Sacrificial platforms – only for animals, fruits and veggies
The watchtower
Jungle living
The climb
Almost there!
A long, steep and scary way down
Coba ruins – one of the only places you can climb up one
Jungle for days
Ahhhhh….the Coba Mayan Ruins, probably the highlight of our trip! I had some serious internal debate about going here vs. the mighty Chichen Itza – one of the largest and most visiting archaeological site in Mexico. I wanted to see the biggest and baddest of all ruins, but the 2.5 hour drive was a big issue for me:
1) It was hotter than hell down there and sitting in an oven of a car for that long seemed, well, like hell and
2) Everything I read said you need to go first thing in the morning ie. get there before 10am before all of the tour buses and we all know the BF is not a morning person. There was no way we were getting out the door by 7:30am.
Alas, that’s where Coba came in – a short 60 minute drive from Tulum in the heart of the jungle. WOW is all I can say. They might not be the biggest nor the baddest, but man what a cool place to explore (and I mean literally cool, most of it was fully shaded). After wandering around for a few minutes, we snagged a guide and spent the next 1.5 hours walking through the site. I highly recommend a guide – as impressive as everything is, it’s really hard to tell what’s what. If I travel all this way, I want to learn something darn it!
Not only did the guide provide valuable insight into the ruins, he also was able to point out local floral and fauna as well as answer our off the wall questions about the end of the world (12/21/12?), human sacrifices (not often done at this site) and hallucinogenic plants (done often at this site).
The most unique thing about Coba is that they actually let you climb one of the ruins, which most other ruins won’t allow. Our guide dropped us off at the bottom and up we went. As afraid as I was, I scurried up to the top, not wanting to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. Plus, there were 65 year old women working their way to the top – I’m competitive like that – what can I say?
We arrive to the top in one piece and all I can recall are my knees literally knocking together and my hands shaking so badly that I can’t take decent pictures. I cling to the side of the small temple, snap a few pictures of the BF then shakily make my way to the rope and hang on for dear life on the way back down with old ladies passing me on both sides. NBD. I made it down in one piece.
I highly recommend seeing these or any other ruins in Mexico. Granted, it’s hard to pull yourself away from the beach and beer, but it’s well, well worth it! More ruins visits to come…..
Here’s my gratuitous “I just got out of the hairdresser car photo” shot. I had to show you! Bangs you say, yes bangs – a whole slew of ’em!
Since I have to drive all that way (to Issaquah) and spend all of that money ($80 plus tip….) I always feel as if I need to do something drastic to justify the time and money I spend on hair cuts. Luckily, I’m a box dye sorta gal so that’s the extent of my hair splurges.
I’ve only worn it stick straight so far, so we’ll have to see what the wavy brings. I’ve been told I look far more Asian now, bringin’ out that 1/8 Japanese!
Yes, I’d like my bacon with a side of burrito – triple meat burrito at El Fogon.
Playa del Carmen didn’t seem to have as many cheap eats as Tulum and, I must admit, we did get suckered into eating on 5th Ave – the pedestrian friendly hot spot in town once or twice. After paying way too much for lunch one day, it was time to get back into thrifty eating. In came EL FOGON, which I had been eyeballing online for a few days. I did notice that many restaurants weren’t open on Mondays and Tuesdays so I was concerned that our trek across town would be for nothing (later did I learn that there are 3 locations, one of which was right by our hotel – my bad.) But luckily it was gloriously open and we feasted on carne asada and burritos that evening. Highlights of the meal included: pickled cactus – yum – and a triple meat burrito topped with a huge piece of bacon – yuck.
Plantain sandwich, popular in Venezuela I’m told.
Fresh made juices to sample at Kaxapa Factory!
Another culinary delight included KAXAPA FACTORY, a Venezuelan cafe that was both vegan, organic and did I mention cheap? Yup, very cheap but more importantly delicious! So cheap and delicious in fact that we had lunch here twice. The gentleman that runs the place is extremely friendly and although service was a bit slow, it was definitely worth the wait. I was stuck on these plantain sandwiches full of beans, meat, sauces and other goodness. They also had juices made from scratch that were super yummy. This place is rated #1 on Trip Advisor and it’s easy to see why!
I couldn’t help it. You can’t walk past a DQ without getting an extra Oreo Oreo cookie blizzard. Duh.
The final product. Pineapple on a taco? The best idea ever.
We ate well (and cheap!) in Mexico, which seems like a ‘no duh’ statement but I really do feel as if my hours of internet research really paid off. Many meals we paid only $10-15 for the two of us allowing for a splurge here and there.
The first night in Tulum, we ate at POLLO BRONCO. In our efforts to keep our budget low, we skipped lunch and by 4:30pm we were regretting it. Cranky and starving, we headed into town to find EL CARBONCITO, a hole in the wall with rave reviews and personal recommendations. Unfortunately, Mexico’s meal schedules are a bit later than us Americans and very few places were open at 5pm including the restaurant mentioned above. Crap.
With my patience wearing thin and my stomach growling, we combed the streets to find something, anything that was open. Then along came POLLO BRONCO, another hole in the wall restaurant, also with good reviews. It might have been sketchy looking and it might have been right on the highway but once I saw locals flocking to this place, I knew we’d found a good spot!
We ordered marinated chicken grilled over charcoal (pretty much the only thing on the menu) that was pulled out of a warm ice chest – don’t even get me started……BUT a whole cut up chicken served with rice, shredded cabbage, salsa and a stack of warm tortillas to make tacos for 90 pesos? Hello deal! We were so excited and hungry that I failed to snap any photos. Whomp, whomp. Just picture the best grilled chicken you’ve ever had and times that by 10!
The next night, we did make it to EL CARBONCITO. This is another one of those sidewalk/hole in the wall type place with stupendous tacos al pastor. These consist of pork marinated in chiles, salt and garlic which is grilled on a spit gyros-style (see photo above!). It is then sliced off in thin strips onto tortillas to make tacos. They give you all sorts of fixings, including my new favorite taco topping, pineapple. WOW. Like WOW. Tacos topped with pineapple…where have you been all of my life?!
Another taco joint in Tulum – Urge Taquito. Adam thought their menu cover was very entertaining…..
The most amazing salsa bar – Urge Taquito.
The last highlight of our Tulum Food Tour included URGE TACOS (pronounced UR-hay) This shaded open air restaurant was a welcome relief after spending the morning discovering the Coba ruins and the afternoon diving in the centoes – no big deal, just gettin’ our explore on š They specialized in fish tacos, which is what I got of course, but the kicker was their amazing salsa bar. I wish I could remember every salsa and sauce they had, but alas, I cannot, but it was all good. All of it.
Playa del Carmen Food Tour is next…..so stay tuned!
