Merry Christmas to all, or should we say, Feliz Navidad!
Our time in Tulum, Mexico has been quite spectacular. Of course, the warm breeze and sunny skies are always something we seek out. We are staying at The Sian Ka’an at Grand Oasis, which is just on the outskirts of Tulum. We chose to stay in the adults only “Calm Section” of the resort, which easily translates to no screasming children! The resort itself is quite large, broken into areas for families and adults, all extremely well-maintained. We arrived on December 21st with the expectancy to a busy resort. However, we were rather elated to learn that the busyness doesn’t really start to around December 27th.
We have multiple, high-end dining experiences to choose from with each meal being quite exquisite. Seafood is a point of interest to us which are prepared, presented and served as more of delicacies with different sauces and ingredients that fire the taste buds. Although there are various pools on the resort, our Adults Only area is surrounded by day beds and loungers, all modern and well-kept. There is also a jaw-dropping infinity pool with a swim up bar which overlooks the ocean so it’s as if one is floating in a painting, definitely postcard worthy. Also included in our package is the rental of a Smart Car (for as long as we want for only $8/day for insurance) so we have taken advantage of this to offer the flexibility to site-see what this area of Mexico has to offer.
Yesterday we traveled into the town of Tulum to witness for ourselves what one of “the most beautiful beaches in the world” had to offer. Tulum is a town on the Caribbean coastline of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. It is evident that Tulum, once a “beach town” is growing into a higher-end tourist destination with many boutique hotels. Due to this growth, it is busy and prices for accommodations in this direct area can be hefty, mainly because people pay the prices and hence us choosing to stay about 25 km’s outside of the actual town.
Aforementioned beautiful beaches, it also houses well-preserved ruins of an ancient Mayan port city. The main building is a large stone structure called, El Castillo (castle), situated on a rocky cliff above the sea. Tulum was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya and was at its height between the 13th and 15th centuries and managed to survive about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico. Old World diseases brought by the Spanish settlers appear to have resulted in very high fatalities, disrupting the society and eventually causing the city to be abandoned.
As many of us have had the pleasure, on a hot day the sand walking a beach can burn the feet if you’re in it for too long. What we found is that there was a coolness to the powdered sand. I must say, it was truly spectacular to walk the beach, sun beating down, white-powdered sand squishing between the toes, with amazing azure-like water gently waving to the shore. Temperatures each day are around the 30-degree mark, with a “feels-like” of 39. This sounds hot – and it is, but there is always a gentle breeze blowing so it never feels sweltering. Truly lovely all around.
Today we ventured into Playa Del Carmen. Playa offers much to the party-hard soul. We ventured to the 5th Avenue Street. Very busy with many locals selling their products. What we noticed here is that the beach area is much smaller and a bit cramped. It’s still beautiful, but the vibe is definitely geared more towards those who want to party and the culture in Playa del Carmen definitely caters to that. Still lovely with lots to do but for us, not quite as serene as Tulum.
Today being Christmas, our adventure continued as we ventured to one of the many cenotes. A Cenote (Spanish pronunciation, Say-note-a) are surface connections to subterranean water bodies. Cenote water is very clean, as the water comes from rain water filtering slowly through the ground, and therefore contains very little suspended particulate matter. Because of this, the water is far cooler than that of which the sun sees so average temperatures run around 68-70 degrees. We visited one site, Sac Aktun, which we chose particularly as it was a bit out of the way and less touristy. What a phenomenal experience this was. A visual beauty with pristine waters that fill the cavernous voids beneath ground. What we saw and snorkeled in was just a sample of what this site alone had to offer. Experienced divers can travel into the cavernous caves beneath that flows for hundreds, if not thousands of feet. There are over 6,000 different cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico alone so quite a treat to experience even one of them.
As we close this day off we only have a couple of days left before we pack to head home. Our plan is to stay grounded, read our books and take advantage of our deck and the visual spectacle facing the beautiful ocean. Then, as the rest of Ontario is currently experiencing, we will come back to the chilly breeze so as always, we are filled with gratitude for the privilege of experiencing another section of our beautiful world.
Love to all and we look forward to continuing the memories with all of you throughout 2018!
Love to all,
D&D
xo
View from our room
Our beach view
Infiniti Pool, Grand Oasis
D&D out for dinner at Grand Oasis
Lounging with the pool to ourselves
Beautiful beach, Tulum, Mexico
White-powdered sand, Tulum, Mexico
Mayan Ruins, Tulum, Mexico
Mayan Ruins, Tulum, Mexico
Mayan Ruins, tulum, Mexico
Mayan Ruins, Tulum, Mexico
Mayan Ruins, Tulum, Mexico
D&D touring the Mayan Ruins
Cenote, Sac Aktun, Tulum
Cenote, Sac Aktun, Tulum
Cenote, Sac Aktun, Tulum
D&D Snorkeling at Cenote, Tulum
D&D following our cenote experience
All the pictures look amazing!! It’s great to see that you two are having a great time! Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
You guys look like your having a wonderful time. Thanks for the read.
Awesome photos…makes me want to return to Mexico!
Hey Daniel! Beautiful picks and so well written! Thanks for sharing and safe trip home.