But first, a catch-up. The Sunday night dance was wonderful. It's put on by the city, they close the street in front of City Hall and hire a large Mexican band to play for the crowd. And, since this is across from the square, there are vendors also in the square, selling real (i.e., locally made) crafts. Many people just watching, but some wonderful dancing going on.
But we felt it was time to move on. We had done a lot of the town, and wanted to get back to the ocean. So we packed, said our good-bye's and began our trip back, this time via Tulum, to see another part of the peninsula. It had a Mayan ruin there as well - the only one on the ocean - but was also supposed to be s kind of sleepy town-by-the-sea that appealed to us.
First, and urgent matter. Darlene had run out of reading materials. Turns out there is an English library in town, run by one of the 14 permanent anglophones, a woman named Harriet. She talks a lot and has a real interest in her project, so this was not an easy task. But it was rewarding, and we were on our way well-stocked.
Driving here is always an adventure. The roads sometimes don't have lane markings, and people drive kind of in the right place, most of the time. Buses and tourist vans drive like they are sport cars. There are bicycles and scooters on the roads. And every once in a while, there will be a "tope" - a speed bump of varying height, width, and degree of danger. Usually these are around towns, but not always. Usually, they are marked with signs, but not always. Occasionally, there are even police at the bumps. But, aside from that, the roads are in good shape, straight and even.
Tulum does have archeological ruins.
And a wonderful beach.
But it is not as we suspected. It is a long strip of cheek-by-jowl hotels along the beach. Many are self-labelled "eco-hotels", and many others have taken advantage of the yoga/zen/buddhist/meditation/spa thing to build expensive places and deal with rich people. I found it disheartening.
We stayed at another B&B, this time owned by a Hungarian couple, the wife of which had only just had her first child.
Only one night, and that was enough. Although we did get for an early swim in the warm, turquoise Caribbean before hitting the road in the morning, for the 2-hour drive back to the car rental place. The GPS got us there, and they car rental place was pleasant enough to drive us to the ferry dock (for a fee, of course), and then we were back on Isla. It felt like coming home. Aided by the meeting on the street of Jerry, the owner of the hotel, who greeted us warmly and asked how our trip had been.
Settling in was easy, and we headed right down to the cafe for a real coffee, and some food. Those people, at the Cafe Mogagua, are wonderful - friendly and helpful. Later that evening, after unsuccessfully trying to buy some wine glasses at the local grocery store and various other stores, Darlene had the thought to ask these folks if we could borrow/rent some glasses for the next few days. We asked, the server thought about it, took two glasses and carefully wrapped them in paper, and placed them into a plastic bag. When we asked how much for the glasses (we had thought we would pay no more than 20 pesos for them), he waved us off and said no cost. The cafe has a saying from the Dalai Lama on the wall: Be kind whenever possible; it is always possible. And these folks live up to it. A wonderful re-introduction to the island.
Later, we did a walk on the beach and went back to the hotel for a supper of bread and cheese and bubbly, on the balcony, before turning in at nine o'clock. The end of a good day.
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