Rice and Beans here we come to Mexico!

I planned a trip to the Yucatan area of Mexico in the fall of 2007. With our increasing love for spicy mexican food, I had to go visit the motherland of burritos and salsa! The trip consisted of visiting one of the wonders of the world "Chichen Itza" then Tulum, (which was then still a lesser known travel secret) via Cenote Dzitnup and Valladolid enroute.

We landed in Cancun and picked up our rental car and drove through Cancun which seemed pretty much like a street in Miami. Stopped at the mexican McDonalds for late lunch, after ordering and paying, the mcguy came back to us in some time giving back our money & pointing to a spanish sign that said if its more than 15 mins its free!! What a start to our trip :)

Drove to Chichen via Valladolid after which it seemed a bit dangerous drive, but reached Chichen in 2 hours. Our Hotel Mayaland was such a gorgeous lush green property with peacocks roaming, palapa restaurants, bird trails, horse rides and many pools to swim. We were spoilt with the delish mexican grand buffet breakfast every morning!

Hotel Mayaland grounds

El Castillo

Chichen Itza was right behind our resort & shared the property I believe. It was an awesome sight to see El Castillo for the first time, the huge stadiums, thousands of pillars, the ball court, beautiful carvings, the skull carvings, everything was magnificent! We could have stayed for some more time, but had to move on.

Chichen Itza

We drove to Cenote Dzitnup, took a dip in the dark green magical underground pool. The experience was out of the world to see the cave with stalactities & stalagmites and then jump into the pool with hanging stalactites above. After the dip we drove into Valladolid, visited the San Gervasio church on the day of the dead. It was decorated everywhere like a big festival to celebrate the day of the dead.

Soft white sand prints

Next stop was Tulum where we based ourselves for a few final days. Our hotel was "Zulum" which was an ecologically conscious hotel like many in Tulum. It had balconies with hammock, bedrooms with hanging beds, and everyday was fresh made to order breakfast with huevos, fruits and anything you wanted! It was so much fun and relaxing on the beach, with palapas arranged on the beach and bonfire every night. 

We woke up to such beautiful sunrises everyday on the Tulum beach. The white sands kept our baby happy all of our time on the beach and warm waters were inviting for us to alternate sand and water, lunch, sand, water, sand, dinner :) Just could not get enough turquoise blue waters and white soft sands!

Warm clear waters with white sandy beaches, perfect for morning walks!

We took multiple trips for yummy lunches & dinners in town of Tulum, snorkel trip to Playa del Carmen to see colorful sea life of fishes, turtles and corals. 

One of our trips was to the Tulum ruins, white limestone structures built as the grand Mayan city perched up on a cliff overlooking the blue sea and lined with beautiful sandy beaches. You could also climb down for a quick dip into this scenic small beach at the ruins if you are not interested in the touristy shopping stalls outside the ruins.

Mayan Tulum Ruins

Cannot say enough about the beautiful white sand beaches, the warm people and hospitality, the yummilicious food (the reason we came to explore) we ate everywhere (did not even remember by the end of our trip the killer stomach cramps one night which seemed worse than labor pains to me!) and beautiful cultural structures and heritage. 

So long Mexico, I will see you and your spicy peppers, tasty guacamoles and delicious huevos rancheros sometime soon!!