12 August: Tulum and Mayan Ruins

Today was amazing and our first taste of authentic Mexican culture, we left Playa del Carmen at 9am; which was surprisingly easy despite my late night haha. We caught a bus to Tulum, which took about 45 minutes. As soon as we got there myself and a few of the girls headed straight to the pool to sunbathe, the rest of our group rented bikes and cycled straight to the Mayan ruins. There was absolutely no way you were going to get me on a bike at that time of the morning in that heat. I'm sorry but no, it ain't happening sister.

Midday came and happy hour started (2 for 1 cocktails, oh heyyy) so I got back on the margaritas, would be rude not to and when they only cost 60 pesos (I think that's just under £3) how can you say no?! Answer: I can't. We had lunch and attempted to teach Erica, my roommate, how to ride a bike. She got it but wasn't really feeling taking on the busy highway down to the ruins straight away, I seriously don't blame her, so we attempted to catch a bus there. This consisted of us crossing the road about 4 times and finally asking for directions only to realise we were in the right place to start with. The buses here are weird, not really buses at all, they're called colectivos. Its just a line that runs from Cancun to Tulum and they're literally little white vans that you can flag down on the highway. We flagged down about 3, all of which were full so we gave up and got a taxi. Felt a bit like a cop out but when you're standing in the heat with sweat pouring out of you, an air-conned taxi sings to you haha.

When we got to the ruins, we spoke to this man about getting our tickets and getting over to the site, we ended up with a barrage of information about the Cenotes that are nearby, we did try and explain that we're doing that tomorrow and had already booked it but he carried on anyway... Eventually he pointed us to the station where the "tram" picks you up. It's a train, well 3 carriages dragged along by this funny little contraption. WORST DESCRIPTION EVER. I know I suck. 

Blah blah blah, travelled along some dusty roads, blah blah blah, nearly ran over a load of people. Stop. We eventually reached the site and wow it is breathtaking. It's crazy to think that this was all built over a thousand years ago and stands in such good condition particularly as when you look closer it just seems like a load of rocks tossed on top of each other. Another outstanding description by moi, I do apologise.

Ok so the temples and ruins were fascinating enough but me and Erica seemed just as enthralled with the amount of iguanas roaming about. One in particular had us laughing because he had a really thick neck which looked like a scrotum so we called him Scrotie. I know at 23 we're so mature, but whatcha gna do? ;) 

The Tulum ruins are built on the edge of a cliff, so behind them is a beautiful beach, one part of which was closed because it's the season for turtles to come up to shore and lay their eggs. The rest, however, was open for business although I kept to the sand as the seaweed problem is relatively bad like in Playa del Carmen and my hate for seaweed (unless it's on a plate) has not changed. 

Piles of seaweed just washed up on the shoreline

After we'd seen all the ruins and what looked like two iguanas enjoying a packet of Cheetos...

.... We headed to the shops and bartered our way around the stalls. 

I managed to limit myself to a single Mayan calendar wall plaque (which I love!) and a solid silver bangle complete with an iguana on it.... Well I needed a memory of Scrotie 😂

That was it really for the day, we went to a supermarket and discovered how cheap Mexican supermarkets, seriously I want to do Supermarket Sweep in there! It's huuuuge and has literally everything.... Except dry shampoo, fuck my life. The search continues...

XOXO