Tulum & Cozumel 🌴🌮🌯🥑🍤

Tulum & Cozumel

Believe the hype. The Tulum beach is beautiful and the water is warm, if choppy. It’s an Instagrammer’s paradise... We were privy to many awkwardly staged photo shoots. The sun was intense, and after hours playing in the waves, and walking around the Mayan ruins, we got burnt, despite our best efforts. Our condo, our first AirBNB experience, was a $10 cab away. The place was perfect. The kids had their own room and there was a huge pool shared with the other tenants. We met the sweetest family from Brooklyn, traveling with their baby and preschooler, both teachers too. We also loved the nearby truck stop with great Mexican food and incredible bands on the weekends (and quirky ones on weekdays). We ate so many tacos and panuchos at La Chiapaneca that I really need a break.

From Tulum we booked a tour to the Dos Ojos cenotes, and went cave swimming for a few hours.  Flippers, masks, snorkels on, we swam through different caves, some with a few fish, some filled with bats, some so dark we needed flashlights. The girls were awesome — strong, brave, and generally up for whatever we plan.

A few days later we bussed to Playa del Carmen, ferried to Cozumel, checked in to a funny little hotel and went on a short snorkel tour. The reefs we saw didn’t seem to be in very good shape but a few schools milled around us, probably because our guide was dropping feed out of his pocket (sketchy?).  When we got lightly stung by tiny jellyfish, we were like OW! And the guide was like, Oh no — no stingers here. Anyway, to make sure our Tripadvisor feedback was positive, we were given margaritas, rum punch, and strawberry pop for the kids.

Back at the hotel, the kids played in the courtyard where there were lush gardens and sixteen (they counted) turtles. They stalked them, petted them, admired them, and yes, washed their hands. We walked around the center of Cozumel that night, enjoying the plaza, the vendors, the outdoor restaurants. Mike had a couple of barley pops, the girls had the best popsicles of their lives — basically mango purée, and I treated myself to an obnoxiously large-pink-slushy daiquiri while enjoying tender acoustic covers of the music of my youth. The seed is planted for my snowbirding retirement years I guess. Haha

Our time in Mexico was awesome and I’m sure we’ll go back someday. Hasta luego.
—K