February 10, 2017 - Tulum, Mexico

Today was a bike to the beach day – again, tough duty, but someone has to do it! After parking our bikes at La Zebra, we spent time walking on the beach. There was a nice breeze, so lots of kite surfers were out today.

We had lunch at Taqueria La Eufemia. It gets great reviews on TripAdvisor, but we were once again disappointed with the food here.  It draws huge crowds, both inside and out.

For us, the best part of the place was inside. All of the chairs were painted with different musical artists or actors. Tobey got to sit in the Jimi Hendrix chair!In October 2016, there was a huge political movement with the mayor of Tulum. We’re not sure we fully understand the situation, but it seems that the outgoing mayor somehow acquired several large plots of land in Tulum and turned it over to the Mayan people. They call it “an occupation.”

This sign is posted by one of the areas and it roughly translates that it is the “constitutional right to protect the people. Every family has the right to enjoy dignity and decent housing.” Unfortunately, the people are looked down on and called “squatters”. They are burning the trees and building little shacks that are minimal, at best.

So far we have been past three areas where they are “occupying” the land and they look far from decent, or living with dignity. Mexico has very poor people who struggle every day just to exist. Most of them are very industrious and doing their best to survive.