our stuff and set off to the bus station (taking a taxi instead).