Tulum & Coba - Mexico (Feb 2020)

We wanted to go on a short vacation in winter to some place warm and possibly a beach. Considering that Cancun is a very popular spot to escape to, from the cold Northeast, and being very accessible from New York, we kind of chose that place. But, being a popular spot = lots of crowd and very touristy. We didn’t really like the idea of an all-inclusive beach resort, but the beautiful beaches with the bluish green waters were very tempting. Eventually, we chose Tulum, south of Cancun, but supposedly less crowded with not so many resorts like Cancun or Playa del Carmen.

In Tulum, we chose the Bocapaila area that is a few kilometers away from the center of the town and found a hotel on the beach. This is on the Route 15 running along the beach and the property we stayed is a small hotel Playa Xcanan Tulum.

As soon as we reached the hotel, checked-in, unloaded our luggage and just walked to the beach right away. We were amazed at how close the shore was to the property. The property host indicated that this entire stretch of Tulum town is operating on generators run by the private hotels with limited infrastructure from the government. So, most properties shut down by 10 p.m.

The entire coast was lined with coconut trees and hotels that are not high-rise buildings. The beach was not very crowded, giving it a serene atmosphere with very low-key activities.

Walking along the beach, we saw a lot of bird activities in the foreground of the glowing dusk sky in the horizon. As we were facing the eastern skies, sunset was not in store!

Strolling along the beach on that particular day was a little chilly for the region. It built up our appetite as we returned to the room a little after the sunset. We decided to venture into the narrow street of the down buzzling with activity for a Saturday evening. Along the street, every property exhibited some sort of uniqueness in their display – be it the eateries or the fashion stores or artisan displays.

Being vegetarians, we checked menus along at couple of places and randomly decided to try out the tacos at this open-air place called ‘I scream bar’. When we started munching the delicious tacos, live reggae music started making the entire atmosphere vibrating! Had a relaxing meal there and some dessert in the ice-cream shop next door, before exploring a bit more of the Tulum.

The entrance of the ‘Raw Bar’ had a very interesting entrance that was very artistic, attracting a lot of crowd for selfies and photo ops.

We remembered the mention by the property host about the 10 p.m. and decided to return back to hotel before too late. The amount of lights in the entire town is very minimal and one can imagine the night sky in that circumstance when there is a clear sky. As expected, the night sky was bristling with bright stars and if one were well-versed, many constellations could be seen without any telescopes. The beach was deserted and we could really spend some time on the bare sand in absolute silence (except for the waves) looking up the amazing sky.

Day 2:

Next day, breakfast was served on the tables facing the waves crashing the beach.

While we missed the sun-rise due to the cloudiness, it was still an amazing ambiance to be served breakfast with the young sun risen a bit above the horizon, in the calming sounds of the waves. Very refreshing and relaxing. The day was warming up and we decided to take a dip in the sea. The temperature of the water was perfect for a morning swim and the waves were calm enough to enjoy.

Later in the day, we went back to the narrow street to take a stroll and find some lunch. It was an interesting street for any time of the day, but the shops were slowly waking up by mid-day.

A couple of the restaurants were located around a closely-guarded cenote. It was tucked away not that far from the street, but hidden enough to miss it..

We continued to walk a bit and eventually reached an open beach filled with local people and saw a lot of pelicans flying around.

Spend some time there and took a taxi to get to Avis car rental. Our original pick up time for the car was 5 p.m., but we had reached there by 3 p.m. To our surprise, we were told that we cannot rent before 5 p.m. because we had prepaid. So, decided to spend some time in that area. But the central Tulum area was very different than where our hotel was. We liked the hotel area much better than this. By the time we rented the car, the only thing we could do was get back to hotel, park it and took a stroll again in the beach.

Day 3:

Next day, we started early, had the beach-side breakfast and hit the road to get to Coba Ruins. The ruins in the area dates back to the Mayan civilization in 600-900AD. We wanted to go here because this is the only place where visitors were allowed to climb up the 42m pyramid, of many pyramids across Mexico. While the road to Coba was reasonably good, it is true that people frequently pass you at speeds much higher than the posted limits! The drive from Tulum to Coba was pretty much a flat terrain with forests on either side. Couple of towns on the way was filled with shops on either side selling mostly hand-crafted dream catchers. 

When we were just about to enter the Coba, we encountered a Starbucks out of nowhere! By the time we reached Coba, it close to noon and the lines for the entrance ticket was not that bad. Once in, passed through the first set of ruins and came to a bike stand where we rented bikes. You could see people walking as well, but bikes made it easy, if we think back.

Along the way, there were several structures, all from the AD600 – AD900. Climbing the pyramid was very steep. It appeared very daunting because of the steepness, especially when we thought about climbing down. But, once you are on it, it wasn’t bad at all. Very interesting experience and you have the company of people of all ages and levels of fitness around you doing the same ‘daunting’ task!

It was quite a view from the top and considering the flatness around, one can get a wide panoramic view of the area without any obstruction.

We rode around this archaeological site to see so many other structures with stelae at each of the structures describing the importance in hieroglyphics.

Mayan ball-game court.

Around the area, the trees were dense with many types looking similar to what we saw in Costa Rica.

By the time we returned our bikes and came out, we were very hungry. Being a tourist attraction, there were many souvenir shops and couple of restaurants. We just devoured whatever vegetarian food that got (not bad, actually). They provided a side of salsa that was quite spicy and that seemed quite authentic for the area.
There were couple of Cenotes in the area and we chose to go to Chu-Ha. When we drove out of the parking lot, we bought the tickets to this from the booth attendant. It was probably a 20-minute drive to reach the place and there were hardly any cars in the parking spot.

We went down into the underground stairs to find a very secluded body of water. It seemed to have been very well maintained, but had to be very careful around the rough rock structures in the water. It is not a swimming pool! But, the clarity and color of the water was so amazing and for a while, there were only one other person in there. The water temperature was not too cold and it felt good for the hot weather outside.

Since we still had some time, we decided to go to Muyil ruins. But, by the time we reached there, they were getting ready to close down. There is a boardwalk that would take you to a viewing tower to get a sight of the lagoon and the mangroves, but given the time constraint we had, we just roamed around the ruins. Mangroves in itself is an interesting vegetation attracting a lot of birds and acts as a water purifier.

This Mayan settlement was supposed to have been there from 300 B.C. until the Spanish invasion in 16^th century. So, it had a long history and is interesting to research about this place. The term ‘Muyil’ means ‘Rabbit’ in Mayan. This is very interesting because it sounds so similar the Tamil word ‘Muyal’ for Rabbit.

After we left Muyil, we returned back to the Tulum to our hotel area, but since there was still some daytime left, we continued along the Route 15 and headed south towards the Sian Ka’an biosphere coast. After a few kilometers, the densely populated hotel areas were left behind and we entered a road that is maintained by the archaeological department and we had to pay toll and register our entry into that road. The drive was interesting as we drove through the dense forest area with glimpses of ocean, occasionally to your left.

After about an hour or so drive, we came to a bridge from where you could see the denseness of the mangroves on either side and the backwaters from the Caribbean Sea. It was around dusk and the serenity of the area seem to be a place for birds and water creatures like crocodiles. 

There was some buzz around the area because of Michelin was shooting a tire commercial there. That buzz did not seem to have any effect on the flock of pelicans resting on the poles of an abandoned bridge right next to this active bridge!

Just as the sun was setting into the clouds, we decided to drive back to the hotel. After reaching the hotel, we went out for dinner and found a place close-by serving tacos. The tacos here were made with freshly prepared corn flour dough and the presentation was a feast to the eye. The taste was amazing as well!

Day 4:

Next day, We woke up early for sunrise. Sunrise was so beautiful even with some clouds. We walked along with beach which was so refreshing and relaxing.

We headed to the Tulum Ruins, parking was a bit crowded, indicating that it is going to be a crowded place. This is a very popular spot for many reasons – very close to the town, quickly accessible and the ruins were located in a picturesque cliff area overseeing the beautiful Caribbean Sea. The day was perfect with blue skies and added to the beauty.

There were several structures inside a walled area like the ancient cities found in Europe. Inside the walled area, the structures are supposed to be for higher caste and royals with brick buildings. This area is very well maintained by the Archaeological department of Mexico.

Quite a few Iguanas and Coatis were roaming around freely without any concern for the hundreds of tourists in the area.

In the Mayan times, this walled city seems to have been thriving as a trade center, mainly because of the location right on the Caribbean coast. During its active occupation, trading of precious stones like jade and Turquoise was apparently prevalent.

Tulum was also considered a gateway to Mayan people in other locations like Honduras. Some of the structures/remains are temples or places of worship like the Temple of Descending God and Temple of Wind God. A prominent structure looks like a castle overlooking the Caribbean Sea and there is a stairway nearby to get down to the beach.  

The waves of the Caribbean Sea were battering the limestone cliffs and there was a small beach area that was accessible by these stairs. The entire area was not that big and can be easily walked around in about an hour.

After we got out, we tried to find something to eat close by, but it proved difficult to find something vegetarian. When we entered one of the restaurants along the beach, the atmosphere was so beautiful with tables under cabanas, along the beach. But we had to leave without eating as there was nothing vegetarian that could be served.

We just munched on what we had in the car and decided to head towards the Grand Cenote.

Here again the water was amazing, but didn’t have to climb down as low as the Chu-Ha to get to the water-body.

There were many turtles in an area that is cordoned off for swimmers.

In most places, the water was quite deep and it would be better to rent a life-jacket if you are not comfortable swimming there. When you swim under the ground, you can see bats in the area. There weren’t as many sharp/rough rocks that one can bump into. It was a different experience of the cenote here than the Chu-Ha.

After this, we headed to the nearby town, spent some time looking at dream-catchers. On the way out, we decided to do the lunch at a restaurant just at the border of the town. It was an unbelievable experience here. Everything was prepared so fresh after we placed the order (even the chips!). As were hungry, the food was tasting even more delicious.

We headed to Tulum, returned our car and instead of taking a taxi, decided to try the share-taxi that we had seen earlier. We just had to wait for a few minutes for this to show up and the fare is a miniscule fraction of a taxi fare!

That was our short first trip to Mexico!