Tulum

Tulum is a place full of touristy activities. You're really supposed to do them, and that is the draw of the town. The seaside ruins are a must-see, the nature reserve and Punta Allen to the south is supposed to be heavenly, and a day trip to the ruins at Coba is a no-brainer. Now, if you walk into the hostel, meet some cool people with similar interests, and drink for six straight days, you might not have the time to really take it all in. Well, you take the weed all in, but not much else.

For the past six days, I've pretty much settled into a strict routine; bus, beach, bus, bar, taxi, hostel, spliff, sleep. It's honestly been grueling and I don't think I can take much more. I met a couple of English guys, Dan and Dave (no relation), and we've been hanging out every night seeing who can drink more. There are a couple of bars in town, and the beach is six kilometers away, so we mostly stayed in town. The bar called "Akubar" has live music from Thursday to Sunday, and always has this awesome local reggae band. I'm not the hugest reeggae fan, but the guitar riffs and melodies they come up with are awesome, and the drummer plays perfectly with the music. The night before last, on Sunday, they had their dos-anos party and there were six bands that played! We only saw three, but they were all good. I was really into the first two, but the last one changed the tone as they were a salsa band. The place was packed (they even ran out of beer), so there was no room for anyone to actually dance to salsa, which is half of the experience for me. It was a fun night, and we ended up back at the hostel and woke everyone up. This old Mexican couple actually came out three times! The third time, Dave, who speaks no Spanish, was left to talk to her. Dave just listened to her ramble in Spanish, and basically said "Si. Si. Adios." It was probably the funniest thing I've ever heard.

We also went to a nice party at a bar on the beach, and actually rented a Cabaña to stay in. We bought a bunch of food beforehand, and made a fire in a pit we had seen earlier at the Cabañas. We cooked Arrachera Fajitas, which turned out to be the best Mexican food any of us had eaten in Mexico. We then went to Mezzanine, and had a good time due to the good hip-hop and English electronic music that was being played. We got really drunk, Dan stole Dave's sheet and Dave thought it was me, and then I watched the sunrise. Good times.
The night before Mezzanine, we went to the bar immediately across the street, and were quite happy until we found out the bar had a bitchy owner. It was a Colombian lady, mid-thirties and pretty, and she was very unimpressed with my behaviour. A swedish guy we had met, Bas, was talking to me when he accidentally knocked the beer bottle out of my hands. When I looked over at the bar owner, she exclaimed "Bravo" and made me pay vente pesos for the broken bottle. I was seriously considering breaking another bottle and placing a vente on the table. Unimpressed with her actions, we left and I went back and played guitar for the people at the hostel.

This turned into a regular occurrence, and I played for three nights with everyone around listening. It's fun to play for people, especially Israelis. They get drunk and just start singing in these thick accents, like one named Tal I met, and it always turns into a good time. People who stay at hostels can be really really cool, and the one here in Tulum has been one of my favorites. I've met a lot of people here, and am actually going to travel with the English guy Dan into Belize. We are also meeting people from Tulum who are already there, and are hoping they can give us some pointers on the cheap places to stay and eat!

That's all for now, I went snorkeling (which I'll write about next time) all day and need a spliff and a hammock.

Hasta la pasta,

Seamus