04/10/04- 10/10/04 Tulum

Oh what a beauty.



We checked into the most basic of accommodation, no electricity or running water or bathroom door which was not pleasant and so immediately found a very plush hotel right on the beach and then proceeded to spend the rest of the week either in the sea, on a hammock or at the book exchange. Andy decided I read too much.

We did very little whilst we were here, but have been having a very lovely time. The beach is like a bounty advert beach so I have been practising my Bridget Bardo exit from the sea, so far not met any odd scottish men waiting for me with a license to kill.

We did decide, yet again, to blow the budget on a couple of dives into the cenotes which was absolutely brilliant. Although not technically a cave dive we got to explore under the jugle in both fresh and salt water, one of the cenotes (known affectionally as temple of doom because it is in the shape of a skull) was half fresh water (at the top) and then salt water which meant that the temperature changed as we went down and there was a weird effect where the two different types of water merged which looks a bit like the heat shimmer you get off the roads on a very hot day.






The cenote diving was excellent though I landed on my bottom after a 3m dive into the second dive site and it really did sting. Wonderful places and Tulum beach is gorgeous but I think we upset a few of our neighbours in the hotel as it was a bit fancy (because we didn't want to stay in a wooden shack like the smelly people but I think they were just smelly because there was no water) and a family resort and we were a bit noisy. Well, Libby and Fiona were.



Roger and Andy brushing up on their DIY skills
(you need to look back at the last entry to compare it to the Mayan attempt)



That took us hours- it was about a metre high and other holiday makers came along and congratulated us on it and took photos- we were like the Chapman brothers except we didn't scatter lots of little model dead Mayans on it.