Tulum

Today was a day of murdering butterflies, oppressive heat, our first peek at the Caribbean, once again stealing Internet bandwidth, and hordes of tourists.

Jamie was almost unable to function this morning, after a long night of no breeze and MUCH heat, so while the sweat trickled and ran into rivers, I hooked up the trailer and we were out of Cenote Azul by 9:45. I didn't even get COFFEE! I didn't do dishes! I didn't eat! I simply fed the kids, jury rigged a cotter pin that was missing from the hitch and got the trailer the hell out of dodge. Ever since we left Palenque it has been oppressively hot with absolutely no relief. We were able to swim at the cenote, but a few minutes after leaving the cenote we were hot and sticky once again.

I had a lovely surprise when using the campground bathrooms, I was "clothed" in my swimsuit, and as such, when using the toilet, had the maximum skin exposure possible. All too late, I noticed buzzing, flying insects. Unfortunately, they were very hungry mosquitoes. It seems that the open tank of the toilet was providing a perfect breeding ground as I was never able to enter the bathroom area without clouds of mozzys buzzing about. Unfortunately, we were really low on water, and the 100 pesos we paid to camp did not include electricity or water. It did, however, include a LOT of heat. And no wind. And more heat. And hotness. Not a breeze to be found except next to the lovely lagoon.

So, down the road we headed, and were expecting a 2 hour drive to Paa Mul. We figured it would be an exceptionally easy and short day. Hmph. I should have know better. We hit Tulum after about 3 hours and took a lunch and sanity break. We were fine as long as we were in the air conditioned car, but leaving the car was torture. The three hours from Bacalar were driven through hordes and hordes of butterflies. It was terrible to drive through them and kill them, and at one point Sissy broke down crying at the injustice of it all.

We took at break at Tulum and had lunch at the archaeological site. It was INCREDIBLY touristy. Our first exposure to ruins was Palenque and I think they have become the base for other ruins. Course, they're supposed to be some of the best. I really wanted to go to Cobá after Tulum, but I don't think I would have survived the responses had I suggested it. Everyone was about half dead, and were it not for the wind coming off the sea, we would have been dead as 6 little doornails in the sands of the Caribbean.

We made it to Paa Mul, just about 30 minutes north of Tulum and are in RESORT heaven! We can use the toilets without giving a pint of blood to mozzys! We have TOILET SEATS on the toilets! We have water and electricity! We have AIR CONDITIONING! We have a pool! We have the Caribbean! We also have.....a twenty five dollar a night rate. Ugh! I'm going to try to bargain that down tomorrow, but after the last week or so, having water, electricity, clean bathrooms, warm showers (for the girls, they HATE cold water showers), beautiful beach and swimming pool will most likely be worth it. We'll watch our pennies really closely and it will be SO worth it. We'll probably be here a week and OH! I almost forgot! We're stealing Internet bandwidth from someone's LAN. It seems to be slower than Dad's but life sure is sweet. :)