We arrived in the lush jungles of Tulum from our 45-minute bus ride from Playa del Carmen and caught a taxi to our accommodation, Naajal Tulum Boutique Hotel. The second half of the drive meant navigating muddy unpaved roads filled with potholes, but we were so pleasantly surprised by our place when we arrived! We had been staying the last few stops in windowless apartments, and we had somehow stumbled into a gorgeous suite with a full kitchen, patio, and king-sized bed. Hurray!
However, we realized when we arrived that there was no drinking water provided, and the closest convenience store was an 18-minute walk through those unpaved muddy roads we had just driven down. We had no choice but to make the journey, and faced the consequences! Wini slipped and fell into the mud, and the way back was significantly more difficult with a 10L jug of water. 🙁
After the sweaty journey back, we spent the rest of the evening cooking dinner and settling into our surprisingly luxurious stay!
On our first full day in Tulum, we headed out to rent bicycles, as we realized a lot of places we wanted to visit were quite a distance away.
We rented the bikes for two days and headed out towards nearby Cenote Escondido. A cenote (say-no-tay) is a sinkhole or pit in the ground that exposes groundwater from below; they can be in caves, down cliffs, or just open from the ground. They’re very common in the Yucatan Peninsula and were once an important source of drinking water for the Mayans, but are now used as natural swimming pools.
Using Google Maps, we biked towards Cenote Escondido but found ourselves lost in the jungle, with no clear signs pointing us on. The roads were muddy and filled with potholes, and couldn’t see a clear route. Hungry, sweaty, and defeated, we decided to turn back towards the main road and get some lunch before continuing our cenote search.
Finally back on the main road, we found a delicious and well-priced restaurant, Billy Bob’s, where we recharged with burgers and a milkshake.
With the restaurant’s wifi, we realized that Cenote Escondido and the other one we wanted to see, Cenote Cristal, were both closed for maintenance at the moment (and we had also tried to enter at the wrong point anyway lol) so we set our sights on a new one: Cenote Corazon, shaped like a heart. It was about a 4-mile bike ride down the side of the highway, but we finally made it, sweaty, tired, and dusty.
When we finally arrived, it was a sight for sore eyes!
We enjoyed the crystal-clear water, took turns on the diving board, got our toes nibbled on by the little fish, and explored the underwater cave with our snorkels. Since cenotes are filled with groundwater, they are colder than the ocean water in Mexico, but that was perfect for us after a day of biking around the dusty roads of Tulum!
Happy to have finally found a cenote, we headed home to our lovely hotel.
The next day we had an early start, as we booked a tour of Chichen Itza that started at 7 am. We had to bike across town to our tour meeting point so we left before sunrise.
Our guide, Miriam, gave us fun facts about Mayan history and culture on the two-hour bus ride there. She explained the deep understanding the Mayans had of astronomy, creating their calendar based on their observations of the sun, stars, and Venus, and how the layout and orientation of structures are often aligned with celestial events.
At Chichen Itza, we walked around the beautiful architecture and learned more about Mayan astronomy, sacrifices, and beliefs.
If you’ve ever seen the children’s movie The Road to El Dorado, you might feel a familiarity with this place. We learned later that the animators studied the architecture of these ruins, as well as others in the area to create the look of that film. As well, the ball game they play in the movie is based on a game they played here. They have a large ball court with stone rings on either side, where players aimed to pass a rubber ball through without using their hands.
The grounds also have several acoustic phenomenons. In the Ball Game Court, if you stand at one end of the ball court and clap your hands, shout, or make a loud noise, the sound will travel across the playing alley and be clearly audible at the other end, approximately 150 meters (490 feet) away.
At El Castillo, the central pyramid of Chichen Itza, there is another fascinating phenomenon known as the “Kukulkan’s Echo” or the “Quetzalcoatl’s Echo.” If you clap your hands at the base of the staircase on the northern side of El Castillo the pyramid’s steps create an acoustic effect, producing a series of echoes that sound like the chirp of the Quetzal bird, a sacred bird in Maya culture (and one Wini was lucky enough to see while hiking in Panama).
These acoustic effects are a testament to the precision and intentional design of the ancient Maya architects at Chichen Itza, though they are not the only incredible features. Since the Mayans were astrology experts and also obsessed with snake and serpent imagery, they built El Castillo in a way that on the solar equinox (twice a year), the sun’s position in the sky casts a distinctive shadow of a serpent on the northern staircase of El Castillo!
We were given about an hour to wander the grounds of Chichen Itza after our guided tour, and then we were back on the bus for our next stop of the day: Cenote Chichikan, both a beautiful cenote and a restaurant.
Having barely eaten all day, we helped ourselves to the delicious buffet. There was a taco bar, tons of different entrees, and heavenly MASHED POTATOES! We quickly stuffed our faces and then headed for a swim in the cenote.
Cenote Chichikan was absolutely stunning! As we stood at the top of the cenote, we saw the lush greenery all around, the waterfall running down it the centre, and the stunning freshwater below. We quickly walked down the stairs and entered the amazing cenote.
To go down into the cenote, they require you to rent a life jacket. Since cenotes are sinkholes, there can be some risks like underwater currents, changes in visibility, and sudden changes in depth, so they just make everyone wear one (ugh annoying!).
It was so lush and surrounded by trees, but down in the cenote, it was actually quite chilly. The water was definitely on the colder side, but we knew we had to suck it up for the chance to swim in such a gorgeous spot. We saw so many cute little catfish swimming through the cenote, and some even nipped at our toes!
There was also a diving board built in, so we each took a turn jumping off into the cold, dark waters below. After about 30 minutes of swimming, we got too cold and went back up to change and get ready to re-board the bus. It was a really special experience getting to swim in such a unique and beautiful cenote!
Our last stop of the day was the charming and historical colonial town of Valladolid. We were only given about 30 minutes to walk around and explore the area, but it was more than enough time. Many people on our tour opted to do a free tequila tasting, but we decided that having already been to Tequila for a tequila tour, we were too #snobby now haha.
We just took a nice stroll through town, taking in the colonial architecture, checking out local vendors, and hanging out at the big park in the city centre. It was a really chill and relaxing end to our amazing Chichen Itza tour.
Tired from our long day in the sun, we boarded the bus and headed back to Tulum. Our bus dropped us back off at the supermarket in Tulum, and we picked up some groceries to make dinner. Unfortunately, we had run out of water at our accommodation so we had to pick up another big 10L gallon of water, and then bike home on the dark road after a long and exhausting day. The baskets on our bikes were too flimsy to hold up the jug of water and kept flopping around. We took turns biking with the heavy weight, and luckily Wini had her headlamp to light up the dark road. Portions of the bike ride were seriously pitch black, and the roads had tons of mud and potholes we had to watch out for.
We finally made it home after a long, hot, sweaty day, and instantly decided to shower and put on the Road to El Dorado. It was the perfect end to our day, and so cool how much of the movie was fully inspired by the ancient and historically significant Mayan city of Chichen Itza!
The next morning was our last full day in Tulum, so we decided to hit the beach. We had only rented our bikes for 2 days, so we set off on the 1.5-hour walk to Playa Ruinas, or “Ruins Beach” where you can visit Mayan ruins on the beach. When we arrived though, we realized it was an extra fee to go to the ruins themselves, and we were tired and hot from our long walk so we decided to only pay the park fee and just go to the beach.
It was a gorgeous white-sand beach, and you could catch a glimpse of the nearby ruins. We posted up with our books and enjoyed the day by the waves.
We walked home as dark storm clouds started closing in on us, and thankfully made it back dry. Wini cooked us another nice meal and we savoured our last night in this gorgeous jungle paradise.
The next morning, we organized a taxi to take us to the bus station so we could continue our journey in Bacalar, Mexico!