Wednesday, June 24, 2015

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!

16 comments:

  1. Ooh I can almost feel that sea air blowing as I look at those palm trees. The ruins look so interesting and cool to explore. Not sure how I feel about the iguanas all over the place though. Better than spiders I guess.

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    1. The iguanas were behind the area where tourists shouldn't go - the iguanas really want nothing to do with them :)

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  2. Wayne and I flew our airplane to Cancun one summer (not the best time with thunderstorms daily by 11:00 am). We landed at Chichen Itza and walked the ruins there. We flew over Tulum, but there wasn't a close enough airport to walk to the ruins. It was a fun trip, but we haven't ventured that far away since we discovered our cabin in Powell River. - Margy

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    1. What a neat trip! Tulum was quite neat and Coba too although most of Coba is still buried under the jungle. I wonder what it would look like from air.

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  3. I love getting to arm chair travel along with you as you post! Y'all had an incredible vacation!!!

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    1. Thanks - I love seeing where other people travel to as well.

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  4. Chichen Itza is far too touristy for me. When we were there, I sat in the motorhome in the parking lot while Ruth went in. There are much better ruins in Mexico (Palenque, for example) but because Chichen Itza, Tulum, and Coba are so close to Cancun, they are the ones that get the most tourists.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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    1. I agree - Chichen Itza was very touristy with tons of huge buses full of tourists. As Coba is further away from Cancun and most of it is still covered up with jungle there were way fewer tourists. That plus the fact that you had to walk or bike in 2km. I actually was shocked that it wasn't more touristy frankly - you would probably enjoy that ruin. There were way more people at Tulum. Palenque is on my wish list one day.

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    2. We have actually been to Coba twice before and yes it is less touristy. Our first time was back in 2003 and the second time in late December 2009. The first time was the best, at that time there were hardly any tourists and we almost had the place to ourselves. We haven't been to Tulum though. I know it is pretty touristy too, but the ocean setting makes it look very interesting. Our favourite so far as Kevin mentioned is Palenque.

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  5. Glad your vacation was fun with some bright days before the storm. Nice that your husband got to make the Tropical Storm off his bucket list. Also nice that you are flexible and would visit ruins when the snorkeling was a bust.

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    1. There wasn't much option as we are not ones to just sit around the hotel. Although not the original plan I am glad we got to see them.

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  6. Some of the better ruins as well as lesser visited are around the Merida, Yucatan area. Mayapan, Uxmal and Kabah are all great places to visit. And sometimes you may be the only one there.

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    1. Our next Mexico trip probably won't be for several years but I definitely want to get to your area of Mexico - so beautiful!

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  7. It was quite the adventure. And you really have a story to tell with the storm. I can't believe how quickly everything went back to normal. I don;t know if I could get back to life so fast, I would still be a bit upset.
    Thank you so much for sharing.

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    1. I actually wasn't upset at all - we did get to snorkel although it was only once and on the last day. You have to roll with things or it can ruin your holiday.

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  8. Gorgeous ruins! Seeing those would interest me more than snorkelling:) A friend's daughter recently went to Tulum for a two week retreat - yoga, meditation, spa treatments. Sounds like heaven!

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