After crossing back into Mexico, we arrived in Chetumal and hopped a bus to Xpujil, a small town in southern Campeche. There is really nothing to see in Xpujil. It’s a town of about 5 blocks spread along the highway, no nice church, no pretty architecture, really nothing visually appealing at all, but it is the jump off point for a series of ruins and the national park called Calakmul. Town seemed even uglier as it started to rain while we were walking around looking for a hotel and then a dog decided to bite Kurt. He was fine (although I would not have been) and we were saved from the rain when we realized that as we exited the bus station we had actually passed the only 3 hotels in town (think small and poorly marked). In the morning we set out as early as possible to get to the 3 ruins we wanted to see before the only bus of the day to Tulum at 10:30. Since there is no public transport, we negotiated with a taxi to take us. We started out a little too early and upon arriving at the first ruin, Becan, discovered the gate was still locked. However, it was easy enough to slide around and the driver assured us that it was fine, “people do it all the time”.
After Becan, we went to Chicanna, famous for its door that looks like a monster’s mouth.
Then it was on to the ruins at Xpujil, pretty much right on the edge of town.
We got back with just enough time to cool down (the theme of this trip was hot, humid, and mosquitos), finish packing, and go to the bus station…..where we proceeded to wait for 3 hours for our bus. Buses in Mexico, especially 1st class buses generally run on time, but not this time. This was our lovely view for 3 hours.
After the slight delay, we arrived in Tulum that night and then spent the next day camped out on the amazing beach. Well first we went to the ruins that share the same name as the town. The ruins themselves aren’t that spectacular, but their location, perched on cliffs about a white sand beach with the turquoise waters of the Caribbean below is pretty incredible. (I was here on my last trip to the Yucatan so the photos might look a little familiar). Then wandered down the beach looking for some shade, but not really wanting to pay for a palapa. We were lucky enough to find a great tree on the edge of the beach and had a nice, natural, cheap palapa all to ourselves. Well, all to ourselves until we noticed the two guys in the bushes and then the cop that kept driving by on his four wheeler. I can’t complain too much though, it was still free.
The next morning we went to the ruins of Coba, about 45 min away from Tulum. Coba has the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan and is a really spread out site set around 2 lakes. I think I have finally reached my end with ruins for now. I’ve been to over 30 different sets in Mexico and I’m getting to the same point that I am with churches….there has to be something really cool and unique to capture my attention….sad, but true.
We spent the rest of the afternoon back on the white sand beach with our only purchase of the trip. Kinda weird, but for 50 pesos (less than 5 usd), how can you pass up Obama flip flops??
