That's all, folks

Our last evening in Cancún, scorching hot and humid, lead us around the corner from our hotel for some dinner. We had a quick fish taco at one spot, before stumbling upon a joint that offered this beasty. 

We ubered to the airport today, where Isa promptly triggered a drug screening. The flight was 5hrs to LAX, where she triggered yet another drug screening... damn girl, you know how to party. 

We're now chilling at the boarding gate, people-watching everyone else here and wondering if they're going on holiday or going home like us. 

Whatever the case, it's been a pleasure to visit so many wonderful people and places.

Kayne & Amy, Gareth, Jen, Jangwoo & Asrar, plus many other great people have made this a trip to remember. We hope to see you all down in NZ sometime soon. 

Peace!

Coba ruins tour

Taxis prey on tourists here. $40 Nzd to get from the town out to the hotel zone where we are staying left us feeling a bit trapped.

A Colectivo bus service runs various routes between the zone and Tulum proper, and only costs a couple of dollars, so we decide to give it a go. These are simply people-mover vans than run loops in various places.

There are no bus stops. You just wave your arms to flag them down, and hope they're not already full. We board one and are already on the way before we can close the door. The same is true for our stop near a supermarket, close to our tour group pickup point. It felt good being able to come to the city without a taxi. 

We explore the supermarket and find a beverage spot nearby to wait for pickup. It's a small group today, just 5 people. 

The first stop is another shamanic blessing and lunch. I'm glad we didn't go to the same one was last time, but the shamans certainly looked alike.

The Coba ruins appear smaller, but that's because only 5% of the area has been excavated, with no plans to do anymore. 

Another ritual ballcourt is shown to us, which was only used for important times of the year, such as the solstices. This is because the captain of the winning team was sacrificed to join the gods - a great honour, for the gods despised losers.

It was about 2km from the entrance to the largest pyramid at the end, Nohoch Mul, standing 42m high. It was great to not be hassled by vendors all the way through as previous sites allowed.

Unexcavated structures line the road to Chichen Itza, a 100km long mayan highway of sorts direct from here. The trees have torn them apart as roots spread between the stones.

Next thankfully is a cenote. It's cool waters, absence of anyone else, and no life jacket requirement made it perfect to unwind in. 

Tomorrow is a bus-kun back to Cancún for one last night before the flights home begin. 

Downtime

We're having a few quiet days in Tulum at present. Being the off-season, the hotels are quiet, the beach is average, and doing anything requires overpriced taxis because Uber doesn't work here. 

We've sampled a couple of the nearby hotel restaurants and they're all quite delicious. 

Our room is like a glass soccer ball dome above the tree tops. The overcast skies block most of the stars at night, but it's cool having a bath tub overlooking the canopy. 

Compared to Cancún, the Tulum hotel strip is still developing. 

The main hotel drag lacks footpaths and floods a bit when it rains. It doesn't usually last too long though. 

The waves are rough, and the beach is covered with even more seaweed than Cancún. 

We're going to have one more big day with a tour of the local ruins here before heading back to Cancún on the 23rd. From there, we'll prepare ourselves for the long journey home on the 24th. 

Just a quiet day

Not much of note happened today. We took a holiday from our holiday, packed our things, booked our trip to Tulum and watched movies in bed.

I checked out the rooftop pool, and found I had the whole thing to myself. I couldn't manage a good whirlpool alone, though. 

Tomorrow, we bus for 2.5hrs down to Tulum, and make our way from there. As long as bus-kun is agreeable, at least.