Beach town number two
This entry was posted on 12/14/2006 7:38 PM and is filed under Mexico.
TULUM - Well, we arrived in Tulum today and decided to follow the Lonely Planet guidebook´s lodging recommendations again. We´re not having too much luck with them for lodging, but for everything else the guidebook is pretty good. They recommended a hostel called the 'Weary Traveler', and it is ROUGH. I like the idea of a hostel because you get to meet a bunch of other travelling folks and get their stories and see where they´ve been and what they´ve liked. I don´t like the part of sharing a bunk room and bathroom with 6 other people. Many places have 'doubles' so you can pay a little more and get your own space and still enjoy the community atmosphere.
Anyway, so we´d just walked in and the first lady said they had no doubles. Bummer! But then she had trouble with the machine and then took off. Some other very cheerful guy came over and asked if we wanted a double... we said yes and he fiddled around a bit and booked it. Score! He then took us upstairs and showed us the room, it turns out he merely gave us a 'double bed' in a bunk-room with 3 other beds. Oh well. Here´s a picture of it...
The weather was still crap and rainy - and Tulum doesn´t have much to offer except beaches and a seeminly endless supply of tourist shops - so we decided to stay just one night and then take off rather than spend a long time in our room. Actually, the ruins in Tulum are supposed to be beautiful, but not in a downpour. One of our bunk-mates was from England and had been working as a guide in the area for about six months... he likened the place to a turkish prison. Good times! Anna was used to this type of travel - albeit in nicer hostels - but I was in a very cranky mood. But as usual I was determined to make the best of it so off to the bar we went to get a drink.
It´s amazing how much better your attitude is after a drink or two... or is that the first sign of alcoholism? - whatever. A strong as heck margarita and some chips and guac did us wonders. We headed back to the hostel and hung out with all the folks around this giant table and met some very cool and interesting people. We also witnessed a very angry italian woman of about 22 spend a long time gracelessly and animatedly berate a couple of other travelers (in italian unfortunately). It was easy enough to turn away and continue talking so we did.
We met a couple from Quebec who´d travelled across Canada, down through California and sold their car before entering mexico. We also met a British girl named Mandy who had nothing good to say about Manchester
but did tell us a neat trick for making eggs on an old crusty community stove. We also met a very nice French woman named Catherine who was travelling with her daughter Melanie. Catherine had recently trekked all around Nepal. If you guys are ever in Boston, look us up and you´ll have a place to stay!
Finally either the need to sleep or the effects of the beer set in so we headed to our cell, uh, room and spent what would be my first night in a hostel. The good thing about it is we woke up early as heck, took part in the free breakfast downstairs, and took off for the bus station. Destination Chichin Itza!
