March 1, 2016 - Tulum - Scottsdale, AZ

Today was a travel day. Everything was packed and we were ready to go when the taxi arrived at 10:20 this morning. Ricardo took us to the ADO bus station for our 11:10 bus to the Cancun airport. The bus arrived at our terminal about 1:45 and then the fun began!

It was a zoo checking in!!! The remote kiosks didn’t work, so anyone with only carry-on luggage still had to wait in line to get their passports checked and boarding passes. There were people with flights leaving in less than an hour stressing about getting checked in. The American Airlines workers were doing their best to pull those people from the lines and move them to the front. Our flight wasn’t until 5pm, so we weren’t worried, and we were checked in by 2:30.

After going through security, we ordered a pizza to go since there are no meals on the plane. It is a long flight back to Phoenix but it went smoothly and clearing customs in Phoenix was easy.

Our moms picked us up at the airport and when we got back to the house, Penny barked and barked at us!! When she realized who we were it was time to smother us with kisses! 

We will hang out in Scottsdale until next week then head back to Colorado. It’s good to be back!

February 29, 2016 - Tulum, Mexico

Happy Leap Day - and a happy birthday to those of you who only get to celebrate every four years!

This was our last full day in Mexico and the weather was fantastic! We were at the beach by 11 this morning and enjoyed calm waters and lots of sunshine.

The water was warm and we had fun floating on the waves. We saw our first sailboat today! Tobey chatted with the two guys that operate the boat – one is from Italy, the other from Argentina. We didn’t take much money with us so we were out of luck for going out. I guess we will just have to come back to Tulum!

Hanging out on the beach was easy today and we sure hated calling it a day, but the bus only runs at certain times, so we headed back to town and walked back to the apartment from the Chedraui grocery store – one more time!

We went to El Camellos for dinner again tonight. Tobey had ceviche again, and I had the grilled fish. We both savored every last bite – it was delicious!! We had some music while we ate tonight, also, which made it fun.

Most everything is packed now and our taxi arranged for 10:30 in the morning to take us to the bus station. It will be good to be back in the US, but sad to leave this beautiful paradise!

February 27-28, 2016 - Tulum, Mexico

Beach days! Seems like the thing to do since our time in Tulum is quickly coming to a close and we won’t be near this beautiful beach for some time! We caught the collectivo out to the beach, walked, enjoyed the sunshine and water (a little), relaxed, then caught the bus back to town.

On Saturday we figured we walked almost 7 miles. It rained in the evening, then Tobey went to check out the carnival. I hung out reading so both had fun.

Today was fairly cloudy, but we still spent time on the sand. We are amazed at how quickly they are rebuilding La Zebra – the hotel and restaurant that burned.

We wanted to have “gringas” so we stopped on our way home for a late lunch today. Gringas are made on the grill. She puts cheese inside a flour tortilla, puts it on the grill and melts the cheese, then adds chopped, grilled meat. We added a little salsa and they were delicious. An order is 3 gringas was $35 pesos (about $2US).

Preparing the grill

Cooking the meat

They also serve tacos “al-pastor.” Al pastor is a spit-grilled meat. They weren’t ready yet because they were just marinating the meat and loading the raw pork onto the spit which they will grill. It was fun watching them prepare the meat!After lunch we continued home and I shot a few pictures of buildings and walls along our walk.



The weather forecast is for sunny and warm again tomorrow, so it looks like another beach day!

February 26, 2016 - Tulum, Mexico

It was cool and windy today, so we opted to stay in town today and not go to the beach. We stopped at a small food stand for lunch on our way to the market. Tobey had three tacos and I had a sandwich. They were okay, but not the best, but it was only $50 pesos (less than $3US) so not bad.

We ran into Joanna and her friend, Michael, further along Main Street, so we stopped to chat for almost an hour! She is renting one of the other apartments at Villa Clarita and we have enjoyed getting to know her.

After our grocery shopping we headed home. Many of the buildings in Tulum have become backdrops for beautiful art murals. This one is new in the last couple of days - the artist was still painting when we went by. This is on the building where the electrical was being worked on a couple days ago!

This picture is closer to our apartment. Much nicer than graffiti.

We pass these houses almost every day, also. Notice where they hang their laundry – on the roof!

I hope to take more pictures of the art on the buildings in the next couple of days.

Hasta mañana.

February 24–25, 2016 - Tulum, Mexico

We have had a couple of quiet days in Tulum as our time is winding down. A little beach time, RAIN, a little shopping for souvenirs for some friends, and eating some yummy tamales for dinner tonight.

My underwater camera’s seal doesn’t seem to be quite right because it fogged up after our trip to Akumal, so it is in a ziplock bag with a silica pack, hoping it will be okay.

We were surprised at the construction at La Zebra – the restaurant that burned a couple weeks ago.

Beach-side, the restaurant/kitchen area is framed and they were putting the roofing palms on.

Street-side, you can see the timbers ready to be used for palapa construction. They also had the four or five cabanas torn down which had burned and were getting things cleared and ready to put up some new construction.

Some areas of the beach get seaweed washed up and there are workers from the different hotels that rake the sand and they wheel-barrow it out everyday!

Tomorrow will be a beach day as long as the weather is sunny and lunch at Canek Restaurant.

February 23, 2016 - Akumal, Mexico

Even though it was partly cloudy and windy this morning we decided to go ahead and go to Akumal. We caught a collectivo and it dropped us off on the road to the beach. The ride from Tulum is about 25km and the cost is only $30 pesos per person (about $1.50US).

The beach was really crowded! If you don’t have your own snorkel gear, you can rent it and a guide. They put you in these huge groups with one guide to take you out and direct your “tour” – all for about $20US per person!


Fortunately, we have our own equipment, so we were able to go on our own. Most of these people have never snorkeled before and they thrash around with their fins and churn up the sand, making visibility terrible. They are also not very careful and one guy went zipping by and kicked me in the face. Tobey and I didn’t even wear fins!


We spotted about 7 turtles within about 45 minutes. They hang out in the fairly shallow waters where the grasses are.

Further out, there are some small coral formations and fish were hanging out there.

Tobey spotted one little fish that liked my tummy – he kept swimming along with me!

We hung out on the beach for a while then had a late lunch before catching the collectivo back to Tulum. It was a fun day and we are both ready for a quiet evening!

February 22, 2016 - Tulum, Mexico

We had planned to go to Akumal today, but slept in after being awake half the night with the end of Carnaval celebrations going on. It was also raining when we work up, so we opted to stay here today.

It cleared off late morning and we wanted to go have tamales at a place we saw last night. Turns out, they are not open during the day! We stopped at Antojitos Las Flores instead.
I had a huarache which was more than enough.

Tobey started with a tostado and a taco, then added a panucho. Everything was very tasty, and the four items, plus one drink was only $51 pesos (about $3 US).

We had to wait for a table when we arrived because they were so busy. They didn’t have any Coke Light, but they sent their young son down the street to the store and came back with one. Talk about good service!!

This is their tiny kitchen where the food is prepared.

On the way back we noticed a building was having new electric meters installed to change from a 1-meter system to individual meters for each tenant. We aren’t sure if they intend to put anything in front of these wires, but most buildings have the meters and wires uncovered. Can you imagine this in the US??


I hung out in the hammock reading most of the afternoon while Tobey also caught up on some of his reading. It has been raining off and on all evening, so we will see what tomorrow brings!