Happy MLK Day from Jay About Time!! I am taking this day off to rest (slept till noon), relax (drinkin' a beer @2PM), freeze my nuts off (it's 9 degrees out), and why not... I'll even update my blog?! My lady is out of town for the week so I can rock it in my underwear and type uninterrupted. So anyway, this episode of Jay About Town comes to you from Mexico! My wife and I took our annual get the F**** out of the cold trip to the Yucatan this year and it was great. 85 degrees and sunny every day? Check! 80 degree crystal clear Caribbean type ocean? Check!! Cheap cerveza and tequila? Check!!! An ocean front massage w/ a happy ending?! Well check for all but the last part...
We have found that on vaca it is best to split our time up, too much time in one spot and we get a little restless. Part one of our trip was in Playa Del Carmen just south of Cancun. *quick aside, there is a bar right as you exit the airport in Cancun, if you are planning to rent a car @ Thrifty get 2-3 drinks... it takes forever and they try to sell you on a time share at the car rental place. Anywho... Playa is a rapidly growing hip urban area. that's what the book says, Jay says it is like a slightly less boozy and more Euro Key West! It is one long strip of bars, restaurants, and shops a block up from a strip of beautiful ocean. There is techno playing everywhere and lots of people in bikinis, hot chicks, fat chicks, dudes... everybody wheres a bikini. I smuggled my roll of nickles in the more discreet full short bathing suit, no reason to cause a riot! We did stay at a really hip hotel, Deseo. It was like a Standard or W hotel, very modern, clean lines, techno in your room, and bedside condoms. Boo-Yeah!!!!! Anyway, Playa was pretty ok but not as good as our next destination, Tulum, another 45 minutes south.
Tulum is an old hippy/yoga nut colony that is just now being developed. They still run most beach side hotels off generators and turn all of the power off around midnight. There is also a long wide beach of fine white sand running down to clear turquoise water with gentle rolling waves. Probably the best beach top to bottom I have ever been on. Just wonderful. We spent most of our time here kicking it in on our beach chairs under a little thatch roof umbrella, sipping pina coladas and cervezas. The beer of choice for the week was Sol, a nice light beer like a Corona w/ a little more flavor. We did spend one day doing a little site seeing. We first went to the Tulum ruins... they are pretty cool and easy to see in a short period. the real attraction is they are an old Mayan ruin perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean, unbelievable setting really. Next up we went to do a little Cenote snorkeling. The Yucatan is essentially a huge limestone slab and dotted throughout the area are sinkholes. The first one we hit up was a little dicey. You climbed down into a hole and swam around in a very dark cave w/ random fish swimming all around and bats in the ceiling. So we went on to more ruins! Next stop Coba ruins! This was a little inland and was a much larger Mayan ruin highlighted by a huge temple (138') you could climb to the top of on look over miles of uninhabited jungle. It is quite a climb in 90 degree jungle heat... my quads nearly burst! On our way back to Tulum we gave one more cenote a try... the Gran Cenote. This one was great... you climbed into a huge cavern w/ sun flowing in and illuminating the turquoise waters. With all of the fish in the clear water it was very much like reef snorkeling. You could also adventure farther into the cave and swim through stalagmites and into deep dark caves. very cool. So then it was back to Tulum for more beach time!!!
The food was only so so overall as the seafood was not up to Caribbean standards. As the area is heavily populated w/ Italians there is nice Italian food as well as the obvious Mexican fare. I love Mexican so I had my fare share of tacos and quesadillas, don't get me wrong.
Overall a great trip and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes the beach! Now I need to get back to my beer and see what hour of top 100 80's bands is on VH1...Adios!!!!!
We have found that on vaca it is best to split our time up, too much time in one spot and we get a little restless. Part one of our trip was in Playa Del Carmen just south of Cancun. *quick aside, there is a bar right as you exit the airport in Cancun, if you are planning to rent a car @ Thrifty get 2-3 drinks... it takes forever and they try to sell you on a time share at the car rental place. Anywho... Playa is a rapidly growing hip urban area. that's what the book says, Jay says it is like a slightly less boozy and more Euro Key West! It is one long strip of bars, restaurants, and shops a block up from a strip of beautiful ocean. There is techno playing everywhere and lots of people in bikinis, hot chicks, fat chicks, dudes... everybody wheres a bikini. I smuggled my roll of nickles in the more discreet full short bathing suit, no reason to cause a riot! We did stay at a really hip hotel, Deseo. It was like a Standard or W hotel, very modern, clean lines, techno in your room, and bedside condoms. Boo-Yeah!!!!! Anyway, Playa was pretty ok but not as good as our next destination, Tulum, another 45 minutes south.
Tulum is an old hippy/yoga nut colony that is just now being developed. They still run most beach side hotels off generators and turn all of the power off around midnight. There is also a long wide beach of fine white sand running down to clear turquoise water with gentle rolling waves. Probably the best beach top to bottom I have ever been on. Just wonderful. We spent most of our time here kicking it in on our beach chairs under a little thatch roof umbrella, sipping pina coladas and cervezas. The beer of choice for the week was Sol, a nice light beer like a Corona w/ a little more flavor. We did spend one day doing a little site seeing. We first went to the Tulum ruins... they are pretty cool and easy to see in a short period. the real attraction is they are an old Mayan ruin perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean, unbelievable setting really. Next up we went to do a little Cenote snorkeling. The Yucatan is essentially a huge limestone slab and dotted throughout the area are sinkholes. The first one we hit up was a little dicey. You climbed down into a hole and swam around in a very dark cave w/ random fish swimming all around and bats in the ceiling. So we went on to more ruins! Next stop Coba ruins! This was a little inland and was a much larger Mayan ruin highlighted by a huge temple (138') you could climb to the top of on look over miles of uninhabited jungle. It is quite a climb in 90 degree jungle heat... my quads nearly burst! On our way back to Tulum we gave one more cenote a try... the Gran Cenote. This one was great... you climbed into a huge cavern w/ sun flowing in and illuminating the turquoise waters. With all of the fish in the clear water it was very much like reef snorkeling. You could also adventure farther into the cave and swim through stalagmites and into deep dark caves. very cool. So then it was back to Tulum for more beach time!!!
The food was only so so overall as the seafood was not up to Caribbean standards. As the area is heavily populated w/ Italians there is nice Italian food as well as the obvious Mexican fare. I love Mexican so I had my fare share of tacos and quesadillas, don't get me wrong.
Overall a great trip and I would highly recommend it to anyone who likes the beach! Now I need to get back to my beer and see what hour of top 100 80's bands is on VH1...Adios!!!!!
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