Day 5: Playa del Carmen to Tulum

November 29, 2021

Somewhere in my psyche is the idea that eating tropical fruits, breathing salt air, and jumping into an azure sea is a great health regimen. At the same time, in there is also the notion of eating croissants and cheese, breathing mountain air, and jumping into a glacier fed lake. Both are probably valid, but right now we are working on #1.

I thought of this as this morning our hostess Barbara prepared bowls of banana and papaya with yogurt and granola. Just this would have been great, but she followed with buns covered with freshly made salsa and guacamole. No azure sea for us, though, as we put ourselves right onto the noisy and dusty 307 highway.

I remembered the highway just at Playa as being the busiest and roughest over its whole length. But standing at that point in the highway (while Dodie ducked into an OXXO to put a hot chocolate in her thermos) I was mainly thinking "Wow, we are actually here!" (At this despicable intersection).

Any philosophizing about being actually here, about health regimens, or anything else was quickly subsumed in just dealing with the road. It turned out that the perennial construction in this section now extended for at least 20-30 km south. And of course if you are going to rip up a road in any way it's a foregone conclusion that any bikeable shoulder is toast.

Aside from the cycling challenge shown in this photo, we also see a bus from Xcaret, showing that these buses are not just imaginative images from billboards, but what they really use.

Despite the challenging road, Dodie retained her abilities as a wildlife spotter. First up was this nice bird on a wire:

But then her keen eye produced these vultures? sunning on a tower:

I am less likely to be looking up, and therefore noticed this roadside scrub, which nevertheless could contain plants valued for indoors in Canada:

We both also noted a lovely planting of Bougainvillea, like this:

The ride down to Tulum is innately boring, because the road does not run by the sea. Any idea of going to the sea and following along is a non starter, because though many roads go down to the sea, none parallel it.

That leaves the main interest on the road looking at the very many giant billboards, mostly advertising the adventure and hotel complexes, looking at the super ostentatious entrances to these complexes, and a new one - looking at billboards advertising improbably avant guard restaurants in Tulum.

Let's start with one of those, and go on to a few complexes:

Is that a guacamole pyramid on a cracker?

Here is the actual Xcaret, with another of their busses.

Not sure about this one, but it has a zip line!

Google should be able to explain the "Secret"

Since we have been getting up at 6, by about 10 all this excitement is catching up with us. Dodie has also been good at spotting the most comfortable concrete slabs available for resting on. Generally these are at "collectivo" stops, but could be anywhere shady. Clearly I liked this one:

We rolled into Tulum not so long after mid day, aided by having chosen a hotel right at the entrance to the ruins, which are at the extreme north end of town. We chose this so we could walk to the ruins. Last time they would not let us take our bikes in (though some ruins in fact rent bikes to use during your tour) and we were no way going to leave our bikes parked outside.

Our rooms are stepping up very gradually in comfort, though not by design. This latest one has some great features. There is very hot water, AC (which we don't use), a desk, and enough space for the bikes. Right now the main benefit is that it is dark and naturally fairly cool. Dodie really wilts in the sun and heat. So we have put her down quietly on the bed, and expect her to revive in time for dinner. This place has a restaurant, but there is no sign of Poc Chuc on the menu. Five days in Yucatan and no Poc Chuc? We may have to penetrate the interior of the peninsula to have better luck with that quest!

Heart

Comment

Link

Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 145 km (90 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	13
Comment on this entry	Comment	0