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Tulum to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico – 1/18/2017

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January 18, 2017 (Wednesday)

Moving day so we packed up all our stuff into the car and took off to explore before we could check into our new “home” in Playa del Carmen. Michael and I first stopped at a local gas station type place to get some coffee! We desperately needed it. We felt like they charged us tourist prices but it was still cheaper than in California.

We went to the Tulum ruins, which were very close to where we were staying in Tulum. They were pretty spectacular in that some were on hillsides overlooking the ocean. So stunning. I agree with Michael in that the Mayans knew how to live and put their compounds in the prettiest places. We walked around and enjoyed all we could.

Riding the tram to the ruins.
Modern steps on the way to the ruins.
Security entrance.
They must have been a small people.
This was a beautiful and fairly large city.
You have to stare at it and fill in the gaps that time has created, imagine it whole and functional.
Pretty women selfie.
Long time resident.
Murals inside that suggest an artistic life.
Must have been really nice it its day.
Lots of hard physical labor went into these structures.
They knew how to live, I’d want my house up here.
Looking down the coast from one of the buildings.
The grounds are wonderful and my imagination runs wild thinking about how it must have been to live here.

We left and headed to the Grand Cenote. Aaron and Arla had gone there last year and said it was their favorite. I think I agree with them as it was pretty spectacular. Got to see bats and turtles in one cenote. So neat. Cenotes are now one of my favorite things to do. The water is so clear and warm. The caves are fun to explore, and the fish working on your feet in some of the cenotes is just too cool.  There were lockers for rent here.  We locked everything up so not many pictures (sorry).

There were about 20 turtles around this section.
Looking at turtles in the wild.
Another turtle section.

The kids wanted to go to another cenote nearby, Dos Ojos Cenotes. We drove there, miles down a long, rugged road. Saw some iguanas, which are interesting little (and big) creatures. Michael and I decided to just go into a nearby restaurant and have linner while Aaron and Arla went to the cenote. It was a thatched roof restaurant. Way fun and the food was pretty good.

80+ degrees out and this high thatched roof felt like 70. Kept the heat away from us.
Steak with rice and beans for Edie.
Club sandwich for me.
Pretty woman resting after a nice lunch.
Beautiful flowers in bloom here.

We all talked and Michael and I decided to take the bullet and do a Mexico timeshare presentation. We had been told (and read on TUG) never to do it. Our justification was we needed to do one for the blog (and the book we’ll be writing later), and the fact that Ramz was willing to give us four tickets to Xcaret. We all wanted to go to Xcaret but didn’t want to pay the big bucks to go. ($150.00 USD each!)

We left and went into Playa del Carmen to try to find our AirBnB  condo, which was a task in itself. When we finally did find it we were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. The only thing, again, was that you could not put any toilet paper down the toilet. Will never get used to that but…when in Rome!

Bright colors in the dining area.
Aaron and Arla enjoyed their room.
Master was very comfortable.

 

A modern and well appointed kitchen.
All the utensils and small appliances you’d want.
Aaron and Grumpy planning the night out in a very pleasant living room.
They put a nice effort into making us feel welcome.
Nice shower in the master.
The kids got a hold of Edie’s phone.
They took lots of odd photos of themselves.

That was our day. Hope yours was great!