So, I don’t have time tonight to do a complete summary of how the vacation went, but there are a few basic things I thought I should mention.
Tulum itself is a small town. It has some ruins, which are a bit of a tourist attraction, but they’re almost a tertiary attraction. The primary attraction in the area is Cancun, the secondary is Playa del Carmen, and the third is the Tulum ruins. This makes Tulum the perfect destination, because they’re prepared to some degree for tourists, which means you can find a reasonable number of fluent or almost-fluent English speakers, there’s a lot of available places to stay, but nothing’s so oversaturated with people that it’s oppressive. Which is *perfect*.
On top of that, the place we stayed (Los Arrecifes) was definitely not the upscale touristy spa sort of thing that a lot of the beachside places were. This was about as bare-bones a place as you could get, which meant that most of the people who were in the area were staying at more creature-comfort-oriented places. Our stretch of the beach, as a result, was almost entirely deserted. Imagine sitting on a beach, or walking in the waves, spending all day in basically paradise and not seeing another soul for miles except your friends. If you’re looking to get away from the craziness for a bit and kick back, this is perfection.
One of the other weird things I found on this trip was that I like tacos. I’ve always been a burrito person, but on this trip, we had a lot of tacos, and I think I finally “get” the little corn tortillas. I’ve always had them with US-sized portions, which has always made the little tortillas a giant pain in the ass – they’re not structurally up to the job of heaving a giant portion of food. But in Mexico, where they actually know how to use the things, the proportion of filling to tortilla is much more appropriate. 7 pesos gets you a carnitas taco, which is about three or four bites of simple pleasure. That’s about 65 cents.
I read a book called “A Voyage for Madmen,” which is the true story of the Golden Globe race – a race where people competed to be the first, or the fastest person to circumnavigate the world by themselves in a yacht without stopping. The story is absolutely incredible, and the book is an excellent, interesting read. I’ve been looking for more in the same vein, and as a result, I’ll probably pick up Deep Water on DVD when it comes out in a couple weeks. Don’t search for Deep Water or the Golden Globe race if you intend to read “A Voyage for Madmen” – just take my word for it and read the book without spoiling things for yourself. A word of warning – don’t look at the pictures in the middle of the book until you’re done with it. The section contains a number of serious spoilers.
I miss Mexico already. Feeling the sand between your toes as the sun beats down on you, but the heat is mitigated by a cool ocean breeze… man. There really is nothing better.
SO, being a bit of a vacation junky, I have immediately did a big ol’ Google search on this place and LOVE the prices. Now the questions…
How on earth did you find and choose this place to stay. The (what I think is the official) website I am looking at looks terrible. I admit, I am a bit of a websnob, but bad web site usually sends me for the hills. But, I saw your flickr pics and this place looks beautiful.
Secondly, how much of an issue was no A/C in a place like this? Sleeping-wise at least?
Glad you two had fun…the pictures looked incredible.
I’ll definitely add “A Voyage for Madmen” to my reading list. Check out the movie “The World’s Fastest Indian” if you get a chance (starring Sir Anthony Hopkins). I may be partial because of the motorcycle theme, but I honestly think it was a good movie in the vein of a journey towards a seemingly insane goal.
We went to Tulum with a friend who’d already been (“Nighthawk” from TGF, in fact), who had gone based on the fact that another friend (“Niralth” from TGF – sheesh!) had been prior. I have no idea how she found it.
It IS beautiful. It’s RIDICULOUSLY beautiful. Tulum the town? Not so much. Even the beach further north from Los Arrecifes isn’t the most beautiful thing in the world. But where we were was PERFECT.
No A/C, since we were literally what, 50 feet from the high tide marker, wasn’t bad at all. The breeze from the ocean kept you cool, but not too cold.
I did a flickr search within my friends’ pictures to try to find Holly’s Tulum pics, only to find that MacFadyen also went to Tulum in 2007! How funny is that.
Jeremy: The website IS terrible. I’m a pretty big website snob too. In fact, when I tried to book a room through their official website, no one responded. Heh. We ended up using this link: http://www.hotelstulum.com/Arrecife/rooms-rates.htm to reserve a room, which involved a couple of emails then a link to a credit card page.
Here is a map of the area: http://www.rivieramayamx.com/tulum_map.gif If you want a little more commerce/nightlife (which comes with the baggage of more people around), stay in stretch between Copal and Zamas. I would definitely go back to our area when we go back though, probably to Los Arrecifes itself, since I was perfectly happy there and it was so cheap.
Note that on the map, even though some of the hotels/cabanas seem close to the town of Tulum, that green swath is entirely extremely dense, impenetrable jungle, so you’ll have to go along the road into town.
I noticed it said that the bungalows shared a bathroom. How’s that setup work?
Also, I’ve been on tropical beaches in Jamaica – white sands, crystal clear waters… but all with a giant resort behind you and a fair amount of tourists surrounding you. It was never so crowded that I felt oppressed (and as a kid/teenager, I could push them all out of my mind anyway), but that looks amazing… In fact, there’s a picture in your flikr stream that looks straight out of a dream I once had.
Bastids 😛
The toilets and showers were by the parking lot, behind the restaurant. In short, they were much nicer and cleaner than camping bathrooms, but much less nice than a bathroom attached to your room.
I was pleasantly surprised to find both showers and toilets completely tiled in ceramic tiles, rather than concrete like the camping grounds bathrooms I’ve used in the past. It kept things cleaner and tidier. In addition, the staff clearly cleaned things up very very well early every morning, so nothing ever became unpleasant.
I loved staying in a cabana, with the sand underneath and the sunrise peeking through the wood in the mornings. The ocean breezes through the wood kept us cool, and the mosquito nets kept us from being eaten alive when sleeping. I was happy to trade having an attached bathroom for the chance to stay that much closer to the ocean. I’d definitely stay in a cabana again.