Mehling.org: Tulum Ruins

March 15, 2008

Tulum Ruins

3/15 (Saturday)

David was up earlier than us, checking out a Hostel across the road and getting breakfast. He finally shamed us out of bed -- we hadn't slept that well and were really tired. El Cuccero had a little restaurant bar in the courtyard, so we grabbed some grub there (the chilaquila con lluevos were excellent). We walked our bags across the street to the Lobo Inn Hostel (the middle thumbnail is the room we rented) and then headed down the road to see the Tulum ruins.

On the way to the site, there was a small market area selling the typical stuff we would end up seeing in hundreds of little sidewalk stands and shops for the next two weeks. Shirts, hats, jewelery, knick-knacks, art work, etc. We'd decided to buy our travel hats in Mexico, so Hol and David picked out there's. I didn't see any I liked, so I stuck with my baseball cap. Hol picked out a canvas number with a Tulum logo on the front. When the salesman told me the price, all my memory of shopping in Mexico was gone. I completely forgot to haggle. I just said, "okay". $20 was probably too steep, but in the end the hat served Hol well. I was satisfied to hear that David haggled his hat down to $20 from $30, so we didn't pay too much.

In the center of the market square was a dancing pole, and a group of locals in Mayan dress were demonstrating the dance along with playing the traditional instruments. We took some photos and tipped the group before heading down the road to the ruins.

The Tulum site isn't incredibly large, but is very picturesque. The site sits directly on some small cliffs looking down onto picture perfect Caribbean waters. We walked amongst the ruins for an hour or so. Like all the ruins we visited, iguanas slithered and clung to various buildings -- I think they liked the attention. On the far side of the compound, there's stairs that take you down to the beach. We found a quiet section on the far end and went for dip. The water was gorgeous and it was hot out, so we stayed for an hour or so before heading back to highway. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for beers and snacks at El Cucerro, then at the eco-tour office to book a tour in the Sian Ka'an wilderness preserve. It turned out they didn't have slots available for the following morning, so we took the Monday morning slot. Siesta time!

We headed into town to walk around before dinner. David was looking for an estetica run by some gay guys that he had gotten a haircut from on his last visit to Tulum. In the process of hunting we walked a couple blocks off the main street and into a Saturday night street fair. There was local treats for sale, pirated music and movies, and lots of other goods -- none of it was targeted at touristas, so this stuff was different than what we had encountered on the main street. There was a large group of people watching a mock bull fight of some sort. Before we realized what was happening a string of really loud firecrackers was going off, making Hol and I jump about 10 feet. Some locals standing across the street laughed and laughed at us. We grinned back. David stopped to get a snack... Mexican Corn on the Cob (grilled or boiled corn cob, smeared with mayo, then lime juice and then sprinkled with cotija cheese and cayenne pepper, on a stick).

We stopped at restaurant for a late dinner -- I had some homemade empenadas and we shared margaritas. We stopped at an Italian run and owned gelatto store. David kindly acted as the proxy between Hol and the owner, asking questions about wheat content in the gelatto . They thought we were crazy -- who puts wheat in their ice cream?! Better safe than sorry though. We caught a collectivo back to the hostel and Hol made friends with a father and his infant daughter. We learned that the collectivo would cost us 10 pesos per person, where as a taxi would cost 30 pesos. In other words, if we were all together, the cost was the same.

Photo Album:
http://mehling.org/gallery/v/travels/2008_mexico/Day+2/

Posted by ben at March 15, 2008 10:00 PM


« Finally! \| Main \| Coba Ruins » March 15, 2008 Tulum Ruins 3/15 (Saturday) David was up earlier than us, checking out a Hostel across the road and getting breakfast. He finally shamed us out of bed -- we hadn't slept that well and were really tired. El Cuccero had a little restaurant bar in the courtyard, so we grabbed some grub there (the chilaquila con lluevos were excellent). We walked our bags across the street to the Lobo Inn Hostel (the middle thumbnail is the room we rented) and then headed down the road to see the Tulum ruins. On the way to the site, there was a small market area selling the typical stuff we would end up seeing in hundreds of little sidewalk stands and shops for the next two weeks. Shirts, hats, jewelery, knick-knacks, art work, etc. We'd decided to buy our travel hats in Mexico, so Hol and David picked out there's. I didn't see any I liked, so I stuck with my baseball cap. Hol picked out a canvas number with a Tulum logo on the front. When the salesman told me the price, all my memory of shopping in Mexico was gone. I completely forgot to haggle. I just said, "okay". $20 was probably too steep, but in the end the hat served Hol well. I was satisfied to hear that David haggled his hat down to $20 from $30, so we didn't pay too much. In the center of the market square was a dancing pole, and a group of locals in Mayan dress were demonstrating the dance along with playing the traditional instruments. We took some photos and tipped the group before heading down the road to the ruins. The Tulum site isn't incredibly large, but is very picturesque. The site sits directly on some small cliffs looking down onto picture perfect Caribbean waters. We walked amongst the ruins for an hour or so. Like all the ruins we visited, iguanas slithered and clung to various buildings -- I think they liked the attention. On the far side of the compound, there's stairs that take you down to the beach. We found a quiet section on the far end and went for dip. The water was gorgeous and it was hot out, so we stayed for an hour or so before heading back to highway. On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for beers and snacks at El Cucerro, then at the eco-tour office to book a tour in the Sian Ka'an wilderness preserve. It turned out they didn't have slots available for the following morning, so we took the Monday morning slot. Siesta time! We headed into town to walk around before dinner. David was looking for an estetica run by some gay guys that he had gotten a haircut from on his last visit to Tulum. In the process of hunting we walked a couple blocks off the main street and into a Saturday night street fair. There was local treats for sale, pirated music and movies, and lots of other goods -- none of it was targeted at touristas, so this stuff was different than what we had encountered on the main street. There was a large group of people watching a mock bull fight of some sort. Before we realized what was happening a string of really loud firecrackers was going off, making Hol and I jump about 10 feet. Some locals standing across the street laughed and laughed at us. We grinned back. David stopped to get a snack... Mexican Corn on the Cob (grilled or boiled corn cob, smeared with mayo, then lime juice and then sprinkled with cotija cheese and cayenne pepper, on a stick). We stopped at restaurant for a late dinner -- I had some homemade empenadas and we shared margaritas. We stopped at an Italian run and owned gelatto store. David kindly acted as the proxy between Hol and the owner, asking questions about wheat content in the gelatto . They thought we were crazy -- who puts wheat in their ice cream?! Better safe than sorry though. We caught a collectivo back to the hostel and Hol made friends with a father and his infant daughter. We learned that the collectivo would cost us 10 pesos per person, where as a taxi would cost 30 pesos. In other words, if we were all together, the cost was the same. Photo Album: http://mehling.org/gallery/v/travels/2008_mexico/Day+2/ Posted by ben at March 15, 2008 10:00 PM		Bookmarks Ben's Resume Ben's Lists Mehling Photo Album Flickr Photo Album Recently Archived Cozumal and Playa Palancar Akumal Desperately Seeking Lodging See you in nine days Sian Ka'an Coba Ruins Tulum Ruins Finally! 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