World Domination… Tulum
The world shut down due to Covid-19, and as a result 2020 was an utter shitstorm. For that reason, on the first day of 2021 we turned to our Mexican neighbors to visit Tulum. Wait… correction! We were supposed to go to Grenada but the borders closed while planning the trip. Even though we’ve been to Mexico countless times, we were excited to visit a new city with such a chill reputation. Plus, getting back on a plane felt like home!
We traveled in a larger group that had restricted budgets due to a combination of the holiday season and the financial impact of Covid, so we stayed at the Joy Tulum. It’s a budget friendly, adults-only, glorified hostel with both single and double occupancy fancy huts. It’s really cute and quaint but if you’re looking for luxury, this isn’t it. However, Joy Tulum is very friendly, accommodating, clean, quiet, relaxing, and affordable which is exactly what was needed to escape the harsh winters of the North. They also provide “vintage” bikes for us to use for whatever we wanted to do or wherever we wanted to go.
Mornings at Joy Tulum started with relaxing yoga and a bike ride to breakfast. On Sunday we went to this amazing day party called AfroBeats & Bubbles that fed our souls some of what 2020 took from us. The afterparty at the beach was the perfect ending to a crazy fun day. The women liberated themselves in the Gulf water until nightfall when the beach closed down. Dinners were late and breakfast came early.
During beach day we shot a music video with everyone wearing white swimwear doing the trendy Jerusalem dance. We rented a cabana for the day, ate, drank, and were merry. We rented a speed boat to see the coral reefs and the ruins from the water view while the sun set. After most days, we all gathered by the pool either to smoke hookah or drink for a nightcap.
After all of the fun and relaxation, it was time for a bit of culture. We had a five hour tour to the Tulum Archaeological Zone where we saw the Mayan ruins and learned about pre-colonization customs. Iguanas were at home, the weather combined with the view of the sea only enhanced our experience. We learned about how much astrology dictated time, the ancient alphabet and also which children were chosen to be sacrificed. Jeweled teeth, hard work, and games played at rituals with balls made of tree sap were also a part of the lesson.
After the ruins, we visited Cenote Kin Ha which has several natural watering holes. We visited both underground and open caves, if you haven’t swum in a cave, we highly recommend it! Looking up at the natural formations while submerged in water is hard to describe but it’s memorable. We even had the opportunity to feed lemurs.
It was almost time to leave after six glorious days in Tulum, and we hadn’t even been on any local shopping excursions. After missing a friend’s dinner, we went scouring the streets for the most unique items to add to the urbanfuery.com website. Most of the
items we could find were trinkets that would end up in thrift stores and our customers like functional items so we kept looking. At this point we thought we would have to extend our trip but after four hours, we scored one-of-a-kind handmade items that can be found on our shop page. We’d like to keep everything for ourselves but that’s not fair to you, now is it?
One last tidbit… please arrange transportation beforehand as price gouging by the taxi drivers is on another level. Know in advance how much you’re willing to pay so that you don’t spend a third of your mad money on transportation. Have fun and remember that 2020 taught us that anything can happen at any moment. So we’ve got to live for today, learn from yesterday while planning for tomorrow. Life’s an adventure, let’s create memories.
Have any of you been to Tulum? If you have, please share your adventures.