tulum

view from the cabaña in tulum ------- sunrise



tulum ruins


fishing rods


fishermen in action -------------------------------catch of the day



caribbean seagulls -----------------tulum ruins from the boat



carlos, mario and the catch ------------------ karis and her new idol



baracuda feast -------------------------------family photo


who would have thought that water could be as clear and as mesmorising than that! welcome to the caribbean. we were in awe from the moment our (tanned, slip-slopped) feet hit that pure, white sand.we stayed in an ¨eco-chic hotel¨, or thats what they liked to call it, right on the beach with our window over-looking this amazing setting. funny thing though, the bed was hanging from the beams, so it gave us the hammock-effect...weird!

from the word ¨go¨, we were up and about; if we were not visiting tulum town and it´s ruins (meaning ¨wall¨of ¨fortification¨in maya), we were out with the locals fishing and snorkelling or lazing on the various hammocks attached to the palm trees.

the ruins were beautiful especially with the clear blue sea as the backdrop. unfortunately, there was not as much info. as we had hoped and the lawns were really well-manicured...just for the tourists, no doubt! however, we did manage to find out that they were inhabited in around 500AD, in the middle of the maya classic period, until 1544 when the ¨friendly¨spanish arrived and forcefully took it away.

our day out fishing and snorkelling was fan-ta-stic! the hotel manager´s husband took us out with his stepson (that looked the same age he did). once we had made it past the reef, it was extremely windy and the sea rough. we were given fishing rods with bait and were told to be patient and wait. so that´s what we did...after about twenty minutes, i felt a bite which caused much excitement only to find that either 1) it was my imagination (quite likely) or 2) it was caused from the energetic waves (quite probable). damn! just after that, marianne started to bellow and she had reason to. her rod was bending at such an angle i thought that it wa going to grow wings and fly away, fish and all. carlos - the husband - reeled and fought, fought and reeled until finally he landed a 10kg baracuda into the boat. with that the stepson knocked it out and did some other stuff, but by that stage i was no longer watching - distraught.
just when we thought that the action was over, seb caught himself a mother! same drama with the reeling and fighting. however this time the husband was shouting instructions, in spanish of course, and were were looking around anxiously for the beast to meet his once-brother and that he did! they must have been twins as they both were more or less, the same size and weight. wasn´t that (fishing, not fish) family happy (as luck would have it, we were invited to lunch at their place. like i said - happy, happy family)!!

so with the fishing expedition over, it was snorkel time. we were taken to a cenote where we snorkelled in magnificant clear water, passing tree roots and all kinds of marine life (mostly aggresive blue crabs and clear coloured fish). it´s amazing as this cenote has both fresh and sea water and one can feel the difference in temperature. snorkelling experience #2 was on the reef, but we did not see too much. the sea was agitated and the fish were all hiding. i begin to wonder if people did indeed see a turtle there the day before...

so lunch... REALLY funny experience. the four of us arrived at the family home with beers, wine and a bottle of coke (i know, i know but they really are fond of it) and we are told to sit at their diningroom table where there were only four chairs. feeling somewhat uncomfortable, we sat, chatted, drank and attempted to make conversation with the various people wafting in and out of the house. things were going pretty well until the husband puts on some house music. that would have been fine but he pumped the volume so much that it was pretty impossible to speak (perhaps that was his point?) so drinking and eating were the only options we are left with. perhaps in our state of nerves, marianne kept on knocking over her beer, seb and duarte had to get up and walk around as their bellies were too full and i was sitting on their couch (this is the part where we took turns at sitting at the table eating) laughing at the most extraordinary scene i was in. an extremely memorable day, indeed!

one thing must be said, tulum has some great restaurants and an even better italian ice cream shop, which we visited on a nightly basis. very often, we would have sundowners in front of our cabaña with oaxacan cheese and head into town for dinner then of course, it would be followed by a roomys (ice cream in afrikaans). mmm - a perfect meal!

Apres la visite de Palenque, la nissan turu loué par Duarte et pleine a craquer file droit sur la cote Carraibe. Et ce ne sont pas les 5 controles de routine de l´armée mexicaine qui la feront ralentir. En effet, c´est la fumée s´échappant du moteur qui nous force a nous garer en bord de route. Heureusement, un taxi s´arrete pour nous montrer la cause du problème (fuite d´eau dans le circuit de refroidissement). On le résoud temporairement en vidant nos dernières réserves d´eau dans le réservoir et on trouve un mécano qq kms plus loin qui nous répare tout ca en 2 heures sous un soleil de plomb et sous l oeil attentif de son chef qui se repose dans un hamac (cf photos)

Tulum et ses plages de sable fin nous acceuille par une journée ensoleillée. On se loue une cabaña en bord de plage et on se repose qq jours. Au programme, plage, grosses siestes dans les hamacs suspendus aux palmiers avec vue sur la mer, séances de natation dans l´eau bleu turquoise, parties de cartes en sirotant une margarita, la vie est dure quoi...

Les ruines de Tulum sont vraiment bien situées, en bord de mer. C´est ici que les mayas auraient apercu les premiers navires espagnols en 1518.

On organise une sortie peche au gros avec Carlos et Mario. La houle est forte en ce début de journée et le vent nous glace le sang durant la premiere heure de peche infructueuse. Heureusement, la ligne de Marrianne plonge soudainement, ce qui nous tire un peu de notre révasserie. Il faut ramener toutes les lignes en vitesse afin de ne pas géner le duel. Il lui faut 5 minutes de lutte acharnée pour ramener le poisson, qui, a notre grande surprise, est énorme : un beau baracuda de 10 kg. Nos visages s´illuminent alors en pensant au bon repas qui va suivre...
Qq minutes plus tard, Duarte loupe le coche et laisse filer sa chance. Je termine la session de peche en ramenant a mon tour un beau bébé de 10 kg, surement le frère de celui ramené par Marrianne.

On organise également une petite sortie de snorkelling (masque et tuba) dans les cenotes, ces grottes naturelles aux formations rocheuses étranges (stalagtites de calcaire). Nager dans les caves est qq peu inquiétant car il fait noir et les chauves souris peuplent le plafond. La visibilité dans l´eau est très bonne et on peut jouer avec les crabes qui courent au fond.

Au retour du voyage, Carlos et Mario nous invitent chez eux pour déguster le festin sur fond sonore a base de techno (bizarre...). Au menu, soupe de poisson puis frijoles, guacamole, tortilla et baracuda bien sur. Je mange tellement ( 3 gros steaks de baracuda pour moi seul) que j´en ai mal au ventre pendant deux jours...