Playa del Carmen » Chetumal; Tulum Ruinas

Diary:

Checked out of hotel early, left Playa and hit the road.

Visited ruins at Tulum just after opening time, 8:30am. Immediately attacked by clouds of rabid, starving mosquitos. Don't ask if we had brought repellent. The ruins at Tulum were not well preserved and pretty overrrated. Their main claim to fame was their location on a beach, as most other Mayan cities were well inland. But it was Tour Bus City, and really no comparison to other sites like Chichén Itzá, Palenque and Tikal. We didn't stay long.

Drove on (and on) and stayed the night in Chetumal. Chetumal is on the border with Belize. Doesn't seem to have any other redeeming features. Boy, was this ever a slow, hot and tired town. We arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon in stifling heat. The town was closed for siesta. We checked into the very forgettable Hotel Maria Dolores.

Keiko went sightseeing around town, such as you could. There was the Museo de la Cultura Maya, I think that was about it. She also changed some old Belizian dollars left over from a previous holiday into pesos. But Chetumal is a pretty dead place. No need to go out of your way to visit.

As dusk fell and the town started to revive from the heat-induced coma, we started foraging for food. All the eateries we could find open ranged from "pretty scary" to "very scary". But we finally took a chance on "Pollo Brujo" next door to the hotel and were rewarded with some of the best seasoned roast chicken we've ever had.

Photos: (click on images to see full size)