Tulum is known for its ruins overlooking sky-blue ocean.  It is sometimes referred to as “Zama”, the “City of Dawn.”  The ruins are the third most visited site in Mexico.

On August 1, my family and I visited those ruins.  Our plan for the day was to wake up early, spend an hour traveling to the ruins, take an hour to observe them and take photos, then hang out at an all-inclusive resort for the rest of the day.  It would be an easy-going, fun morning, then relaxing time at the beach and pools.  That’s not what actually happened!

At about 7 am, we woke up and dressed for the day.  We needed to catch the autobus in time so we wouldn’t get to the resort too late in the day.  Just as it was leaving, we came running with our tickets and boarded.  We were not dropped off at the entrance to the Mayan ruins and had to walk a long, long way!  The sun had risen and there were no trees shading the walkway.  We all began to sweat profusely!  After walking, and walking, and walking in the scorching heat, we reached our destination and continued to walk a ways to the place where we needed to buy more tickets.  Ryan, Katie, and Danny had all forgotten to bring water bottles (!!!) and so, as you can imagine, were quite dehydrated and exhausted by this time.  When we were finally admitted to the site, we were so tired, exhausted, and not feeling well, that we spent about only 30 minutes there!

From there, we began the small hike back to the entrance and left.  Looking for a cab to the resort (just a few miles away) was a nightmare!  Every single cab who pulled aside charged WAY too much!  After walking for a while (again!) in the heat, we finally found a bus to take us the rest of the way (about 2 or 3 miles, and yet he still charged us about $8!)  Once we arrived at the resort, and were cleared to come in, we found a restaurant right away (we hadn’t eaten anything yet!) and sat down to a Mexican meal.  The rest of the day was relaxing; sitting on the beach and swimming in the pools.  The night ended with a delicious five-course, French dinner and the trip back home on a collectivo.  But we had to get a cab from the collectivo to home.  That was also a frustrating experience!  We hopped into a cab – three people in each – (there are set prices for different zones) but when we reached home, the cab drivers began to argue about the price and wouldn’t back down.  The police eventually showed up on the scene, but a lot of good they did!  They sided with the cab drivers and we ended up having to pay them what they wanted anyway.  Completely drained, we were all more than happy to go right to sleep!

Though the day was stressful and exhausting at times, it was still a lot of fun seeing ruins which have stood there for hundreds of years.  Trying to imagine what life would have been like for the Mayans at that time period is pretty cool!  And I also enjoyed being at the resort.  So, apart from the morning (which still had some good parts 🙂 ), and the cab rides ( ), it was a pretty good day!

Resources:

locogringo.com

tulumtravel.com

The winding path that never ended-we had to walk the whole way! Haha!

The view from one of the ruins. If we hadn’t all been dehydrated, I would have loved to take some more pictures.

Spot the Iguana? Look at him sitting there. He be like, “I’m King of the Rock (Ruin)!”-Line taken from Mulan 🙂

Delicious, buttery, crunchy breading, containing creamy goodness!

The special of the night- breaded chicken with…some fancy gourmet sauce and the like!

Ice-cream…on a fried, sweet, waffle-like piece of heaven!

And for dessert round 2…cheesecake! with assorted fruits (as the sophisticated menu reads).

Sorry the pic is blurry. It was night, and when I used flash, the fire looked like water (see picture below).

If you want to see a video of this dessert, check out this link: foodonfire.vimeo

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