February 8, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

We rode out to the beach this morning and headed toward La Zebra. We ended up “renting” a cabana at La Aquimia Beach Club and Hotel. We didn’t actually have to pay anything for it, but we had lunch there and they add a 15% “service” fee to the bill – a small price to pay for a great spot for the day.

We hung out, went for a swim in the ocean, then hung out some more! It was a tough day!

It was an interesting place. The hotel rooms were made from shipping containers and when you enter the resort, the office is also a shipping container.


On our way back to town we had a traffic jam on the beach road. It turns out there was a fire at one of the beach road businesses and cars were stopped in both directions. We were finally able to walk our bikes around several of the cars and make our way past the worst of it and make it to the bike trail back to town.

Tonight we walked into town for dinner. The sun was setting and the full moon was rising.

Main Street was busy on a Friday night!

We stopped at a small restaurant for dinner. This wall art was next to us – pretty cool!

Tobey had the tacos al pastor and I had a gorditas with beef. Both were quite good!


The moon was full bright as we made our way home.

It was a pretty good day, all around!

February 7, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

The electricity was still off when we got up this morning so we had pan toast with peanut butter and jelly with tea for breakfast. We tossed everything in the refrigerator and freezer – glad there wasn’t too much! Around 10 the electricity came back on – yeah!

We went to Antojitos La Chiapaneca for lunch. It is one of our favorite places for tacos al pastor. They had moved since we were here last and the restaurant is a bit smaller, but the food was still delicious! Four tacos, two drinks and a tip – $90 pesos. ($4.75 USD) Later in the afternoon we biked to Chedraui to pick up milk and juice. We saw a place that was advertising RV rentals. Casa Rodantes translates to house on wheels. We couldn’t tell if it was also a small RV park or just where they were stored.

I came home with the groceries and Tobey continued to the Tulum Ruins. He didn’t go in, but said there is a bike path all the way there. We may check it out again, even though we have been there before.

Tonight we biked to El Dorado for dinner. Barbara told us they had yummy ceviche, and that is one of Tobey’s favorites. We were the only tourists in the place, and it was busy! Tobey had a “mediano” plate – a half order, and it was packed with shrimp.

I had the garlic shrimp. Oh, my gosh – it was delicious! The rice had the garlic sauce on it, also. Yummy! Dinner, drinks, and tip was $320 pesos. ($17.50 USD)

It is located on the road to Coba, in an industrial area, so definitely off the beaten path.

We rode home through the town square. The birds flock to the trees there and the sound was deafening! I took a video on my phone, but I can’t figure out how to upload it to YouTube to post here so you just have to trust me! It reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”!

We are listening to the Democratic debate tonight and hope tomorrow is warmer and sunny.

February 5-6, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

February 5

I am fighting a cold so today was pretty lazy. We read, slept, and I beat Tobey at a game of gin. He took a bike ride without me and that was our day!

We do have some very noisy upstairs neighbors. Birds, not people! This is a plain chachalaca and he and his friends have been hanging out most days. They typically travel in packs – up to 15 birds – and are quite noisy, especially early in the morning! Pairs of Plain Chachalacas give their loud calls in the early morning and early evening. Chachalacas also call when a storm is approaching or there is some other change in the weather.

I didn’t make this video of the chachalaca, but if you want to hear how obnoxious they are, have a listen! https://youtu.be/H0H8ZwFc8EU

February 6
After we went to bed last night our electricity went off – and on – four times. How do I know four times? Every time it came back on the next door apartments’ alarm system went off. Geez. The electricity was on when we got up, but it didn’t last.

We biked to one of the markets where we bought fresh chicken. They cut two pieces of breast meat for us and fileted them. It was $78 pesos. ($4.15 USD) When their daily supply is sold out, that’s it. I grabbed some broccoli and bananas, too, for another $15 pesos. Dinner!

Since the sun was shining (and the power was off again) we decided to head to the beach but went north on the beach road toward the resort, Playa Paraiso. The ride isn’t quite as far as going to La Zebra, and there were fewer people and cars on the road.

It was SO windy! The waves were big and the sand was blowing! All of the resorts were packed with people.

We walked as far north as we could along the beach. The Tulum Mayan archeological ruins are further along and we could see the temple as it overlooks the water.

A couple hours later we headed back after stopping at Super Aki Market to check out their prices. Some things were less than Chedraui, others more. I made a beeline for the pool to cool down after our ride! Tobey dipped his toes! (sissy) Our ride today was about 14 km, just under 9 miles.

Our power was still out – since about 11 this morning. Fortunately, the apartment has was gravity fed water tank on the roof so we were able to take showers and clean up! The stove is gas, so I cooked dinner and we stored the left overs in the freezer. Hopefully, it will be cold enough to keep them – otherwise they will get tossed.

We took a walk after dinner to cool down. Most sections of town had their power restored – even the apartments just next door to the north! Unfortunately, our section of town remains off. (no power, no internet!) We read – me on my Kindle, Tobey on his tablet – with our flashlights nearby. We are going to bed with still no power – maybe it will be restored in the morning!

February 4, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

Tulum is “easy,” as Tobey would say. One of the great things about coming here for a month is we don’t “have” to do anything!

We have taken to sleeping in – not sure if it is because Tobey is just getting over a cold and I am trying to get one, but it is great. Sleep in, have breakfast, take a nap!

After lunch biked to the beach. It was partly cloudy and windy, but what the heck? Once we got on the beach road we noticed how many more restaurants, shops, and resorts there are. It was crazy! We parked our bikes at Le Zebra before walking the beach. A few years ago there was a kitchen fire at La Zebra while we were eating lunch at a small café next to it. It did quite a bit of damage, but as you can see, all is good now. They are up and running and busy!

I spotted this sign on the beach. We didn’t notice much trash today, so maybe it helps.

Walking south along the beach from La Zebra we saw several kite surfers.

When we turned and headed back north, the clouds were beginning to break up and blue skies were coming through.

Around 3, we headed back to the apartment. Our round trip ride was 12-1/2 miles. We stuck our feet in the pool to cool down and relaxed in the shade.

Tonight we rode our bikes about three blocks to pick up a pizza from a new restaurant, La Consentida. The vegetarian pizza had onions, black olives, tomatoes, green peppers, and pumpkin on it, so we figured let’s give it a try. Well, the pumpkin was actually small slices of squash! It’s all in the translation!! It was pretty good and we will have leftovers for lunch! $175 pesos (about $9.50US).

That’s it – another day in paradise!

February 3, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

We bought bicycles today! We figured out that it will actually be cheaper for us since we will be here for a month than renting! No gears, but hand brakes. My bike is red and I got a white basket; Tobey’s bike is black. Two bikes, one basket, and one bike lock – $4,648 pesos. ($247US) We checked with a couple of the rental places and they will probably buy our bikes back at the end of the month for about half. We will see.

We headed over to one of the markets for some mangos, bananas, and watermelon then headed back to the apartment for lunch and naps.

This afternoon, we headed out on the bikes and spent an hour riding around town. I did okay keeping up with Tobey in town, but I am not ready for any cross-country rides!

We played gin this afternoon and I managed to win our first game. I am sure Tobey is just going easy on me so I give him another chance!

We biked to dinner tonight – more tacos al pastor at El Nero. We plan to watch a movie tonight and probably head to the beach tomorrow.

February 2, 2020 - Tulum, Mexico

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!

We were exhausted after our travel day yesterday and slept in – until 10am! It was a slow start to the day, but we soon got going! We walked to Chedraui (the supermarket) to pick up some groceries and see some of the changes in town. Our round trip was almost four miles.

Along the way we noticed that since we were here was 2017 some of the restaurants we liked are gone. There are several new ones to replace them and we are looking forward to trying many of them!

We also checked out several bike rental shops in town since they no longer have them here at the apartment.

Back at the apartment, we visited with Barbara and Chris and relaxed for a while. Hey, isn’t that what vacations are for?!!!

Soon it was time to decide on a dinner choice so we opted to have chicken from Pollo Bronco. We picked up a whole chicken asada (grilled) with rice, tortillas, and coleslaw. It was $160 pesos ($8.50 US).

We took our dinner home and watched the Super Bowl. It was good and we have leftovers!

To all our friends rooting for Kansas City, congratulations on the win tonight. To our friends cheering for San Francisco, your team played a good game. We decided it was easy to be objective when our team isn’t playing!

February 1, 2020 - Phoenix, AZ to Tulum, Mexico

Today started early for Tobey and Sue – 3am to be exact! The alarm clock was not really a welcome sound, but we had a 6:30 flight from Phoenix to Cancun, so … Our UBER driver picked us up about 4:00am and we were at the airport before 4:20! We had a slight mix-up with our TSA pre-check not getting on our reservation, so we headed back to the check-in counter and got that fixed and back to security to check in … AND WAIT … until 6:00 am for boarding. We both got some sleep on our flight to Houston and thought we would go into the Centurion lounge in Houston for lunch, but I didn’t realize we were flying into Houston Hoby Airport, not Houston International (we flew on Southwest) so no lounges. Oh well!

We walked and walked to stretch our legs then got some lunch at Chick Fil A. If you are ever flying through Houston and are at Hoby Airport, their staff was amazing! Super friendly, polite, great customer service, and the sandwiches were good. (No, we don’t have stock in Chick Fil A!!!!)

We headed back to our gate only to find out our flight was delayed over an hour. UGH. We finally arrived in Cancun after 5pm, instead of 4, but we did breeze through Customs and Immigration. Unfortunately, we hoped to catch the 5:05 bus to Tulum, but missed it. We did get the 6:30 bus to Playa del Carmen, then bought a ticket from Playa to Tulum. Traffic from Cancun was terrible and we finally got to Tulum about 8:45 pm!

There was a new (to us) taco restaurant El Nero, next to the ADO bus station so we grabbed some tacos there.

We both had four tacos al pastor (the meat he is carving) and a coke and it was $106 pesos (about $5.75US). We weren’t sure if it’s because it was late and we were hungry, but they were pretty darn tasty!

A short taxi ride to our apartment at Villa Clarita and we were greeted by the owners, Barbara and Chris, and their sweet dog, Maya.

This is our fourth time staying here, so it was a little like coming home after being gone for some time. Familiar, but it looks like there are lots of changes here in Tulum. Tomorrow we will get out and explore.