It was July 2007 when I told myself ‘I will be back in Tulum.’ Back then I fell in love with the place – the warm Caribbean water, the ruins, the food, people, cenote, and the weather….
Fast-forward 4-years – no longer a dirty backpacker, aged and hopefully wiser, no longer living in Los Angeles but now in the center of the universe called New York City.. things have definitely changed. But the dream to revisit Tulum remained…
It boggled me how tough of a sell it was to travel to Mexico…. The idea was to rent a villa with its own private beach, and a private pool (yes, I have evolved as a traveler), gather enough friends to party and enjoy the experience with, explore the ruins and the biosphere, indulge in Yucatan cuisine, relax, be Zen and be thankful. Seven of us were able to make it to Mexico – Belinda, Chester, Jen (Fong), Jenn (Oh), Jet, Ken, myself. It was just right.
Most of us arrived in Cancun by mid-day on July 18, 2011. Chester, Jet, and I took a flight together from New York City. We met Belinda outside Terminal 2, and Jen subsequently met us at the rental car office. Once we picked up our mid-size car, we proceeded to highway 307 towards Playa del Carmen. At this time, the sun was shining, everyone was happy – Viva Mexico!!
It was approximately 60 kilometers from Cancun to Playa del Carmen. We exited the highway on Constituyentes Avenue and headed east. We parked our car where we can see the turquoise blue water of the Caribbean from afar. Excitement definitely is apparent in all our faces. We found a joint that offered us our first Mexican food experience in Mexico, or shall I just call it food. I ordered four steak tacos, and some cerveza which hit the spot. There we had our first salud. After we had lunch, we drove towards Sams Club to pick up supplies we will need for the upcoming days. We had a little trouble paying, four different credit cards denied, but it all worked out at the end.
From Playa del Carmen, it was another 60 kilometers drive to Tulum. An hour later, alas we found ourselves in Tulum Pueblo. We continued on driving until the paved road ended as we entered the gate of Sian Ka’an where our beach house was located inside the biosphere. Sian Ka’an is a biosphere reserve that has been a Mexican National Park since 1986, and a year later in 1987 became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. How cool is that, we are staying inside a UNESCO site.
The drive from the gate to our house was itself an endeavor. Our first attempt driving the dirt road was painful to say the least with plenty of potholes and rocks. No stretch more than 10 meters with no potholes. It seemed as if a meteor shower just hit the road we were driving on. Two miles and fifteen minutes later, we saw a sign to Hotel Cesiak. According to our direction, we ought to check into the hotel and pick up our keys to the house. There we met Pepe, an unassuming man who welcomed us to our temporary home.
The villa was absolutely amazing – five bedrooms, stairs to our own private beach, and alternatively offered fresh water in its private pool. The balcony upstairs has two hammocks, and the roof offered a view of the whole biosphere. The living room was spacious and a full kitchen that kept all of us fed and hydrated at all times. We hurried to pick our beds, placed all the groceries in the fridge, made drinks, and soon enough we were all floating in the warm Caribbean Sea. At this time the sun was almost setting. The orange sun behind the blue and white sky produced an awe inspiring pink light blue sky – priceless, and the sound waves breaking, and our skin moist from the ocean breeze made it all so simple to be thankful.
For dinner, we all walked back to Hotel Cesiak. We all had our first seafood dinner. I don’t remember what we had, but what I remember was the music played at the restaurant. The music played were old school chill rock songs that everyone can sing along and pin point where they were when that song was a hit. Soon after, we went back to the house and enjoyed the scenery from the roof. It was magical – the moon reflected on the ocean, millions of starts above us, no ships in sight, no people or other noises besides the breaking waves. I can only wish that my camera could have captured it.
I woke up earlier than the rest of the group the following morning. I always love making breakfast, so I did. As the chill music played in the background, and the smell of omelets engulfed the house, everyone started to wake up. Buenos Dias! We all sat down together and enjoyed the ocean breeze while we ate breakfast. Each face wore a sense of calmness and excitement…..
The plan was simple.. to enjoy the white sand and blue sea, once we are done move to the pool, and perhaps later explore Tulum ruins and if were up for it visit Tulum Pueblo. As we did. Again, the seawater was warm and refreshing; the pool water was also as refreshing as the sea. Our fingers were constantly wrinkled, but what can we do. We later braved the drive through the dirt and challenging road to exit the reserve to visit El Castillo at Tulum (or Tulum Ruin). I have my share of ruins in my travels, but I thought we ought to see something cultural. Let’s just get this over with. The Mayan did a great job choosing the ruins location. What people perceive as beautiful doesn’t change in time. It doesn’t matter what period you live, but white sandy beach below, and above a hill with a blue turquoise sea as the view will forever be ‘beautiful’. All throughout the archeological site, iguanas roamed the yard. Once we had enough culture, we headed to Tulum Pueblo did some shopping and picked up some party supplies.
We returned to the house just before sunset. We saw another car parked at the yard which meant Jenn and Ken have arrived. I went outside and I saw the both of them enjoying the beach. It was really nice to see them in Mexico! We all proceeded to the sea once again, and hang out by the pool enjoying our cervezas after. Few of use walked towards Cesiak and ordered food to be delivered to our casa. It was expected to rain that night which was fine. We all hang out, drank loads of alcohol, and enjoyed… I cannot ask for anything more..
I was again the first to wake up the following morning. I made sausages, scrambled eggs with cheese, and satay vegetable for breakfast. It was almost a repeat of the first day, just few other friends joined. It may sound repetitive, but what do you do when there is a private beach? After breakfast we all went down the stairs and enjoyed the la playa. That day turned out to be a bit overcast. Yet, we cannot let the not so ideal weather ruin our fun. Later that day we decided to go outside the reserve and checked out Mystical Cenote. The cenote was mediocre, maybe because of the weather, but we managed to have fun. Soon enough, we were all hungry and decided to searched for some lobsters. We found a spot that offered 2-for-1 lobsters. Score! At the restaurant we met a couple from southern California. Ya, it seemed like people in Tulum are either from CA or NY. Ken managed to open a young coconut by hand – it was soft and refreshing. Then the lobsters came.. it was grilled and just delicious. Definitely hit the spot. After our late lunch, one car went back to the house, and the other went to Tulum Pueblo. Jenn did her shopping, and we got more party supplies. At this time, heavy rain was cooking. Mother nature dumped on us, but it was okay. We made it back to the house through two miles of not so friendly road plus the rain.
That night was the eve of Chester and my birthday. Once everyone was in the house, we all started to drink and party heavily. One drink, two drinks, three drinks… it continued on throughout the night. I don’t even remember having a proper dinner that night. We all just rocked and rolled. That night was extremely windy, but the pool offered an alternative to our water adventure. Aren’t we just privileged? At the strike of midnight, we all took Don Julio tequila shot, sang happy birthday, and continued on being merry! It was a memorable night. Thank you all.
The weather was terrible the following morning. We all planned on taking a boat trip around the biosphere. At first, I said “I’m not going in this weather…” After breakfast, the weather started to get a bit better. Jenn was right, good thing we went, otherwise we will be inside the house hangover and miserable all day. The tour around the biosphere was very interesting. Saw a bunch of different floras, and species of indigenous birds including a huge Heron. We went in and out of the mangroves and through the savannas. We also entered an island with a ruin. The best part was floating together along a fresh water canal. On the way back, we saw a huge crocodile! I highly suggest this tour, perhaps even look for Benjamin, our tour guide who says “say tequila” every time he took photos of us. After the tour, we all went back to Cesiak to enjoy lunch overlooking the sea as the sun started to break through the clouds.
Since I was a child, it has been customary for me to go to church on my birthday. And this day just happened to be my birthday. As the other played around the sea, few of us headed to town to look for a catholic church. We found the church near zocolo. I can honestly say that I’ve seen more beautiful, Spanish influenced churches throughout Mexico than this one. But this will do. What was cool about this church was the practicing choir. Although I don’t understand what they were singing, the hymns and melodies were enough for me to appreciate. After I prayed and gave my thanks for all the blessings, Chester, Jen, Jet and I walked towards zocolo and bought grilled corn. Oh man, I love street foods. We must’ve tried every single vendor we passed by. Had tacos, cheese rolled on crapes amongst others – all hit the spot. As we do this, we found a some chairs and just people watched. People watching are one of the few things that come free in this world. And I am going to take every opportunity. So we did.
That evening we expected to have a chef make Yucatan food for us in the casa. By the time we returned, the chef was already in preparation mode. We all gathered around the kitchen and watched. We were served traditional fish tikinxic wrapped in banana leaves, maxed potatoes with chaya, rice and beans, and crapes with bananas and chocolate. I’m not much of a food writer, but I love eating, and know what taste good – that tasted great!
The following day, Chester, Jet and I were off to do some cenote diving. The rest of the group decided to go to Playa del Carmen to enjoy XPLOR. Again, I made breakfast that morning. Soon after, the three of us drove to Tulum Pueblo to met Edwin the dive instructor. We got into Edwin’s van which was an early eighties model that needed to be started from underneath the car. Edwin was a chill guy like almost all divers. We drove to another dive shop to pick up some diving equipments and met another dive master. We all got fitted in our wet suit. Soon enough, we were on the road to the first cenote dive – Casa Cenote. Chester and Jet both didn’t have their diving certification. They first was instructed how to dive which I was thankful since I haven’t dove in a long time. I seriously don’t even remember how to use all the equipment. After they were done, we all jumped in the cenote, and I went around while they were doing some basic skills underwater. Few minutes later, we all dove and explored together…..
I’ve done many ocean dives before, but Casa Cenote was my first cave dive. Casa was nice – at one point we saw the opening towards the ocean. As we explored the cenote, we saw many different rock formations, and the bottom of the mangroves. The coolest thing was the sunlight reflecting on to the water underneath.
The second dive was almost strange, yet dreamlike. I was the only one able to dive Dos Ojos and Jet and Chester snorkeled. I wish both of them could have dove with me. Dos Ojos has two eyes. Edwin and I started in one of the opening, and ended on the other eye. The moment we made our initial decent, I somehow freaked out. The water was cold, and the first thing I saw underwater was the opening to the cave we will enter. Again, this was my first, well now my second time diving a cave. I ended up going back up, collected my self and told Edwin to hang on a minute. At this time, I seriously thought discontinue the dive, but what the hell… just do it! So I did. The dive took about an hour and twenty minutes. The deepest depth was 10 meters. But man, let me tell you, the site under and inside the underwater cave was A-amazing. It was just Edwin and I diving and no one else. The stalactite and the stalagmites were surreal. You can imagine many different things from all the weird and odd rock formations. There were no current, and the visibility, although only through the use of a flashlight was crisp. This dive definitely was one of the highlights of the trip.
After the dives, we went back to town and ate at one of the locale restaurants that served fantastic empanadas. I had one chicaron and beef empanadas – hit the spot! I also had melon juice with water. At this point I didn’t care what water I was drinking. Soon after, we drove back to the house. The group that went to XPLOR was not back. The sun was out, and as given, we headed down the playa. Once the rest of the gang returned, we all enjoyed the sunset at the roof. It was mesmerizing – to the west was the sun outlining the huge intimidating gray clouds, and to the east lies the calm Caribbean Sea.
That evening the ladies made dinner. It was pleasant to drink and hang out as the food was being prepared. We entertained ourselves as everyone took silly poses for the camera. Everyone became quiet once dinner was served. Jen prepared an amazing pasta! I got a little drunk early that night and passed out. It must’ve been the diving. I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that there was a black out. I used my phone to navigate down the stairs to find water. There was something dreamlike about that night. Everyone asleep, no lights, the moon reflected on to the sea, the sound of wind passing through the windows, the waves breaking – it was all…. nature…
That morning I woke up extremely early to see the sunrise. Sunset is beautiful, but the sunrise is always elusive. I walked up the stairs to the roof and there was Belinda, already snapping photos of the sunrise. Once the sunrise was over, everyone headed for the last time to the sea. The clock was ticking as most of us are returning home later that afternoon. It was a perfect sunny day and it was unfortunate the trip was nearing its end. But we enjoyed every last minute that was left. I felt the sun wrapped around my body, and for the last time, felt the cool ocean breeze.
After packing, and settled the bills at Cesiak, we said our farewell to Jenn and Ken since they were staying a few more days. We exited the gate of our house and drove for the last time through the dirt road. At this time we were almost accustomed to the potholes, and the bumpy ride. Then, there it was, the gate and the paved road. Good bye Sian Ka’an, until next time. We kept driving and the gate disappeared from behind… off and back on highway 307 towards Cancun. An hour and a half later, we dropped off Belinda and Chester by Terminal 2, and we returned the car. The trip was done.
I’ve always love traveling, who doesn’t. Traveling for a short time like this one is okay. Some people may say “why go so far for such a short trip?” I say – because I want to and because it is fun! And why do you care, it’s my trip! Jet titled his photo album “Not a Single Fuck Was Given that Day.” That just summed up this whole trip to Mexico in its entirety. We were Zen, and were thankful, not a worry in the world. I know I said this before, but “a place where you can easily forget your name” and Tulum and Sian Ka’an definitely be included. I wish you could have been there with us, but I say you discover the place we called home for a short time yourself. It won’t disappoint!
