Day 8: Tulum

December 20, 2023

To Sian Kaan Biosphere Reserve

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It was great to look out our door at the jungly courtyard, and then to go down for our included breakfast. The offering was not huge, but it did include a bowl of papaya, watermelon, and cantaloupe - all fruits that we had not had as yet this trip.

The plan for today was to cycle to Gran Cenote and spend lots of time swimming. But the day came up at about 22 degrees, judged too cold by locals, crocodiles, and now us, for swimming. decided instead to head down the water side of Tulum, and from there we eventually entered the Sian Ka'an reserve.

We passed through that crazy intersection of 307 and Tulum Road and headed for the water. In the section between the intersection and the water, traffic chaos is replaced by a bike path for us. Well yes, it was blocked by construction and we had to take the path on the other side of the road, and a bike/bus lane in the road was totally ignored by drivers, but it was still a nice thought. We then turned onto the road that parallels the water. Here development has gobbled up every inch of beach frontage, and the road is crowded with restaurants, clothing shops, and especially pharmacies. The pharmacies are a strange phenomenon, with several often clustered together, and all advertising the same list of cut rate drugs on signs out front. The other main consumer of road (and beach) frontage is "beach clubs", hotels, and various private properties. From when we first visited here, about a dozen years ago, we do not remember any of this. But then last year, not only was all the stuff here, but the road was jammed with traffic. This year, the traffic seems a little less.

There is no beach to be seen through the development

Ok, there was a very short stretch of beach, allowing this nice shot of a Ruddy Turnstone.

A lot of the signage of businesses along this stretch plays on the ideas of being in paradise, getting a massage or exotic food, buying "hippie chic" clothing, meditating, and generally relaxing. Maybe all this was happening behind the various doors and walls, but from our position in the road it was apparent how much in terms of heavy trucks, diesel fuel, and noise was being used to support those meditating hippies, or whomever.

Amazing numbers of trucks ply this "paradise" road.

Another form of road that we observed was the type built by termites, to access their large arboreal nests. Violating any sort of conservation principles, I slightly opened one of these roads for a peek. The termites turned out to be much smaller than I had imagined. Anyway, I left them a fun activity, repairing the small section of road I had disrupted.

We came to the end of the paved road and developed area, to the point where the biosphere reserve begins. Here we had to pay 105 pesos each admission. I am really getting tired of bloodsucking tactics like this. Had they provided some road maintenance, an observation tower, a map, some trails, or anything, then I could see it. But as it was, I think we were just paying for the people to collect what we paid, and to keep the entrance barricaded.

The road from this point runs 44 km out to Punta Allen, which is a tiny town. However, strangely for a reserve, all the beach side land is privately occupied, or fenced off. Perhaps these are grandfathered properties that pre-existed and got locked into the reserve?

The very bumpy in spots, very long gravel road.

At one very limited point we were able to bust out and see the ocean, including a pelican.

I also followed a little trail and came out on the lagoon side.

Amazingly even way down here heavy trucks were in evidence. I guess if there are indeed grandfathered people out here, they need water deliveries, and maybe dump trucks to bring or take away construction waste.

Bright fungus on a branch on the forest floor.

After bouncing down about 8 km of potholed jungle road, but without any great numbers of new birds, or sights, we gave up and turned around. We passed various people on rented bikes, scooters, or in cars, heading in and clearly anticipating something marvelous. Maybe it's in there, out on the lagoon or along some trail, but I couldn't help wondering how long it would take each to turn around in disappointment. To be fair, the Top Ten guide lists 10 super things to see in Sian Kaan. There are many Mayan ruins, islands in the lagoon stuffed with temples and wildlife, every kind of wildcat found in Mexico, monkeys, anteaters, tapirs, manatees, and on and on. I guess you need a guide for all that.

We passed back though the shops and restaurants section, looking for and finally finding a public bench, where we could eat our sandwiches. I took the opportunity then to phone our bank (no phone service out in the reserve). The hotel lady had approached us in the morning, to get payment for our two night stay. I showed her my VISA account in my phone, showing that her hotel had already charged its amount. But she pointed to the word "pending" in the listing, and asserted that the bank had refused payment. This turned out to be, as I knew, nonsense, and only reflected the speed of processing down here. The bank on the phone was very clear about this, though they were hard to hear through all the passing diesel trucks, motor scooters, and suchlike. When we got back, I told the lady what the bank had said and she conceded, but without apologizing for attempted double dipping.

Back at the famous intersection, Dodie went in to Super Aki, leaving me as usual with the bikes. Opposite my spot by the door, two fellows were selling what turned out to be cheese from Oaxaca. Just for a lark, I phoned our perfectly fluent in Spanish daughter in Victoria, and got her to ask the guy about his cheese. He quite pleasantly ran though all the brands and types he had on hand. But the packages were too large to buy and eat in our room.

Cheese from Oaxaca, on sale directly at the supermarket door.

Back at our hotel, after hours in the biosphere reserve, we found scads of birds in the tree by our door. There were parrots that we coud hear but not spot, and lots of Orioles.

I got sent out then back to the burrito stand on the corner. It turned out they were using a unique cooking style, that began with creating a layer of melted and crisped cheese, then adding a standard flour burrito shell, and finally a big load of meat and veggies, before rolling and slicing in half. I documented the process with the camera:

Pork goes on top of mixed fresh veggies.

Lots of mushrooms added. I had ordered pork and mushrooms from lots of possible ingredients.

Gather any bits that fell out the sides.

And slice in half. I then got to add to the styro container from a selection of condiments, including lime wedges, rice, pickles, halapenos, and sauces.

Just down from the burrito stand a man was selling mangos and rambutan. Both piles looked like "orchard run", which could be preferable. I asked how much for the rambutans and was told what would translate as 40 pesos for a medium amount, to which I asked what a medium amount might be. He weighed out the fruit to show me, and I went for it. I mention this because the whole thing happened in Spanish. Good for me!

Some of the Rambutan. Rambutan tastes a lot like Lychee, but looks all different.

Tomorrow we will pick up stakes and head for Coba. But first, papaya, watermelon (sandia) and cantaloupe (melon). Looking forward to it!

Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 273 km (170 miles)

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