To say we only went to Mexico for a week we managed to pack in a lot of sightseeing. One of the top things we wanted to do was go visiting Tulum, Mexico. We’d been told that the local buses ran every 3 minutes outside the hotel and for a mere 35 peso’s each and 20 minute journey up the road we would reach Tulum. Sadly, our rep told us that the best time to go would be 4pm as it would be quieter and less hot but as we arrived the first time around 4.20pm we were told that the gates were shut and last entry had already been. Feeling a little deflated we had a beer in the local bar and then set back off home reluctantly, but with a plan to get up early the next day and try again.
The next day we woke up early enough and made our way for an earlier breakfast so we could set off with good time. We arrived about 10.30am, so a perfect time to not get hoards of people stampeding around and just before it got far too hot in the midday sun. I must warn you, that on the walk down to Tulum (you can get a little train down if you are feeling a little weary) it takes about ten minutes & you will be hassled by traders. They are absolutely fine but I let my guard down with the gent who had a twenty year old iguana he was showing off at the side of the road. He asked us to come look and have a stroke and a photo. He said that it was free. He even let my husband, James hold the iguana – I (stupidly) took a photo and off we went, or so we thought. The man started then demanding $5 from us. We were flabbergasted, we hadn’t even any dollars on us and he had told us it was free. Now normally I have my wits about me but because all the Mexican’s we had met so far had been so warm and welcoming my guard slipped. I told him that he told us it was free and that I would delete the photos (called his bluff) and he started to back off. This is more a warning for anyone to not get lured in to this tourist trap & I felt ever so stupid for letting myself fall for it.
Bad experience aside we set off down the road making sure to stay under the shade because even at that time it was pretty warm. Most days the humidity was over 85% making it feel very close and muggy. Tickets in to Tulum were only 62 peso’s each. If you are a frequent traveller and don’t mind doing things independently I would recommend doing it this was as you save so much money. The tour companies want to charge 72$ for the privilege of visiting here. With it not being as far as places like Chichen Itza it’s something I would confidently say you can do on your own!
To say the view was spectacular would be a huge understatement. It was absolute bliss, a pure paradise. It’s easy to see why the Mayan’s created this Walled City as a Port for the main City of Coba, another astounding area of natural beauty. It’s the only site in existence in Mexico that was built by the sea, making it a major town for trading. Everywhere you look there is something you spot that just encapsulates how incredibly reliant the Mayan’s were on creating beautiful structures and how it would best serve them during their time settled there. Not only does the history serve this attraction well, it’s a major nesting site for sea turtles. Sadly we didn’t see any that day but I imagine it would be a wonderful, heart warming experience to see them all make their way to the sea for their first swim in the shores of the Caribbean coast.
In every shaded part of the ruins (and some blatantly sunbathing in the sun) you would find plenty of iguana’s from teeny-weeny sized ones up to the ginormous sized Mexican dinosaurs as they like to call them. They are part of the family here and some even happily pose for you whilst you captured a candid shot! At every point there was something beautiful to see & it helped that the sky was permanently a gorgeous shade of blue and the sun beaming down. It was the first time that we managed to get a little bit of breeze stood on the clifftops that I could have just stayed there all day just staring at the Templo Dios del Viento (God of Winds Temple) which once guarded Tulum’s sea entrance bay. It was so serene.
As we got closer to the midday sun, things started to get a little hot and it became much busier that we needed some shade – we decided it was time to head back to the hotel and have a little rest and get some well deserved sunbathing time. We’d spent so much of our time exploring we needed a little bit of Rn’R. Before that we stopped off and had a little beer at the local bar and then hopped back on the local ”operativ” mini buses back to the hotel. I can’t wait to share my post on the hotel with you soon!
Have you ever visited Tulum? Are you thinking of travelling to Mexico on your next holiday? I’d love to hear from you.
Bee xxx
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