January 20, 2014 - Tulum

Back to the beach for us today! Tobey forgot something in the apartment, so I started off without him. As I rounded the corner from the apartment, I saw a mother and her child kind of jump back. I spotted a snake on the road which they had also seen. Glad I had my camera, I stopped to take a picture before heading on. Tobey caught up a few blocks down the road and we walked to the colectivo stand (about 2 km from here). We were about 30 minutes early for the 10:30, but opted to wait. After a couple folks got on, we decided we better too, if we wanted to get a seat. There are benches around the interior perimeter of the van which will accommodate about 15 people and two seats in the front. We should have taken the two seats in the front with the driver…. By the time we were ready to leave, there were 28 people in the back – and only one was a baby! I’m just glad we had a seat near the door because it had a window! We also figured out that the driver overcharged us yesterday. This van had the prices posted and it was only $20 pesos for the two of us, not $30 to the beach. We also decided that next time, if the two front seats are open, we are taking them!

We went back to La Zebra and walked on the beach going south today.

We walked, and walked, and walked, then we turned around and walked back! We both took a small swim – the water was a little cool when we first got in, but it was refreshing. We watched some of the kite surfers who were really scooting along!

We also saw several dogs having fun in the water and on the beach. This fella just followed his master into the surf, jumping over the waves that came in. We also watched the cutest Cocker Spaniel racing along with his little girl and her mom. It didn’t like the water too much and had great side-running abilities every time a wave got to close!

About 1 p.m. we headed out to the street and grabbed some lunch at a taquería. We each had 2 tacos and split a “lemonade” which was actually fresh squeezed LIME juice with a teaspoon of sugar added. The food was okay, but probably the worst we have had so far. The lemonade would have been better with a shot of tequila instead of the sugar!

I had to take a picture of these women painting the bar at the taqueria because it reminded me of a quilt pattern! We finished in time to catch the 1:30 colectivo back to town.

We got out near the supermarket so we could pick up milk and cereal, as well as a couple asthma inhalers for Tyler, before we walked home. Both of us were complaining about tired feet by the time we got back. When we got near the apartment, the snake was STILL there. Needless to say, it was dead. Someone had thumped it on the head with a shovel. From what we could figure out online it is a coral snake mimic, Sibon sartorii. They are brightly colored black and orange or red snakes from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and look similar to coral snakes. Oh well, it was still cool to see.

Tobey mapped our walking today and figured we came in at about 9 miles in flip flops – no wonder our feet were sore. After showers, we both decided that hanging out, reading and having dinner in was the order of the evening!