Hooray we make it to 5AM this morning, and celebrate the long night of sleep with a game of Uno. A first proof that Zeno can identify at least the primary colors, as he plays along.
We take a shower and make a short walk at 6, to see the sunrise at the beach and play a bit in the sea. We try to have breakfast outside at 7, but the last mosquito’s of dawn find Cleo straight away, so we run back inside. The mosquito’s leave ugly and painful bites. Despite our precautionary measures, Cleo already had three bites on her legs and feet. The flies love her.
We leave at 7:15 for our first Maya ruins in Tulum. The ruins sit on seaside cliffs. It was an important trade post, where pre-Columbian tradesmen arrived in canoes laden with goods. It was abandoned 75 years after the arrival of the Spanish, as the population decimated because of European deceases.
We’re precautious, as the site is known for ripping-off tourist, starting at the many fake « official » parkings, agressive guides offering their services, and quadrupling the entrance fee on the payment machine. When Olga is looking for the official-official parking, Tim gives her the appartement keys and she throws them careless in her bag.
We find a parking for 100 pesos (5 euro’s) and accept that we did not manage to find the official (free) parking. Being 15 minutes before opening time, we are not bothered by many salesman yet. We even pay the right ticket price today and board the electric bus that will transport us to the site entrance, where we again have to pay 100 pesos per person. Then, we’re inside, and we’re happy by how easy it was.
We’re one of the first tourist, and Tim captures the temples in the morning glory, while Olga, Cleo and Zeno stroll after him. There are dozens of buildings, some only 1 meter high, others, 8. The ones next to the high cliffs, overseeing the turquoise sea, are the most impressive.
We take short breaks to put on new suncream or change the children in the Deuter. Suddenly we hear the jingle of keys falling on stones. And we notice that the keys from Dilbeek lie on the pavement. We check the bag, but the appartement keys are gone. Olga was a bit too careless with throwing them in a bag without zipper, a bag that has been taken in and out the Deuter for many times this morning. Both Tim and Olga walk back and forth to find them, but finding silver keys between the white pebbles is a mission impossible. We have to write the landlord that we need a spare set.
When we arrive at the appartement, Jeremy awaits us, he works for the land lord, he opens our door with a spare key and calls the lock smith. We have lunch and try to bring Zeno to bed for a nap unsuccesfully. The lock smith arrives at 12:30 and replaces all the tree locks in the appartement in one hour. We have to pay 1900 pesos (100 euro) and learn the lesson to keep keys in bags that can be fully closed.
We spend the afternoon in the pool, playing games, and swimming in the only part of the sea that has no red flag. Like yesterday, it’s very windy, so we park our plan to go snorkeling and see the rif and the turtles. Tim uses one of the canoes of the apartment for a small trip around the lake and to the sea behind the break barrier. There are just some small fishes and a lot of head wind, which explains the red flag and big waves.
Tim decides to go snorkeling anyways since we’ll leave the seaside tomorrow and we came here for the underwater world. The bay is very sandy and visibility is very poor but luckily there are many fish to be found although it all looks a bit colorless with the sandy haze. We eat tortillas, read a book and go to bed.
