Hungry in Mexico - Tulum Toons

Some of you might have read about our tragic loss in Tulum over at Eat Drink & Be Merry. We were finishing up our time in Tulum and headed back to Cancun airport via a second class bus. Since second class buses don't assign seats, we got separated on the bus in the midst of the seating chaos. All I can remember from the ride was a creepy man staring at me. Too creepy that I ended up closing my eyes. Little did I know he was watching me fall asleep so he could go through D's backpack. D and I woke up only to find his backpack open sans the Nikon D70. There were so many "should have" thoughts going through our minds when we realized our DSLR was stolen. But what can you do? Yes are photos are gone. Yes the guy took our baby. But the one thing he couldn't take were our memories.

This post is dedicated to our baby D70. Sniff.

D and I had a hard time finding a place to stay on the coast of Quinatana Roo. No way were we interested in hanging out in resorty Cancun. We tried looking for places around Playa del Carmen...but everything was booked. Well, except for one place that insisted we pay ahead via Western Union. Umm..no thank you. So we started looking more down south in Tulum.

We eventually found this place, Diamante K. This "eco" hut costed us $55/night. Definitely more than we've ever paid at a hostel, but considering it's right on the beach during high season, it was a steal. Or so we thought.

We were greeted by the manager, Maria P. We've heard horror stories about Maria P on Tripadvisor along with complaints about the overall management. D and I decided to be patient with their lack of organization and were actually treated quite well. Maria P was surprised that we didn't bark or scream when we found out our room situation was messed up. Maria P suddenly smiled and ended up finding us a better room than the one given to us originally. Sometimes it pays to be quiet. She ended up taking care of us while we're there. She's a sweet lady that is dying from the worst job ever.

See...at Diamante K...there's no electricity. Well there's solar electricity from 8-11pm. No outlets in the room. Nope..none of that. We had one hanging lamp which was crap. The light from my cell phone was more helpful than that hanging lamp. D and I thought it was fun...at first. After a couple of days, we were tired of complete darkness.

It didn't help that we couldn't lock our doors at night. Instead, they provided us with two rocks. Enough said.

Aside from our hut, D and I made the best of it during the day. We walked to the ruin, about 20 minutes north of our hut. Tons of tourists from Cancun invade the ruins during the day, so it's best to get there early in the morning.

Another day we snorkeled in several cenotes (large water pools) in the area. There's not much to look at in the cenotes. D loved the cenotes, but didn't care for the tiny fishes that kept nibbling on his nipples. haha.

D's Spanish helped us find some good local eats. La Bamba Jarocha, the locals' favorite mariscos ended up being the highlight of our trip.

Their caldo de camaron y jaiba (shrimp & crab soup - 80 pesos) was super delicious. We ended up coming here day after day. $8 is a lot for a bowl of soup, but the bowl is pretty big and they jam pack it with cooked to perfection shrimps. Does anyone know of good caldo de mariscos in the LA area? I'm dying for a bowl right now.

So that's Tulum. I apologize for no pictures. I hope you enjoyed my Sanrio-influenced drawings.

Next up...Mexico City!

Diamante K
www.diamantek.com

La Bamba Jarocha
Hwy 307 - just south of the Coba Road intersection
11am-9pm daily
cash only