Thursday, October 14, 2010 Tulum, Playa del Carmen

After getting a full 4 hours of sleep after a crazy night, I tried to go snorkeling, but they weren't running because of murky conditions, so I took a van colectivo to Tulum, down the coast, stopping to drop off maids and dive staff at each of the megaresorts along the way. Tulum was jam packed with the same exact mix of people as Chichen Itza, because the ruins are pretty spectacular. Unfortunately the best viewpoints were closed, so I ha to go down to the beach to take photos. The beach was incredible; crushed coral sands and the most turquoise water imaginable. I can't believe it was real, it was exactly what you see on travel brochures, the epitome of idyllic. I bummed it on the beach along with tons of others, for a couple hours, then took the bus back to Playa del Carmen, where I checked out the beach, which was big and although beautiful, not as pretty as Tulum. Plus there was overzealous development up and down the whole Riviera Maya coastline. I took a long walk, which was nice. People were lazing around, playing volleyball, drinking, surfing waves, and just having a good time. There were definitely demographically designated spots for certain folks. The European part was full of hip, trendy beautiful people listening to trance, the American part was full of fat sunburned Midwestern or Southerner tourists sitting around and playing volleyball, the Mexican part was chill and everyone was laughing and having a good time. Why am I not European, again? It was a great stretch of beautiful coastline, and Cozumel's resorts peeked over the coastline at us. I laid out with the Israelis for a while before getting some dinner and trying to hang out at another hostel's common area before they straight up kicked me out. I prepartied with the Israelis again, but it was awkward because their numbers were dwindling and they were speaking exclusively in Hebrew. I went online but refused to check my Facebook or email. I love being disconnected when I'm on vacation. I ended up drinking in my room with this very well-traveled Aussie named Tim, who was really fun. We went out to basically the same bars as last night, parking ourselves at this Buddha Bar. Our other French roommate Jeff was dancing with these really hideous Mexican girls, and when he disappeared, they kept wanting to dance with me and speak Spanish with me. It was pretty fun, and it was a good mix of Europeans and Mexicans, and (woo-hoo!) no Americans (because they're all in Cancun). But many of the other bars were pretty empty because it's low season, Mexico has a travel advisory because of the drug killings, and the world economy sucks.