16th November 2010
8:31am, the man in the ticket office said the bus to Meridia left Tulum today! It departed at 8:45, I felt indifferent about the extra 14 minutes I spent in Tulum!
One hour down the coast from Playa Del Carmen is where you'll find this little town. Sold in the tourist books for it's champagne sands and ruins, Tulum occupies the front cover photograph on the Lonely Planet guide so you'd assume a worthy stop for a couple of nights 'RnR'.
We left Playa having spent less than 24 hours in Mexico and very happy at our decision to have not spent even one night in Cancun! Playa is vibrant, funky and under-stated. Latin America's fastest growing town, it caters for the larger American/Canadian in the 5 Star party palaces (which we were escorted out of by security for not wearing an I.D wrist band when we took a nose) which sprawl up and down the coastline whilst Playa itself is left to cater for hip Europeans, or the slightly more affluent backpacker. Roof terrace bars, chic Argentinian steak restaurants with private dinning rooms that open on to the street or beach side clubs with fire and light shows, it must be a contender for a Pasha of the future!
As we left Playa on the ADO coach, a one hour journey to Tulum, we thought we were heading to a town with character, jungle and laid-back beachlife! We passed the Gran Riviera Princess hotel as dusk was falling. What we didn't realise as we passed but would learn of the next morning was a gas explosion was minutes from ripping through the hotel, killing 7 people. The damage was widespread, a string of comments on Tripadvisor early on of a bomb cover up so an not to affect tourism was soon deemed as 'not appropriate' content for the site!
So, back to Tulum! We knew we'd left the main tourist trail, as day trippers piled back into the Collectivos to leave after visiting the ruins. A 20 pesso taxi ride to our hotel took us one street back from the drag in to a residential shanty town where the bats fly low. 'Interesting location but then on reflection, we'd seen nothing better on the drag. We were however at this point struggling with the concept of the road we'd just travelled down actually being the main drag!
Waving the taxi off, Tina and I approached hotel Posada 06 from across the road already admiring with quite a clear view, the small swimming pool which the rooms were grouped around. This is a friendly hotel but small. All rooms are no more than 20 meters from the outside world and Room 5, which is second from the front desk still had a less than desirable view of the road. The rooms could be described as stylish, stylish if you like cave living! The bed frame being an extension of the wall, about the height of my shins! The hotel has no catering facilities either so the advertised inclusive breakfast consisted of biscuits and coffee you make yourself! Not what you expect when you pay for breakfast. The last point to make on this hotel were the mattress covers, rubber or plastic that creck loudly on each turn. In short, not rest and relaxation.
Tulum is a town of two halves however. Downtown is situated 4km from the beach, only jungle separates these two distinct areas. Downtown, with a handful of bars and restaurants look out on to the main road which happens to be the Cancun/Belize trade route. Sipping cocktails whilst the huge lorries pound past all night long is surreal. We did like the upstairs open air bar though, the name of which escapes me!
Try the beach but don't expect a well practiced tourist offering. Most beach hotels here lack facilities. There is just one area between Mezzanine hotel and the Kite club which are nice. Chilled vibes, beach front service and superb sands are the best Tulum has to offer.
With Tulum, you have to make a trade-off. Downtown gives you a couple of restaurants, more lively bars but no beach. Stay in the beach area and you'll get hit and miss hospitality and a quieter resort. And finally, as for the ruins, nothing special. My suggestion, don't bother with Tulum. If you really want to see the ruins, take a day trip from Playa. Collectivo's run every 15 or 20mins!!
