Through the rain and flooded roads towards Tulum Rosie and The Operator drove. The two hour trip turned into two and three quarters because of the horrendous road conditions and reduced visability but we knew when we had finally arrived in Tulum, because look, a sign that tells us! How cool is that!
Rosie made The Operator stand by the ‘L’ in the middle to record this moment….The Operator was just into his best cheesy pose humoring Rosie when a bird swooped down from the trees behind and attacked The Operator scratching his head and drawing blood. Sorry, no photographic evidence, it all happened too quick….can you get rabies from birds?
Think we had better go straight to the hotel with no more detours….and so we finally arrive at Piedro Escondita our home in Tulum for the next three days.
Rosie and the Operator are quite excited, we have never been on a beach holiday before and have never stayed at a beach hotel. Rosie chose this one as it has a small private beach and only eight rooms, there wont be loads of people out on the sand and it will be nice and quiet. Never mind that is is raining at the moment, it will clear up and the famous Caribbean sun will shine on the white beach and the blue sea.
First things first, we are being offered a welcome cocktail from Check in Girl (who speaks perfect English) and that cocktail is very welcome, Rosie is getting used to this beach lifestyle already and yay, the rain has nearly stopped.
Our room is up the stairs and on the top floor, it overlooks the sea and there are two balconies to choose from, each with an exceptional view, Rosie is excited she can imagine herself sitting with the Operator watching the sun set whilst drinking a beverage out of a pineapple.
The rain will stop, so surely the wind will die down too, at the moment there is no way we can open the balcony doors as the wind and rain are are coming straight in off the sea.
Rosie notices the beach and stares at the tide line in horror. Check in Girl sees Rosies reactions and assures her the extreme amount of seaweed banked up six feet wide and knee height deep is very uncommon and has been washed up because of the storm and the surges from that. When the storm clears in a couple of days, the seaweed will stop washing up…WHAT?!
Yes, said Check In Girl we are in the middle of a tropical storm, it is due to blow out in a couple of days. But we are only there for three days….that is the end of Rosies much longed for and anticipated beach holiday. Still never mind we still have a great viewpoint inside to watch the storm and the sea through the windows…plus, as an added bonus we cannot smell the stinky seaweed from inside.
Into Tulum town we drive, there is a lull in the rain, and we want to make the most of our time here. The town of Tulum is split into two zones, the beach and the town. The beach where we are staying is packed with low rise resorts and hotels a couple of stories high which have been built on the waters edge. A narrow road has been carved along the back boundary of the hotels, literally slashed out of the jungle and tarsealed. Some properties have high concrete walls with razor wire or broken glass set into the top to stop unauthorised folk from accessing their grounds and beach…as a trade, most do have awesome murals on them.
On the other side of the road is a single strip of small shops, bars and cheaper accommodation with no sea view that back into the dense, lush jungle. There is no curb and channel, there is no storm water drainage and there also appears to be minimal rubbish collections….looking into the jungle, behind the bars are sadly, huge piles of rubbish, dumpings and leavings.
It is a four kilometre drive from the beach to town. The road is wide and has one of the better surfaces, there is also a bike lane as this seems to be the preferred mode of transport in these here parts. Tulum town is built on either side of the main highway.
I use the word highway loosely, it is the main road and not that busy by any standards. There is a pedestrian median strip down the middle and the town stretches for a good one kilometer grid. The town of Tulum itself is home to 28,000 people that are mainly hippy nomads from around the world, tourists, locals and folk that work in the hospitality industry.
The town reminds me of one that has been hastily and cheaply thrown together. Some of the buildings are ramshackle shanties, some are not. The main road does have curb and channeling…but appears to have no drainage so the road fills up like a swimming pool, in some areas and you are wading through the water that the rain has bought. The shop keepers heckle you good naturedly from in front of their shops as you pass. It’s a quiet day with the rain, most of the souvenier shops have sheets of plastic over their goods protecting them from the rain.
The service shops like this chemist is open to the world, they do not have any walls when they are open during the day, when they close, big roller shutters come down to enclose it. Same as this dairy, open to the elements the owner was continually dusting everything, this stray dog, of which there are a few roaming around, knew where to shelter during the rain storm that came back in force.
Tulum is an odd place catering for an eclectic mix of visitors, it does have something for everyone though, cheap and tawdry souvenir shops, basic taco stalls and street side food vendors, cafes straight from a street anywhere in Europe, upscale restaurants and middle of the road. It really is a bizarre scene, all of the above jumbled together on the dusty roadside seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
We drive back to the beach and to our room, oh no, the huge weather bombs that exploded over us while we were in town have pushed the rain through the joinery of our front facing window and flooded our room! The hotel is lovely, gracious and very apologetic in a jiffy they have mopped everything up and packed the doors with towels in preparation or anticipation of the next weather front.
Rosie and The Operator head across the road to a small pumping bar. Everything is double the price at the beach compared to town but still goes a long way to our conversion.
We sit at the bar and another great margarita is mixed for us rimmed with a delicious chili salt. The Operator quizzes the barman on tequila vs mescal….then samples a few, no one slams any here…except the Americans, Mexicans are all sippers and with each sip you take a pinch of crushed worm salt, yes, from that famous mescal floater and finish with a suck of orange. Yes, that fruit is a Mexican green orange….they smell and taste like the ripest juiciest orange orange you have ever eaten…but they are green…go figure. Rosie still reckons any drink you have to add all these whistles and bells to with every mouthful cant be that palatable…The Operator agreed….he is not sold on Mescal….he prefers Tequila. We will give you the Tequila vs Mescal 101 another day.
Its time for bed, the howling wind and the roaring sea put Rosie to sleep super quick. Tomorrow we are off to visit our first Mayan Ruins and cenote. It will be an exciting day….hopefully the weather will clear.
