Tulum Town

One morning, the skies were overcast and the threat of intermittent rain showers loomed beckoning us away from the beach.  We spent a couple of hours catching up with Joe's Grandma and Great Aunt who, by the way, are both avid travellers.  We laughed as they told us about getting soaked while taking in the Panama Canal and listened in awe as his Aunt casually mentioned her trip from Beijing to Europe via the Trans-Siberian railway.  If that doesn't inspire you to leave the resort, I'm not sure what does.

Joe's cousins had already caught the Collectivo, a public transport system, into Tulum town and we hoped to meet up with them somewhere along the way.  We had heard there wasn't much to do in town although prior to our trip, I did come across a few articles and blogposts chronicling Tulum's rise to popularity with it's sustainable, low-key and hippy-esque vibe.  Our taxi deposited us in the centre of town, along the main strip which was chalk full of tourist shops filled with knickknacks.  We sauntered up and down the street, occasionally peeking into the shops but mostly just taking in the surroundings: a couple of cars driving slowly through town with a man on a loudspeaker and a girl in a bikini draped across the hood, dreadlocked men walking down the street barefoot, a variety of tourists haggling in shops.

Eventually, we found a little more of what I was expecting - one block off the main road we landed in Batey's.  It was a funky, little place that smelled delicious.  We hadn't known this when we were there, but apparently, they're the place to go for mojitos.  Everything that came from the teeny, tiny kitchen out the back looked fresh and yummy but we settled on some homemade guacamole and a couple of beers although that didn't stop us from salivating every time we saw something else make its way to another patron at another table.

Had we not been at an all inclusive up the road, we might have come into town more often in search of those little restaurant gems.  I suppose that's one of the downside of resorts - food and drinks are included in your rate and it seems wasteful not to use what you've paid for yet, in turn, that means you're missing out on all of the little opportunities for great dining elsewhere.



-Some restaurant/hotel recommendations in Tulum town
-Travel and Leisure's take on Tulum

Escape to Mexico

It's fairly well known that Canadian winters are long, cold and dark.  Where I grew up, the first snowfall came around Halloween and it would be followed by months and months of below zero temperatures and snow storms.  Come January, many of us were completely over winter - the terrible road conditions, the temperatures plunging below -30, shovelling driveways and plugging in cars to ensure they'd start in the morning.  Unfortunately, winter continued well into March.

Mexico has always been a popular sun destination for Canadians but in the last fifteen years, it has really taken off.  Sick of frigid temperatures, more and more residents of the Great White North began escaping winter by heading South, if only for a week.  Airlines have been adding seasonal flights to Cancun and Puerto Vallarta from even our small city airports and the abundance of all inclusive resorts in Mexico have made the trip affordable for a lot of people.  Joe and I have gone twice - once with friends marking our convocation in 2005 and again in 2008, just the two of us.

For many of the sun seekers, travel isn't necessarily at the forefront of these trips.  We're there for heat and sunshine where we'll completely overdo it and end up burnt to a crisp on the first day.  We're also there for the unlimited slushy, sugary drinks which we'll also overdo and almost all of us will battle montezuma's revenge at one point or another.  It's all worth it because for those seven days, winter will be the furthest thing from our minds and the break from the monotony of snow and cold will give us just enough energy to last through the latter half of the season.

Mexico has also become a very popular wedding destination which is exactly what brought us to the Mayan Riviera this time around.  We met around 30 other guests in Tulum to celebrate Joe's sister's wedding.  (In fact, on her wedding day, there were 3 other weddings just at our resort!!)  Our itinerary was pretty quiet although my parents were also conveniently at their timeshare a little over an hour away from where we were staying which allowed us to visit them as well.  Aside from that, we rotated between sun and shade, pool and beach and we spent a lot of time catching up with Joe's side of the family.

This was an interesting trip for us.  I had to relinquish all travel planning control as the location, the dates and the resort were all chosen for us which was a little harder than I expected.  We were also coming into our third Mexican vacation from a completely different place, figuratively and literally, than our last two trips.  We've been living abroad now for three and a half years, traveling regularly and while we've had our fair share of 'holidays,' we have stayed away from large, all inclusive resorts as we've become more comfortable in foreign countries.  It was certainly enjoyable having so much time with family but, both us were yearning to see a little more of 'real' Mexico.

What is a pretty easy, quick trip from Canada is a fairly lengthy journey from Norway.  Our three flights spanned near twenty five hours each way with a seven hour time change.  We were lucky to not struggle with jet lag while in Mexico but, days after our return home, we're still readjusting.  Over the weekend, we caught ourselves sleeping until well after eleven, something we haven't done in ages but we're definitely feeling a little rejuvenated, having had a slight break from the rain and wind of Stavanger.

Our favourite holidays to date are Mauritius and Santorini.  Where are you favourite places to relax?