The first day of our trip is ruined!

WITH ANCIENT MAYAN RUINS! ZING! See what I did there? With the title? Yep.

06.19.10

Long flight to Denver then to Cancun, Mexico. Tons of white people unloaded in droves wearing Panama hats and Tommy Bahama shirts, pulling loads of useless junk behind them in bulky rolly bags. We knew we had to get out of here as soon as possible.

The local bus ride to Tulum was comfortable and uneventful. Tulum is pretty much exactly what you would expect from a sleepy Mexican town, colorful, square concrete buildings of varying sizes, most under some form of construction. We soon had some 9 peso (60 cent) tacos in our mouths, and a cute, cheap hostel, the Weary Traveller, to lay our bags and heads.

06.20.10

Our usual form of transportation, motorbike, is far to costly here, so we settled on two clunky, rusty bikes to ride around town with. The sun sweltered above as we rode down a dusty road towards one of the more astounding beaches we have seen. Drenched in sweat , we hopped off the bikes for a swim in a quiet section of the beach.

Next stop up the beach were the ancient Tulum Ruins of the Mayan civilization; the only Mayan ruins located along a beach (must have been built by chill, coconut juice sipping, Rasta Mayans). To our surprise as well the modern people of the area have facial features exactly like Mayan depictions you see in paintings and statues. The ruins were fantastic; light grey stone covered in iguanas overlooking baby blue waters. Life does not get better.

We headed up North to the Dreams Resort where our friends Kristin and Jason are getting married tomorrow; who we have yet been able to get a hold of. The hotel employees, used to seeing those same Tommy Bahama clad, rich Americans, looked at us like our faces were covered in nipples (they weren’t, just massive doses of sweat and a touch of sunburn). Calling the room to no avail, the concierge “allowed” us to explore for “only 15 minutes with no food or drinking” to find our friends, which we didn’t. Turns out they were on a tour to Chichen Itza.

We kept following the freeway after our disappointment at the resort to a picturesque lake by the beach and a wonderful lunch.

Our bike ride home was followed by a much needed nap, then a splendid dinner of Mexican pizza and Chilaquiles under a tropical rain sky. Some chatting with travelers at our hostel preceeded some much needed sleep under our measly fan and a mosquito feast.

06.21.10

We woke to cook our free breakfast of pancakes and eggs on the smoking communal skillet of our hostel. Soon we were in a van bumping along a dusty road in the middle of the jungle with our guide Victor to a massive cave mouth opening to a network of underground rivers 100km’s long. The Yucatan has no proper rivers, only underwater ones like these that flow through stone caves underground.

Flashlights, goggles, and flippers equipped we spent the next hour exploring the pitch black cave complex. Barely dodging stalactites overhead and stalagmites under, we swam through bats and tiny fish inhabiting the dark. It was a truly unique experience.

Next we hit up the beach and dove in for an awesome turtle and stingray hunt. There were more green turtles here than any we’ve ever seen in one place. We spent an hour exploring the reef and grassy shallows, chasing turtles through the crystal clear waters then headed back to the hostel.

After a snack and a nap we headed again to Dreams Resort to meet Kristen and Jason’s family for an awesome wedding along the flawless white and blue beach. Both families were a lot of fun, the food delicious, ceremony beautiful and the wine and tequila flowed like water. Congrats you two!

To wrap our first town adventure up I want to express how normal it feels to be on the road again. As if our life living in Oakland was just a short pause until our new adventure. The heat is extraordinary, but bearable compared to SE Asia and especially India. The people here are wonderful, our Spanish is improving rapidly, and never once have we felt less than 100% safe. Southern Mexico is great!

More photos of Tulum:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157624395017146/