Tulum is one of those towns I decided to live a normal life for a little while at least. It’s fairly touristy (but no Cancun), but still quite cheap. I bought a package of cheese, a loaf of wheat bread, a juice box, shampoo, and an avocado for $5. And I got a filling replaced and two others repaired for $100. I’m not sure if I needed all that, but she was pretty so I trusted her.

While they worked on my teeth I watched a show about sharks. Which I think is pretty smart, because the only thing scarier than dentists are sharks, so you’re sitting there scared about the whole tooth situation and sit up and see a shark and you’re like, well at least there aren’t sharks.

My hotel room has great wifi, a balcony, two beds, and a kitchen with burners, a microwave, and a refrigerator. So it’s nice to be able to cook and work out a bit again. The burners are rather sketchy and I feel like I’m setting myself on fire whenever I use it. I’ve taken to lighting a match and just throwing it at the gas. It’s worked really well, but it feels like maybe something I shouldn’t do?

Due to a productive week, I decided to take Thursday afternoon and bike to the beach. Maybe write some copy. Here is said beach.

I lasted about 20 minutes before getting bored and walking around a bit before going back. Seriously, how do people sit at the beach?

Mexico is topless-friendly, and unsurprisingly you can see that in full force if you walk by any beachfront yoga retreat.  If you’re lucky you’ll glimpse a couple swinging, well-tanned dicks as well.

But then it was time to move on, so I took a collectivo from Tulum to Playa del Carmen to spend a night there and see how the other side lived. It was much more American than I expected, from Starbucks to H&M and horrible beach parties. I’ve mentioned I hate the beach, right? Here’s a stretch without a ton of people that I still hated.

Skipped the party scene (my hostel was quiet anyways), and left early the next day for Cancun. I walked through the city but skipped the tourist strip (I’m sure it was even worse than Playa) and jumped on a ferry to Isla Mujeres.

Isla Mujeres is touristy too, but it’s smaller. I can process it, at least. And while the main attraction is still the beach, I’m able to relax in my own world a little bit more.

So I read. I sat on the beach a little. I cooked my own food in the hostel. I had drinks with a Canadian guy (~60), English woman (39), and German girl (26) to complete the most diverse group I’ve hung out with. German girl and I rented bikes and circled the entire island.

Ultimately I decided not to go diving. The underwater musuem looked rather underwhelming, and while I could have just done a reef dive, I was content not paying $80.

Then I went to Cancún for a day. Stayed in a really nice hostel – $13 and it included both breakfast and dinner. Nice group of people there, and it was well outside the party area, which was to my liking.

From there I hopped over to Valladolid. I figured while being in the Yucaton, I should probably see Chichen Itza. But the first night I went to see a light show projection on some building in the quaint, but bustling city with the English lady and a new Canadian girl who lives in Mexico City. It covered the history of Valladolid.

The next day was the big tourism day, so I did all of the things with them that we’re supposed to do. Here are pictures of those things.

You couldn’t climb anything here like at Tikal and Copan, which was a disappointment. All the signs told us what was inscribed or carved into the tops of them, but quite frankly I didn’t believe them. A “procession of jaguars” isn’t a real thing.

But whatever, it was cool running the gauntlets of tourist stalls to catch some glimpses of places where people were ruthlessly sacrificed. Maybe not ruthlessly I guess, it could have been politely done, most of their records are conjecture.

There were also a couple cenotes near Chichen Itza, so we checked those out as well. This one (Sacred Cenote) you could only look at, which is just as well, because it’s a strange color and looks like a failed science experiment. Also, lots of people were sacrificed and thrown into here.

Down the road was one that looked a bit more impressive. We went for a swim in it and jumped off the ledge and whatnot.

The hostel in Valladolid was also really nice. Great free breakfast, lots of space and a kitchen, and in a pleasant area in town. Explored the streets with Canadian girl later, but no real highlights. The cathedral and square were cool I guess – reminded me of Antigua.

And then I decided not to go home. So I flew to Guadalajara instead. 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Cancun, 1/2 hour bus ride to the airport, printed the boarding pass, checked in, and made it to the gate just as the line was dissipating. Nothing like cutting it close.