Riviera Maya, Mexico

Trip Start Apr 07, 2006

Trip End Aug 18, 2006

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Flag of Mexico Riviera Maya, Mexico
Monday, July 10, 2006

I was warned that Mexico was hot by a few people in Belize, but I thought it was hot there, so Mexico couldn't be much hotter. I was wrong. It seemed that as soon as I crossed the border, it was 5 degrees hotter. I'm guessing it was in the late 30's.

I was on my way up to Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula, but after a long hot day I regretted leaving Belize and didn't really like Tulum. It was town built on either side of a massive highway and was packed with American and French families on their 2 week summer holidays and all the shops and prices reflected this. However I was in Mexico to stay and I knew I would have to adjust my attitude otherwise I wouldn't enjoy it.

That happened to be very easy, when the next day I went to the Tulum ruins with Xavier (a French Canadian guy I met in Caye Caulker)

01_Main palace at Tulum

. It was stunning! The 1,000 year old Mayan ruins are perched on top of a cliff overlooking the crystal clear blue waters of the Caribbean. I reckon 1,000 years ago King Big Jaguar Paw saw these beaches and ordered his subjects to build him a penthouse with ocean views. And that's what they did. I spent a few hours looking around the ruins of Tulum and then Xavier and I went down to the beaches. And here it was: the reason people come to Tulum. Not the crappy transport hub of a town, but the white beaches and beautiful blue water. The next night Xavier and I rented a cabana on the beach and it was paradise.

I went on a snorkelling trip on the reef a few hundred meters off shore with a few other randoms. At the first stop we didn't see much because the water was pretty deep and murky. We then moved to a much shallower and calmer part of the reef. And there it was. A turtle!! I swallowed a mouth full of sea water I was so excited. It was the first turtle I had ever seen and it was incredibly beautiful and elegant. Unfortunately the small turtle (abt 30cm long) had other things to do than hang around and pose for a tourist, and made off across the reef. That sighting definitely was the highlight of Tulum!

That night we had a few beers with the other people from the cabanas on the beach

02_Xavier,Fernando and me outside the Tulum cabana

. Unfortunately I didn't get much sleep that night because of the incredible heat (I woke up thinking I must have sleep walked and gone for a swim in my clothes, but it was just sweat!) and the voracious mosquitos. It was a tough choice between sweating to death or exposing your body and being eaten alive.

The next day I carried on north to Playa del Carmen, another touristy place even more packed with summer vacationers. However I got lucky. The hostel where I stayed had mainly Mexicans staying there and they were a great bunch. I'm pretty sure this can only happen in Mexico: Last night we went out (Me, a French girl and abt 6 Mexicans) and on the way out Xemena (Mexican girl) got stung by a scorpion! because she wasn't wearing any shoes! After a couple minutes discussion between the Mexican experts it was decided that the best cure was Tequila! We had a great night because one of the guys (the hostel owner) is a Playa resident so he took us to all the best and hippest bars and clubs (and for free too! - saving $25 US entry at one place alone. And we didn't have to queue up.) even though I didn't even have shoes (I chivalrously had given my thongs to Xemena, admittedly after the horse had bolted). I spent most of the night treading very carefully. Eventually at abt 4AM when half her body was numb, we decided it was probably best to take Xemena to the hospital, but they didn't provide much help and she decided to sleep it off

03_Tulum beach

. (For those of you that are worried I saw her this afternoon and she's alive).

Today on Miriam's (French girl) advice I headed to another beach abt half an hour south of Playa del Carmen called Akumal. It was absolutely beautiful with the white sand beaches and blue seas. I hired snorkelling gear and went in, not expecting much. But there it was again! Not one, but 4 full grown loggerhead turtles (almost a metre each), just hanging about. Once again I swallowed a mouthful of sea water. These are such beautiful, serene creatures, that don't have any natural predators (apparently) and that's why they are so docile. The most incredible thing was when one of the turtles surfaced for air, he swam straight for me and was a mere 30CM from my face, looking straight at me when he took his breath of air. It was defiantly one of the highlights of my nature watching career. I spent absolute ages just floating on the water, watching these gentle old men of the sea go about their business (which involved eating sea grass and surfacing for air). In the end I think I saw abt 10 or 12 turtles, a 1 metre barracuda and a sting ray!

Unfortunately it was time to go - I had seen a man braaing chicken on the side of the road earlier and I was hungry....(best chicken of Central America so far). Tomorrow I'll leave Playa del Carmen, but I can guarantee it wont be far from the beautiful beaches and sea.......