ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Thursday morning we are up around 6 to get ourselves ready to go to Tulum. Pack our bag (which Andy thought was over packed), grab some breakfast in the room and we're out.

The drive to Tulum was about an hour and a half or so. We made one stop before getting to Tulum at a shop where they were supposedly teaching us about the native rocks and plants. I'm sure it was really a case of the shop paying the tour company to bring us by. A tad bit annoying.



We make it to Tulum and start down the road where you enter.



The man on the right is our guide and we enjoyed him. Some of the guests in our group weren't quite as well prepared as we were. See that girl on the left in the cute dress? She immediately started complaining about mosquitoes (we had bug spray in our bag), she wore cute strappy sandles which wasn't a good idea, got thirsty in the hot sun (we brought a 32 oz. bottle of water) and had to leave to get something to eat (we brought snacks). We were prepared!

Once inside the ruins area, our guide fed the iguana a flower. He said people sometimes get really hurt when their fingers get munched on accidentally when the iguana is grabbing the flower.






Then it was off to see the actual ruins...




Is it weird to smile in front of a place where people used to get their hearts ripped out? I guess it's ok - they were honored to be sacrificed....right?


Once we got up to the top of the hill, we saw the ocean. OMG. So gorgeous. The combo of the ruins and ocean/beach here made this Tulum excursion one of the highlights of our trip.




In our handy dandy bag, we had swimsuits and a beach towel so we could get in the ocean while we were here.

Heading down the very tall staircase (this photo is to show the stairs, not the woman in front of me!)...





One last photo before we head out (Liz, please notice the shirt...he really wants you to see the shirt! In fact, this excursion was the first time we encountered Americans on our trip and they commented to Andy about the shirt.)



We loved Tulum very much and recommend it to anybody traveling to the area. We headed back and got to our hotel around 12:30. Grabbed some lunch, took a long nap and then headed...where else? The beach.

The day before I had gotten a bit intimidated by the lack of English being spoken but was happy when we finally got our tour booked. I had also been intimidated by trying to join in the beach volleyball games or any of the classes that take place poolside. I told Andy that today, we'd do those things regardless of the lack of English being spoken.

We sat beside the volleyball court and waited for a chance to join. We were motioned to join if we wanted so we jumped in. The other players never tried to speak English and we obviously don't speak Italian so we didn't really talk with them but we just played. I'm glad we did.

Then we heard there was a salsa class starting soon by the pool and I told Andy I wanted to do it. I head up there and talk to the Animator (staff in charge of entertainment/activities) beforehand so he knows we speak English. The animator spoke 4 languages and conducted the class using all 4 flawlessly. He was great. One of my only regrets is not getting photos with the animation staff - they were awesome and would always greet us in English (they didn't have to - we can speak enough Spanish to make small talk but it was nice of them), talk to us for a while, etc.

We had another dinner reservation for this evening but this one was at the Mediterranean restaurant. We headed back to get cleaned up and end up with a bit of time before our reservation time.

Some quick pics before we ate...




Then it was time for some FOOD. As soon as we got in, Andy said "oh, you're gonna love this place." It was lovely and modern and just really nice.




We were able to order 4 courses. I ordered a caprese salad, spinach ravioli, grouper and a brownie/ice cream thing for dessert. Andy ordered some other stuff that I don't remember the name of. I about died, people. This was either the best or the second best meal I've had in the last year. Andy was pleasantly surprised and liked his food as well.






SO HAPPY...


Great ambiance, fabulous food, fantastic service (not supposed to tip at an all-inclusive but we did!). If we'd stayed longer, we would have made another reservation for this place.

Afterward, we headed to the main building for piano bar music, drinks and then we made our way to the dance club for a little while. One of the animators got me up from my chair to salsa dance so he and I danced one song together. I was having trouble with the turns and he was nice enough to help me with those.

We decided to go to the ocean again and we were always surprised nobody was out late. It was very dark but the ocean was still beautiful and I decided to get in, European style. That's all I gots to say about that.

It was late by now so we walked back to our room. The next day is our anniversary and would be filled with lots of stuff including a massage, a run and a trip into Playa del Carmen!