Storm Blew Away and Life Resumed In Playa Del Carmen

Tourists walking in the street in front of our hotel

My last post left off at the peak of the storm on Sunday midday.  We had just found out the street in front of our hotel was fully flooded and water was rising.  Other tourists can be spotted trudging through the water - completely unnecessary as one block further inland was not flooded.  This was not very bright as the water obviously smelled of sewer.

Street Under Water

Nothing Stops Mexican Cabbies

The Mexican cabbies just took it in their stride - nothing much stops commerce in Mexico.

Pool filling fast

 At one point the hotel pool water was level with the surrounding cement - fortunately the rains soon subsided.

Drive on!

After the rain finally quit the winds calmed and slowly the water began draining from the street. That was the end of the tropical depression that later would be named Tropical Storm Bill as it headed towards the Gulf of Mexico.  That was about 2pm on Sunday - we decided that instead of trudging through this yucky water we would cut around the front of the hotel on the beach and walk down a block to access water free streets.  All beaches in Mexico are public, although some hotels do block walking access the area we were in had full street access almost every block.

Later in the afternoon - like nothing happened - 5th Avenue Playa Del Carmen

A couple of blocks inland on 5th Avenue things looked completely normal with overcast skies.  Normally there are a lot more tourists on this street.  So that was the end of the storm.  It lasted a full day and a half and didn't cause much damage.  We saw a bit of damage on the way back to the airport, several billboards had been blown down but no permanent damage to speak of.  At this point we began communicating by email with our snorkeling tour operator who in the end had to cancel all tours for several days due to the sea still having quite high waves and being so murky.  Originally the plan had been to snorkel several days.  With that not being possible we decided to book a tour to see Mayan ruins.  On a previous trip six years ago we had seen Chichen Itza which is the most famous of the Mayan ruins, now being considered one of the New Wonders of the world.  This time we decided to see Tulum(1200 years old) which was 45 minutes away and the port for the lost city of Coba(1800 years old) which was just over an hour away.  For $60 we purchased a guided tour which our concierge arranged.  Unfortunately, the man doing the tour was not the best tour guide we ever had so we ended up wandering off on our own.  Sometimes the best way to see something is just to look and look up the history afterwards.  I am not a historian so for the best description of Tulum click here.

Tulum, Seaport for Coba

 Tulum is right on the sea and you can see from these pictures the sea was still quite unsettled and it was cloudy - thankfully so as it was 30 degrees out and 100% humidity.

Looking to the Caribbean Sea from Tulum

 I love iguanas.  No one should ever be afraid of them - the most they could do is give you a good claw if you tried to pick one up (which you should never do - they are wildlife after all).  They are plant eaters and sun lovers and the grounds of Tulum were covered with them.

Iguana - waiting for his tail to grow back

More iguanas at Tulum

My next and final trip post will show the rest of our tour to the Mayan ruins at Coba and our snorkeling trip to swim with the green sea turtles at Akumal.  Yes, we did get to swim with them!