I woke today at the perfect breakfast hour - not too early I'd be in bed by 5, not too late I missed the day. The Mexican girl I met last night at the bar made me a fantastic fruit salad with granola, freshly cut with local honey drizzled over it and accompanied by a freshly squeezed orange juice. It is one of those places here, where Fresh fruit is cheaper than juices so we get the real deal every time. Albeit 5 mins later but whose counting - it's Mexico!
It was another cloudy but hot and humid day, I wasn't sure what to do but my dreams of lying on a sunchair just seemed so... Lazy. So I found out there were bikes to hire, and went about finding them. I got distracted by a place called Ziggy beach, one of the many resort/beach bar/restaurant/spa setups along the main rd running parallel to the beach stretch.
It was quite nice actually, little swings as chairs along the bar and a graduating design down to the beach where big mattresses laid out for the perfect tanning sesh. I experimented with my new slr camera but was soon interrupted by some droplets of rain, which soon turned to heavy then a downright ass-reaming pour. The had-thatched roofing just couldn't withstand it and I retreated to the swings. Made some conversation with the bar man, hellbent on improving my Spanish (Mai tai on one hand, Spanish dictionary in the other). Then the rain eased and I was back on the bike mission.
Once sorted with a bike, rented from a tranquil little business that also offered yoga, which I'm tempted to do one morning as for $15usd it seems a great deal better value than the massages that start at $100 and go up. Honestly, that's even worse than Australia! The bike was a piece of shit, no surprises there and also not a huge problem, since it was only marginally more shit than my own bike at home (currently with a flat tyre in my garage).
I rode to the biggest ruins they have here, part of the national park but damned if I know the name of them. Wait... Map... No luck there, it just says "archaeological site". Good work, map. It was full of tourists, interestingly mostly Mexicans (I actually think its down season here and the weather isn't all the crash hot in July), and just another pile of rocks. Whoa - let me just take my ignorant westerner hat off their for a second. It was actually really beautiful and there was a little beach with clear blue water where a bunch of people (too many for my liking) were swimming. And there were iguanas. Everywhere.
Once I was done with that, I cycled back the straight road towards parayso beach hotel (my hood) and checked out some of the nearby shops and figuring it was about lunchtime, stopped by by another nice looking place. The door guy talked rapido about something Which I gathered was, if you come in you have to drink and eat our food, and then set upon trying some authentic Mexican food.
The setup was awesome, big lounges and comfy pillows, and more beach mattresses. I got the octopus tacos and surprisingly, they were very similar to the Mexican restaurants in Melbourne, so well done chefs on your thorough research there. After a quick swim in the warm, clear sea, I had a sunbake and promptly fell asleep. So here I am, lazing about the beach like nobody's business. What hypocrite I turned out to be. Also checked out some of the wellness places around about - tulum really is a beautiful and relaxing place with a lovey energy to it. The locals don't harass you or make lewd comments as you walk by, and there is not an over-hyped sense of tourism here. Yet. But it's a nice change to all the other beachside resort towns you seem to come across these days.
Waking to some unknown hour of the afternoon, I rode back Saw some pretty feather earrings (cos, you know, 5 pairs of feathers just ain't enough), found out about my transfer to cancun and put my name down for a tour tomorrow to snorkel with the turtles.
Let me just say now, before I pass out from tiredness again, that I jumped the gun with the hot guy moment yesterday. The people here are lovely, don't get me wrong, just not particularly attractive to me. They are short and have a kinda peruvian native look about them, which probably makes historical sense, but they definitely don't do it for me. Maybe I'll have better luck in Cuba!
Anyway, so after my beach nap, I cycled further past my hotel to check what was happened in that direction, answer was nothing much so I settled on La Zebra for dinner cos I like horses. More seafood came with prawns and potato mash, and I ventured into Margarita territory with the help of mango and lime... Tasty. Hey, if you can't enjoy tequila in Mexico, it's just a lost cause.
A storm was brewing and I sat staring out the window at it rolling in from the horizon. It hit, and it hit hard. Thunder and lightning and things nasty. I just drowned myself in margarita. Had the faithful dictionary out and practised some more Spanish with the waiter, feeling proud as I always do that I'm making an effort. Then I remember, as I always do, how little an effort I make in the countries that difficult languages. Lets start slow though, shall we...
Eventually I thought it best to ride back, sans lights, the short distance to my hotel with my camera wrapped securely in a plastic bag. I didn't want to get too drunk and be the first pre-global casualty for this trip. How embarrassing. Back at the hotel, the bar was shut and no one was really about so I just retired, a good thing too as my eyes are starting to droop again and I have lots to do tomorrow! This relaxing thing has gone too far.
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