Just got back from spending 7 days in Tulum with Nataly. It was a very challenging trip for reasons which I don’t entirely want to get into here (at least not all of them), but there also were some very beautiful things and some cool stuff to write about, so here I am writing down the good (and a few of the bad) things for posterity. I also really want to save all these pictures! Pictures always look better in tropical areas. I’d never been to Tulum or to this part of Mexico before so it was a new experience all around. The idea of the trip was to relax so I booked us an all-inclusive resort called Bahia Principe Grand Tulum. One of the best parts of the trip was the food; they had an amazing buffet that was basically open all the time, with everything you could ever want. My favorite part was all the grilled and broiled fish dishes; from Grouper to Mahi Mahi to Sea Bass and everything else, grilled with butter, and olives, or tomatoes, or broiled; all of it super fresh and moist and amazing. The rest of the food was good, too, and free drinks of course. Saved a huge amount of money and time.
The ocean was nice but they are having a serious problem with seaweed. I don’t know if it’s seasonal or global warming related or what; the ocean was extremely warm, and there was just a ton of seaweed. They were trying to get rid of it with tractors and what-not but falling absurdly behind. But we did get out once or twice for some light snorkeling and saw a bunch of cool fish, including a “Ukraine fish” with a yellow bottom and blue top.
My second favorite part of the trip was the Cenotes, which are basically underground caves formed out of the limestone that are now filled with water and a running river. We went to 6 different ones and they were all cool in different ways. My favorite was Jaguar because they had platforms you could jump off of into the water and they also had an included zipline, which I loved. It was fun to go back to my old days of youth jumping off bridges in Florida. The second best one was probably Segundo Ojo, the second eye, which was part of Dos Ojos park (as was Jaguar), because it was huge and we had a good snorkeling mask and you could really see down into the caves. Next time I go I’m going to scuba dive. We also went to Cenote Azul, which was fun because it was cheaper and there were more locals and more fish. Nicte-Ha and the first Ojo were also cool; Nicte-Ha had beautiful lily plants. The only one that was a bit of a dud was Gran Cenote because it was really expensive and touristy and hot.
We also went to the ruins at Tulum and that was OK but it was super hot. We only went into Tulum twice and didn’t get much of a feel for it; it seems cool but we were trying to relax at the resort.
I did have a few mishaps including cutting my foot open on a glass at the pool at the resort (fortunately, the last night we were there). I also got pulled over by Mexican police on the highway and they searched me and Nataly and the car, which was pretty terrifying although they were fairly nice about it and eventually just let us go, because, you know, we weren’t doing anything wrong. Kind of made me connect with how people of color feel in Oakland.
I had a lot of fun but it was a challenging trip. The heat was intense during the day and sucked the joy out of certain activities. And we just ran into some challenges. But still it was a fun and memorable trip. I always love travelling and this was no exception.
