January 21–22, 2014 - Tulum, Mexico

We hung out at the apartment until near lunchtime, then we walked into town. It has been fun walking down different streets and seeing different sights. This artwork wall is made from bottles.

We stopped at a tiny café and split four tacos and a fresh-squeezed orange juice. They were

pretty tasty and juice was great! It was only $47 pesos ($3.50 USD). We had fun meandering back to the apartment after looking at different shops and restaurants along the way. It was a day of relaxing.

This evening we decided to try a restaurant Chris and Barbara had recommended, El Asadero, a kind of barbeque restaurant.

It was delicious!! Before the meal, the waitress brought a basket of chips and four different dips – a creamy garlic, avocado with chilies, picante, and pico de gallo. Mixing the garlic and pico was really yummy. We split the restaurant’s special, which included beef steak, 3 sausages, a baked potato topped with cheese and grilled chicken, grilled prickly pear cactus, avocado slices and a jalapeño pepper. We had soft drinks and got a flan to go (I was too full to eat it there!) Dinner and tip were $350 pesos ($26 USD). I can’t imagine trying to eat the entire meal by myself – it was huge. This was just my half.

Today when we got up it was sunny, so we donned our swimsuits and headed to the colectivo for the beach. We weren’t lucky, however, and had to stand – but there were only 28 people in the back of the van! We walked on the beach, swam, and people watched – and were watched by this little sand crab!

The wind was down and the waves were much calmer today. We talked to a guy that owns a catamaran sailboat and he was getting ready to take some folks out. He said it had been too windy and rough the last four days to go out, so he was looking forward to the sail today. We are going to think about going out – it’s pretty pricey. We also watched some of the birds out on one of the islands. Tobey spotted one as it plunged into the water, then snatched a fish in its talons and flew off! The fish was really big and it was fun to see it flying over.

We caught the colectivo back to town and stopped to get some lunch at Happy Frog’s. It was a tiny place, but a pleasant surprise. Tobey ordered a huaraches carne asada and I had the gordita carne asada. Huarache is a popular Mexican dish consisting of an oblong, fried masa base, topped with some refried beans, carne asada, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. Gorditas are a Mexican flatbread made from cornmeal and stuffed with meat, cheese, and vegetables. We asked the owner what the meal she made for another customer was and she told us chicken enchiladas in mole sauce (not on the menu). She then proceeded to make each of a an enchilada to try! They were pretty tasty and a fun surprise. We enjoyed chatting with her – although I didn’t understand everything she said – it made me really work hard at my Spanish! She also told us about some place we should go see while we are here, so I have added them to our list! Our lunch and tip came to $82 pesos ($6USD).

 
We got back to the apartment about 3:30 and hung out until 7:00, when we decided we needed to eat again! Neither of us were very hungry, so we decided to walk until something caught our eye. We ended up at La Flaca Restaurant! We selected the vegetarian pizza and cokes. It was different from US pizza, but good, and a change from what we have been eating. $165 pesos ($12.50 USD) tip included.

On our walk back home, we passed by the square and I was tickled when I saw the little kids cars lined up like a parking lot!
Closer to home, we spotted a huge moth.
Tomorrow if the weather holds (and it probably will) we are going to go to the ruins. For now, Buenos noches!