Yes, We Were Frolicking Tourists!

My most favourite moments in Mexico were on the day when Kevin, Kamille, Karis and I frolicked on the this most incredible beach.  And yes, I mean frolic because I can assure you that had it not been for  the other couple who had also found this gorgeous stretch of beach, we certainly would have been naked, and you would have certainly said, "Oh look at them frolicking about."  Yes, we frolicked - in our bathing suits.

So as the story goes, we got up early, picked up a teeny tiny rental car and decided to head on out for a day of adventure and tourism.  Our only goal for the day was to make it to the Mayan Ruins in Tulum, and we knew that we would have the whole day and time for some other adventures to unfold.
The car we rented was so small.  I could touch the back of the back seat without any issue.  It was funny to be zipping around on a highway without clear lanes and a whole lot of Mexico to watch as we drove by.

Yes, that is Karis in some crazy 3-point car.  And no, I could not get her to keep her legs down.  Kamille was not hiding from me, but rather blocking the sun for most of the ride.
We had a 1.5 hour drive down the highway until we reached Tulum - our destination city.   Our initial pull off the highway had us arriving at the entrance of some crazy touristy spot.  There were tour buses, vendors displaying all things to do in the area and so many people.  It was loud and we could barely tell where all this busyess lead to so we made a big U-turn and opted for something a little less touristy.  Surely the Ruins weren't that commercialized?
Anyway, while venturing more down the highway, on a whim, Kevin turned down a road that he thought that he had recognized from his pre-trip Google Satellite View obsession.  He swore that one of the many roads to our left would lead us to adventure based on what he had peered on some satelite images back a few weeks earlier.  Hmmm?  Do I trust him?  Sure.
So with the keeping the awareness of the ocean to our left, we head down a stretch of road that eventually  opened up to an incredibly unique and eclectic strip of boutique hotels and restaurants.  There were vacationers walking, running and touring on Coaster bikes all over.  There were outdoor restaurants and shops that line the road we were driving down.

 Its pretty frickin' awesome.

Knowing that we could always turn around and come back to this place, Kevin and I decide to keep driving to see what we would come across.  Again, the ocean is just behind everything on our left side so we figured that we would encounter a stretch of beach, again, as Kevin had seen on Google Satellite View....a few weeks prior.
And so we drive until there is nothing but trees....and pot holes.

Now pictures never do any crazy adventure justice, but if you could just imagine, there are hundreds of pot holes on this road, some nearly as big as the teeny tiny car we are in.  We hum and haw about 20 times as to whether we should keep going, but again it was Kevin, who "saw" on Google Satellite view, and me, who keeps insisting that the opening to a beach is just around the next corner.....

...but never was, so we kept driving.  I swear there was nothing but ocean behind the trees on our left, but never was there an opening to pull off to check it out.   However we were keeping up with a series of signs that assure us that something is at the end of this road...5km, 4km, 3km .....we were getting closer.  And also getting closer to popping a tire or bottoming out our little rental....

And then we arrived.  At the very end of this DEAD END road (did Kevin notice that Google Satellite view????) that we had just spent about 40 minutes driving down, we come to this Reserva de la Biosfera.  Basically a UNESCO site - a United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization site.  Ok so we arrive and its friggin' hot.  Coming out of our air conditioned mini car and stepping out to this less than thrilling site after nearly 40 minutes of rocking back and forth in a car, and feeling disappointed in not seeing an incredible beach after every turn did not have me jumping with excitement...And then I had to put sunscreen all over my sweaty body and that of Kam and Karis too.  Thrilling.  

We are greeted by two men who are just "hangin' out" there.  Not sure what exactly they do, but they were there and after a couple minutes of asking them some questions about just where the heck we were I was ready to go.  But first we escaped the sun and had a look at what this place offered.

None of the interactive push-to-hear-the-story buttons worked (they likely would have been in Spanish anyway, right?).  The place was run down and felt completely deserted (minus the two dudes at the front) but it was one of those "Dude, I am so far away from home" kinda moments for me.

So here's where the story changes....
As we're getting ready to leave, and Kevin is chatting it up with the two guys again, we are assured that no this is certainly a dead end road and that we would have to turn back the way we came, BUT, in our journey out we did happen to see a glimpse of beach past a stretch of barbed wire fence that was signed with PRIVATE PROPERTY.  We had asked if there was any beach access along the way back.  Much to our surprise the two men assured that we could in deed pull off into the one accessible drive way we saw, despite the PRIVATE PROPERTY sign.  They just said to have a few pesos available if we did get approached by anyone.
Well, how happy was I!!!
So we made the treck back along the millions of pot holes and kept our eyes open for that access that we had seen.  When we spotted it we also could see another car that had pulled in.  Ok, someone else was testing the rules too.  And let me tell you, once we turned off that road we were under a canopy of gorgeous palm trees and just beyond the hill of sand in front of us we could hear the ocean.

We quickly changed into our bathing suits and went running for the hill where we were greeted by this....

and this.....

 and all of this....

Oh ya baby!  This is what I call Mexican Holiday!

Frolic away my girls!

And they totally loved it!

 The sand was incredible, the water was so salty.

While the girls dodged waves in the shoreline, Kevin and I each got right in there and frolicked in those glorious waves!

Everything about this experience was perfect.  The air was warm, the water was warm, the sun was shining, the sand was smooth.  It really was that amazing beach!  

now that is some serious beach bum!

I'm tellin' ya.  This was my favourite part of our holiday.   All I needed was a lounge chair and some cocktails to make it even more perfect.  

But sadly, and after much discussion of how awesome it would be to spend the rest of our day here, we opted to stay the course on our plan to see the Tulum Ruins.   The entire time we were there, there was also another couple hanging out.  He had ventured off for a "nudie walk" and she stayed back and lay in the sun.  But that was it.  No one else for miles down the beach!  Unbelievable!  We had them snap a photo of us before we left.  

my little nudies are touched up.  

Back down that bumpity bump road and we found ourselves back into that awesome space of boutique hotels, shops and restaurants.  It was the perfect place to stop for lunch.  

Outdoor wood oven pizza, fish tacos and beer!  Yummo!

This spot was totally amazing and so we decided to check out a couple places along the strip.  We were pretty sure that it was just the kind of holiday that Kevin and I would love to do on our own.

And yes, we were right.   Each of these places were small and right on the beach.  Some had no electricity, some were like little cabanas, some like walled tikis.  They were amazing.

can you imagine if this was your balcony?

or walking out of your cabana to this?

or stay in one of these rooms?

that looks out to this?  

I had to pull Kevin away from cancelling the rest of our nights at our resort.  He nearly convinced me that it was the right way to spend our last two nights...Kevin can be so impulsive some times!  Yes, I was tempted, but I just reminded him that this could be OUR place to come....one day.  Sunning by day, riding bikes for sunset beers somewhere, dinner on a patio and live music somewhere else....Ah!  Incredible...one day.

So again, this day was awesome but we were still on the hunt for some Ruins.  Turns out that on our way back, we found the "back entrance" to the Tulum Ruins.  We were able to skip the "touristy"side of things and enter from the way that had way less hype and commercialism.

At this point in the day, the girls were tired and we actually had to wake up Kamille and Karis.  I opted to sweat it out and carry Karis in the Ergo. I figured we'd be able to cover more ground with her on me than her stumbling about because she was so tired.
Pointing out the Iguanas for the girls was the best!  Karis called them Geckos!  So funny!

The layout of the "park" was pretty neat and the grounds were gorgeous.  It didn't take long to walk through.  We certainly weren't reading everything, but we were taking it in and telling Kamille what it was all about.

 We would joke and ask her, "Do you think this was the Home Depot store back then?"

There were lots of details to take notice of.  

I did a couple archaeology courses in my undergrad and so this kind of stuff interests me.  You know, seeing and learning about how people lived so many years ago....Neat.

"More Gecko!" ~karis (doing the more sign language sign and moving her head in a YES! up and down!)

 Kamille was a super trooper!

Woah, so many photos......

Karis wanted out of the Ergo!  She was diaper bum girl!  So funny!

Had we known that there was a beach to check out in the grounds we might have been a bit more prepared to enjoy it.  But it was getting late in the day and we still had plans to stop into Playa Del Carmen on the way back to our Resort.

 Geesh, I took a lot of photos....(and this is just a selection!)

 Love this shot.....

Our last door out of the park.....

And so that was the end of that part of our day, but we still had a 1.5 hour car ride back to our resort and a planned drop-in to Playa Del Carmen.  Playa Del Carmen is the urban hub in this area.  Its the place for shopping and nightlife.  It did not disappoint.  The girls were totally into it and all the music and bright lights kept them entertained.  We did some shopping, got a couple bracelets for Kev and Kam, a Christmas ornament souvenir for me, and I looked at some much nicer bikinis in the stores, was tempted but didn't buy because Karis was on my back in the Ergo and I didn't want to mess with her calm to try anything on.  And we didn't want to stretch our luck by staying long, it was a quick stop into Playa Del Carmen and then we had about 30 minutes until we were back on campus at our resort and ready for a late dinner.  

Soooooooo that was my favourite Mexico day.  So much fun, so much adventure and it all went so well as far as family days go!
Oh how that sweet beach has left an impression of me.  Its the perfect "take me away" visual if I am ever to do meditation.
Oh yes, that's right.....