Jeff and I walked to the rental car place this morning.
This street reminded is how Tulum looked the first time we visited. Once we got the rental car we went to the grocery store. I didn’t but these Pringles but it was tempting.
Later in the afternoon we tried to go to the beach. We were on it for maybe five minutes before they told us it was closed. We thought we were at the free access beach but apparently not. We’ll try again tomorrow.
Jeff and I were in Tulum 25 years ago. This is where we stayed. It was even more rustic inside.
Heres the weird thing, it was easier for us to settle in back then
We rented a car in Cancun. Tulum didn’t even have a town much less an airport. We didn’t have cell phones or advance reservations. We had a paper map, a Lonely Planet Guidebook and a bottle of water. We drove until we found a hut we liked and paid in the pesos we had exchanged dollars for in our US bank. This hut I remember cost $30 a night which was overpriced for what it was even then.
Now we are in a beautiful Air BnB but completely confused. We have WIFI in the condo, but on our walk to breakfast we realized that we didn’t have data and got completely lost. Like walking in circles lost.
We stumbled on a great place for breakfast, and paid with credit card. When the waitress said we couldn’t add the tip on we remembered we only had US dollars and Colombian pesos. Jeff had to run to an ATM.
We went to a 7 eleven to get a SIM card for my phone. A SIM card is a tiny microchip thing you can put in some phones which makes it basically a burner phone. Putting the chip in was not easy.
We also realized the Uber thing. Uber is allowed here which is what I had read. But the taxis have a monopoly so don’t allow peopke to drive for Uber. A five mintute taxi ride from the neighborhood we’re in is $20. That is a flat rate. I think the taxi drivers may own the town.
Now we know why everyone suggests renting a car if you are not staying in a resort in Tulum. So guess what we’re doing tomorrow.
But by evening we got our wits about us. We found our favorite kind of tacos.
We found a mini mart where they circumvented the Sunday night dry laws, and found homemade tortillas, and fresh eggs for tomorrow’s breakfast.
We flew from Bogota to Tulum today. The flight was great. It was so empty that we each had an entire row to ourselves. Once we landed we became hapless.
At customs they wanted to search our giant suitcase. But, we locked it and couldn’t remember the code. Turns out it was 000 Then Jeff got stopped when the sniffer dog alerted on his suitcase. When we left I put all our leftover spices in zip lock bags and took then with us. Turms out you can’t take seeds into the country. Customs officials confiscated cumin seeds and red pepper flakes. Then we went to call an Uber and found we had no cell phone data and also there isn’t Uber in Tulum. It all worked out we got a taxi, got to our Airbnb and went out to dinner.
Jeff and I finished moving out of our apt. I’m going to miss this view and our balcony.
Here it’s our Panamanian storage locker. And yes we still have one in Seattle.
Because we are flying to Mexico on a Colombian airline we have a stopover in Bogota.
We got in late but Yuly our online Spanish teacher met up with us. It was so fun to see her in person.
We packed and then packed some more today. It’s crazy how much stuff we have for a furnished apt.
We spent the evening with our friends Alberto and Gloria. Tomorrow we have to finish up packing. Our flight isn’t until 6pm which is good.
So I now have a hernia. It’s from surgery and very common. As you can see in this photo I have to wear this hernia belt. In the house I wear it over clothes but when I go out it’s under my clothes. It doesnt hurt but it los bad and I have to be super careful. Eventually I’ll need surgery to fix it.
But the good part of having a hernia is a valid excuse to not lift boxes. Jeff spent the day with someone he hired to boxes to our storage space. I didn’t even go with in the car. So that’s the good part of having a hernia.
This is me in the Uber on the way home from the dentist. I was so happy when it was over. It really wasn’t that bad. It was a small cavity and even the shot of novicane didn’t hurt. And it only cost $68.
On a different note, Starbucks laid off 1,000 people in the corporate offices today. And, they did it but email! That is the part that makes me the most angry. I don’t know that many people there anymore, but two of my good friends were laid off. Probably more people that I used to work with I just haven’t heard yet. It’s such a different company than when I started in 1999.
I’m glad I worked there in the “good old days” when it was still a good place to work.
Today Jeff and I went to the dentist for cleaning and a checkup. Here I am after happy I’m done. But, I have a cavity so i have to go back tomorrow.
We spent most of the day packing, but we did get out for a, walk. In the evening we went to our friends Gloria and Alberto.
Guess who won.
Guess who was the 2nd winner.
Today we packed a lot but also enjoyed the balcony. We’re excited you our Mexican trip and a new apartment, but are going to miss the view.
