Aventura Mexicana – Day 6 – Coba, Beach at Tulum and Playa del Carmen

Posted by on August 9, 2012

Monday, August 6, 2012

Coba

At the top of the pyramid at Coba.

Got up at a reasonable time, had some breakfast and headed out to Coba. It’s about 45 min drive from Akumal.

Coba is a large site of multiple structures all spread out in the jungle and connected by dirt roadways. Distances between some of the ruins is upwards of 1km and more, so we rent bikes and ride between them. Some poor saps  chose to walk—a decision they obviously regretted as we saw many empty bikes being shuttled into the jungle to receive its rider.

We started off by going all the way to the back to the big pyramid, thinking everyone would get trapped at the ruins near the entrance and then the crowds would diminish as we got deeper into the jungle. Our thinking was mostly correct. So we biked through the jungle stopping and looking at the ruins and then biking on to the next set. By the time we got way back to the Stelae, we were the only ones back there. Not surprising really.

Coba is in the jungle.
The sites are spread out so you rent a bike to ride between them.
Riding through the jungle is a nice way to cool off.
Nice morning for a ride.
Arrived at the pyramid.
Tallest pyramid in the Yuctan and you can still climb it!
The rope helps weary climbers on the steep stairs.
Steep and HOT.
Made it to the top for a fantastic view.
Resting at the top before starting down.
Almost down.
Alyssa\'s an expert at this by now.
Safe on the ground.
Pyramid of Nohoc Mul.
Our bikes.
More ruins spread throughout the jungle.
Ball court.
Skull.
Tiny lizard.
Ball court.
Another giant structure.
Trees growing right out of the ruins.
Stelae
Nice ball court.
Archway.
Another giant pyramid. Can\'t climb this one.
Self pic!
Pyramid.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjXQb0gwnPI&feature=youtu.be

Beach near Tulum

After Coba we decided to have lunch at Mezzanine (a great boutique hotel with a Thai restaurant at the beach) and then spent some time in the beautiful water at the beach.

Storm clouds.
Beautiful view of the beach from Mezzanine.
Beach at Tulum.
A bit cloudy today.
The water is still beautiful and refreshing.

Playa del Carmen

Playa del Carmen

After a great snorkel on the reef right out in front of where we were staying we decided to head into Playa del Carmen to have some dinner and do some shopping. We arrived, parked and headed to town. We walked down to the ferry dock, the main plaza, beach and then up and down Quinta (the main drag with hotels, shops, bars, restaurants and just about anything else you can think of). We finally settled in on a restaurant and sat down to the pleasant sounds of a live band playing “La Cucaracha”. They changed the words to the song a little bit to make it more interesting…

La cucaracha, la cucaracha,
ya no puede caminar
porque le falta, porque no tiene
marijuana que fumar.

Seriously, this is the only way we could have ended this crazy trip.

It began to drizzle a little and our server asked if we’d like to move to a table more inside. Initially we said no, but a few seconds later changed our minds and quickly moved to an inner table. It downpoured and people scattered everywhere ducking into restaurants and shops. Nonchalantly, our server said, “Yup, Ernesto is coming.” Remember how I said we weren’t sure how were were going to top the excitement of the previous days. Well, I instantly got chills and thought, “Ernesto…OMG A HURRICANE IS COMING!”

Instantly I grabbed my phone and brought up NOAA to look at the tropical weather forecast. Sure enough, Tropical Storm Ernesto, soon to be Category 1 Hurricane Ernesto was headed right for us. So we laughed hysterically and proceeded to order a few more cervezas!

Playa del Carmen.
Quinta Avenida
The only thing we can do now is drink.
Ernesto is knocking on our door.
Unbelievable.