Tulum, Mexico.

So after several attempts to take a vacation over the past couple of months, I finally made it happen!!

Sarah Newman and myself booked our flights and our first three nights stay at the Papaya Playa in Tulum Mexico. For those of you who don't know about Tulum, it's 130 km south of Cancun. It's not infested with tourists, there are miles of white sandy beaches that are practically deserted. It's an eco-friendly, relaxed place where time disappears. The cabana establishments along the beach run on generators that shut off at 11 pm, so at night you can see every single star in the sky. Spectacular.

We didn't take a watch, or our phones. We were up with the sunrise every day, ate when we were hungry and slept when we were tired. We loved the Papaya Playa so much that we stayed for the entire 12 days.

There were initial problems getting off the ground, however. Sarah had been so busy with school and work before leaving that she didn't notice one crucial factor...her passport was expired. Yikes

U.S. Customs didn't catch it initially, but they did when we were boarding our layover flight in North Carolina. Sarah was told that Mexico would not let her in the country without her birth certificate, which she didn't have. So we had no choice but to fly all the way back home and start all over again the next day.

It truly sucked missing a day, but in the end we wound up extending our stay in Tulum by 4 days, so we made up for it!!

Here are our pictures. Although they are good, they don't capture the amazingness that was our trip.

Enjoy!

We refer to this day as: The Day that Never Happened.
We spent 5 hours in the North Carolina airport waiting for our flight back to Toronto.

The N.C. airport is like a mall. There are shops and restaurants everywhere. We decided on Phillips Seafood because the nice man at the US Airways Special Service desk recommended it.
It was good.....especially their $10 US Bloody Marys. Ouch.

We finally MADE IT!!! Straight to the beach!!

Notice how pasty white we are. So attractive.

The Dank Cabana #26.
After Sarah got sick, it became even danker...is that even a word? It should be.

The beach at dawn.

Sarah eating our standard breakfast...bread dipped in nutella. Yummmm...

We practically had the beach to ourselves in the morning. It was glorious!

The Papaya Playa had an area on the beach with these hanging, swinging beds.
They were perfect for hungover days and afternoon siestas.

We rented a car. We had planned on taking the shuttle from Cancun, but wound up renting a car. I'm sorry mom and dad for lying. But it was the most convenient thing ever!

And it was totally safe. I PROMISE!!
Except for the Wild West way of driving in Tulum itelf...

Even the bar had swings instead of stools. It proved for some scary moments, when you had 20 people along on side getting rowdy and bouncing up and down!!
Sarah and I spent a lot of time in those swings....
...LECHE CLEMENTE!!!!!

More sunrises. Glorious sunrises.
Notice the pelican diving in the water?? Serious photographer skills.

We bought a $7 water floaty from town; we used it to float, surf and even just to lie on on the beach. It was quite a handy! We left it behind. It was our contribution to the Papaya Playa.

Plus it wouldn't have been allowed as a carry-on. Probably would have been seen as a "weapon".

Oh, Dylan. Such a nice guy. He's from Ireland and was in Mexico just backpacking around. A little lothario, he made the girls cry...well, not us. We were his designated Mamasitas. Anyway, he's avery talented writer and is going into the restaurant business. Great guy.

Orlando in the front and Jaime (pron. Hai-mee) at the bar. Two of our favourite workers at Papaya Playa. They were always there with smiles on, even when they'd worked 16 hours days for the past 5 days.

Another glamour shot.

Me, Dylan and Sarah, a photographer from Paris. Parisiennes have the best accents!!

Mike (a.k.a Denver)...from Denver. The bartender extraordinnaire. His gear was stolen from his Hostel, and started working at P.P. to make some cash while his family worked on getting his paperwork in order to get him home.
That was 2 years ago.
He decided to stay and work. I can't wait to go back and take his job from him.

Sarah, Sergio and me. Sergio is one of the owners of the Papaya Playa, and quickly became Sarah's "special friend".
The minute they saw each other, they were immediately smitten. It was so crazy being a witness to it, because in the 11 years I've known her I've never seen her like this. And he's such a great guy to boot.
Oh, and the civiche we ate that night made Sarah violently ill for 24 hours. Not me though...I LOVED it!!

Me and Denver.

Sarah recovering from her food poisoning.

Sergio speeding up the recovery!

Little Ganesh, the Papaya Playa Puppy!

Me watching Sarah and Dylan play water frisbee from my swinging bed.

Dylan learning about the restaurant biz...Mexicana Style!!

What we did nearly every night: Play Gin Rummy, drink cervezas, eat chicken enchilladas and gossip about the people at P.P.
Oh, and I suck at Gin Rummy. I lost every time. Every. Time.
I hate Gin Rummy.

Shiva, Ganesh's mommy.
So Cute and Cuddly!!
She became our dog on the trip. Sarah and her were bunk mates most of the time.

Sarah and the Serg.

Sunrise on Valentines Day.
The beginning of a very good day.

The tans are starting to become visible, although they could still use a little work.
More on that later...

Marco, me, Rafael and Sarah.
Rafa approached me at the bar on Valentines day, and is still very much my #1 Valentine.

I think is the one night Sarah let us bring Crazy 8's to the table.
And yeah...I still lost.
But it still made for a great photo!

Sergio "Basset Hound" Lopez.

Marco, me and Rafa. Marco is Rafa's cousin and an all around good guy.

Our morning routine: Sarah doing yoga at sunrise and me watching her.
In my opinion, vacation is no time for exercise.
I'd read or just watch the beautiful dawn.

The view from our second cabana, #52. A HUGE improvement from #26.
Not dank at all. Nice and breezy with a bathroom that didn't smell like sewage.

This was a fun night. Emilio, the other owner of P.P. invited a group of his friends to celebrate one of their birthdays at the restaurant at P.P, and invited us along. This is me, Bernie, Sarah and Easy (not his real name).
We were so excited to have an "event" to attend that we went out an bought ourselves dresses to wear. We were the Belles of the Ball!

Santi, the man in blue, was the birthday boy.

Easy getting crazy with Denver.

Sarah and Juan, a.k.a Sneaky Monkey.

Keeping the party going! I think I'm using the ketchup bottle as a microphone...

Okay, so there are beautiful oceanside Mayan ruins in Tulum, which are only 3 kms from Papaya Playa. So Sarah and I decided that we should go seeing as how it's culture and they're right there and we had nothing better to do other than sit on the beach and tan. Which is what we did everyday.
Upon arrival at the site, however, we were confronted with bus loads of Pasty white, fanny pack, sombrero wearing Americans and their screaming, complaining children.
So we didn't go in.
But we did take this picture with the large plastic scale model out front!

And this one, in front of the exit.

Me walking away...so sad.
Next time we'll go, and we'll go early.
Before the gringos arrive.

Sarah and I were having a siesta on our swinging bed one evening, and were violently awakened by a child shouting something in spanish beside our heads.

This was our first meeting with Diego, Rafael's 4 year old nephew.
Rafael was babysitting him that day and decided to bring him to P.P. to hang out with us.
We spent some time playing on the beach until Rafa whisked us off to watch the sunset at the biosphere in Sian Khan.

Diego had these really cool light sabres that lit up and made the noises!
He almost took my head off! Totally intense!

Diego being Spider-Man.

The following picture were taken by Diego.

Notice the Spider-Man sweater? Yeah, it's Diego's.
Sarah can fit into a 4 year olds's clothing.

Such a wonderful kid. I hope to be able to hang out with him again one day.

This was Dave and Karen's last day. They're the couple in the middle, on the right of me.
They're from Seattle and they were such a blast to hang out with!!
The night Sarah was sick, I got a little crazy with them, a couple of Estonian guys and a few girls from France on the beach on the middle of the night.
I guess the bottle of Don Julio tequila we managed to polish off in a matter of minutes is to blame.

This was the first time I'd brushed my hair in a few days...I quite like the bouffant look, actually.

This was our first double-date night with Sergio and Rafael.
The north winds (from Canada! dammit!!) made the evening a little chilly, so our choice of a beach-front restaurant wasn't the smartest choice.
But it was very nice, none-the-less.

Waiting for Rafa to join us for breakfast at our friend Joaquin's cafe.

Okay, so we were down to our final 2 days, and we decided to step up our tanning a little bit.
We went to town and bought Hawaiian Tropic SPF 4 Deep Tanning Oil Spray.
And then we "went to town" on our tans.
Heehee...notice my play on words?
....yeah.

The above two pics are what Sarah calls her "Bikini Revenge" Pics.
Since it was her LOCO ex-boyfriend who told her about Tulum in the first place, she decided to send these pictures to him in an email with the simple message,
"Thanks for the tip, big guy."



Our second double-date night at a great Italian restaurant in town.
The boys were....a little late.

Okay, try 2 hours late.
Notice the bottle of wine in the first pic, followed by the bottle of champagne in the second?
We decided to be super mad at Sergio and Rafa when they arrived...


...but of course that plan went right out the window.
It was our last night! No reason to be mad in our final hours.

Deanna is such a sweetheart. She was the first person we met at Papaya Playa and became a good friend.

Saying goodbye to Shiva. Almost the hardest goodbye for Sarah.
Almost.

Sarah's Hardest Goodbye.

My goodbye was a little easier. Rafa drove half way back to Cancun with us.
We dropped him off in Playa del Carmen where he was meeting his mom.
Notice my sunburn? That's the universe telling me that no matter how tanned I think I am, I should never, ever break out the deep tanning oil spray again.
Note taken.

So we had film left in our disposable camera at the airport, so we had someone take our
"Typical North American" photos. Notice the main elements: The crazy Mexican hats, the Marlborough lights and the Coronas. The one above it my mom's favourite pic.
I think she's kidding.

Back in Toronto.
Tanned, but freezing.
And sad. Even though you can't tell.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the stories, but just know that no matter how much I tried to elaborate, no photo or caption can ever truly capture the time Sarah and I had. It was two of the best weeks of my life, and I'm very happy I could share some of my joy with all of you.