Touring the Yucatan

Marion & Kris in Tulum at the ruins.

January 5 -7, 2007: Playa del Carmen and Surroundings

We´ve been having a blast doing pretty much nothing except pacing up and down La Quinta or "5th Avenue" here in Playa del Carmen. I think this has to be one of our favourite places in Mexico thus far in our journey. We left Blue Creek early in the morning on Friday Jan. 5 and headed to Orange Walk. It was a bustling town on that day, and Dave bought us tacos for our bus ride to Chetumal. It was a LONG ride as we had to carry our packs on our laps in the crowded school bus that made frequent stops along the highway towards Mexico. We finally got to the border and had to pay $37.50 BZD ($17.75 USD) each to get out of the country. We hope you put that money to good use, Belize government.

La avenida Quinta - it looks quiet now, but at about 5pm, it starts hopping!

We then boarded an ADO bus to Playa del Carmen, arriving at about 5pm. It was awesome and much better than we ever expected! After wandering around for a bit and finding that hotels were either booked or about $180 USD per night, we finally settled on a place called Los Itzaes on 10th Avenue and Calle 8 or 10. It´s nice on the surface, but still needs a lot of work - we don't recommend it unless you have no options. We wandered around 5th Avenue, looking at the millions of shops and restaurants, and ate at La Parilla on 5th Avenue between Calle 6 and 8, I think. It was pretty good. I had the beef tenderloin kebab which arrived with a flaming pineapple, and Kris had lobster, white wine and a salad for $14.25 US.

Kebabs served with a flaming pineapple.

On Saturday, we ate our free breakfast at our hotel, which was actually pretty good. Then we headed on another ADO bus back DOWN the coast to Tulum. (Yes, we really like riding buses.) Tulum is another beach town, but much smaller and a lot less developed, but its beach is amazing! We went to check out the ruins there - what a magnificent place. These Mayan ruins were built after the War of the Castes when they all retreated to regroup. These ruins are more modern than that of Chichèn Itzà and a lot smaller. The neat thing about them is that they are right on the sea, and that just adds to the awesomeness of the place.

The ruins at Tulum - set agains the backdrop of the Caribbean Sea.

Some of the best beach is found at the ruins - Kris went to check it out.

After Tulum, we headed back to Playa, but on a colectivo (which you can catch near Av. Juarez just west of 5th Ave.) which was cheaper than the ADO bus. We met some nice people who want to move to Mexico, and we spent the ride convincing them to do that :). We then went to our new hotel, Fiesta Banana on 5th Ave. by Calle 34, which is also okay, but doesn't have a TV. We had lunch at Yaxche, which serves Mayan food. I had Pibil, which is Chicken with an axiote sauce baked in banana leaf, and Kris had this Turkey thing stuffed with hard boiled eggs and something else. We then spent some time on the gorgeous beach with brilliantly turquoise waters, reading, sleeping, and relaxing.

I was relaxing and watching Kris enjoy the beautiful blue waters.

Then we wandered again, down, guess which street!! We had a grand ol' time looking in the stores, and finally worked up enough of an appetite to have supper at Madre Tierra. What an amazing restaurant. We had the Seafood Grill for two, which included lobster, crayfish, shrimp, calamari, salmon and grouper.

La Madre Tierra - site of our infamous meal.

Kris was wearing his Saskatchewan shirt and his Corner Gas cap. There was a guy with his wife and kids sitting right behind him. He got up, introduced himself as Mike Sotski, and asked us where in Saskatchewan we were from. The conversation went something like this:

Mike: Where are you from in Saskatchewan?
Kris: Elbow
Mike: No kidding! I was originally from Yorkton. Now I live in Calgary...
Kris: Really? My mom's from Yorkton.
Mike: What's her last name?
Kris: Sewell.
Mike: You wouldn't happen to know a Chuck Sewell, would you?
Kris: No way! That's my grandpa.
Mike: He used to work with my father, Wally Sotski.
Kris: Hokey diner!
Mike: I also know Dara quite well.
Kris: That's my aunt!

And so the conversation went. The Sotski's left before we did, and when we went to pay our bill, the waiter told us that our friend had taken care of it for us! Amazing! The Sotski's had paid for our whopping $65 US meal!!! What an incredible ending for our Playa del Carmen stay.