January 17–19, 2014 - Tulum

Seems like we have fallen into a routine : sleep late, walk into town, come back, read & nap, eat, go to bed. It’s not a problem!

Friday morning was sunny, but cool. We took a walk then went back to the apartment for lunch.We decided to go into town for dinner even though it was sprinkling and had dinner at Dona Tina. Tobey had the chicken soup and I had a chicken dish with rice and beans. The meals were okay, but not sure we will go back. The rain stopped during dinner so we took a stroll down to the square to see if there was anything going on. There was a group of “clowns” setting up for a show. Since my Spanish is rusty and Tobey’s worse, we opted to pass and headed home.

Saturday - The sun came out – and Tobey is starting to feel better! We walked into town, checked out different areas, picked up a couple groceries, and stopped for lunch. One of the high schools we passed had murals painted all along the outside wall. We have noticed several signs urging a stop to violence around town. I hope it is working!
Another thing that is difficult for us to comprehend coming from Colorado is what seems to be total lack of concern over dumping trash in the street. We have noticed this all over Mexico and Tulum is no different.

We stopped at El Chino for lunch and had shrimp and fish tacos.

Three fish tacos or three shrimp tacos were $51 pesos. They also served chips and the hot fish dip, as well as pico de gallo – YUMMY!

We hung out at the apartment and read, then watched a movie before going out for a late dinner. Every time we had gone by our dinner stop, the place was always packed with locals, as well as tourists, so we figured it was good – and it was, as well as cheap! They specialize in tacos al pastor. “Al pastor” is a dish developed in Central Mexico, likely as a result of the adoption of the shawarma spit-grilled meat brought by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico. We both had 2 tacos and split a glass of horchata. Horchata is a milky drink made from ground rice. It doesn’t sound very good, but it is usually very good. This one was a little watery and not as sweet as others we have had, but it’s a nice change from soft drinks. I forgot to take my camera so no pictures of the meat on the spit! We will probably go back – 4 tacos and one large drink was only $40 pesos! ($3 USD)

We walked around town and went to the square where the church across the street was having a huge outside revival type service. They had lots of music and praise team action going on. After getting a chocolate crepe, we headed back to the apartment around 10pm.

Today,we got up early so we could go to the beach before the Broncos-Patriots game. We walked into town and caught a Colectivo (a kind of mini-van shuttle bus) to the beach.

It was beautiful! We walked up the beach,then stopped and “borrowed” one of the hotel’s beach chairs for a while. We walked back down the beach before deciding to head back to town. Back on the street we watched for a colectivo, but didn’t see one, so opted to take a taxi. The collective was $30 pesos from the center of town; the taxi was $70 pesos from the beach to our door. Not bad either way!

Back at the apartment in time for showers, lunch, and the Broncos/Patriots game. Needless to say, we were VERY happy with the turnout! Broncos are Super Bowl bound!

We saw this delivery motorcycle on Saturday and took it to be an omen that we were going to deliver at the game today and we did!
Hopefully the sun will be out again tomorrow and we will head back to the beach!