Armchairshrink
24th July 2007, 11:18 AM
So this is the end of my official reporting about Tulum, but since I know that this crowd also goes to other places besides Tulum and may want this info for future trips.
We got up early to head to Coba, but not as early as we'd planned. This felt like the first night I really had learned to sleep at Hamaca Loca. As much as I loved the place, I'm not going to lie - the beds are NOT comfortable, the sheets are stiff, and given that it was mid-July, even with that wind it was often uncomfortably hot. Not to the point where I would tell anyone it wasn't worth going to, not at all - but it did take us several days to adjust. I felt I was just getting in the Hamaca Loca "groove" by the time we had to leave. So it was PAINFUL to leave that bed that morning. I slept in an hour later than planned and we, having packed up the night before, breakfast bars and thermos of decent coffee from Trece Lunas in hand, were on the road by 8:15.
I'd heard bad things about the Coba road so I was really surprised at now nice and easy the driving was. (After the boy's harrowing journey down 307 at dusk, I was now doing all the driving). I really enjoyed looking at the few villages the road went through and if we hadn't been trying to get to Coba as early as humanly possible I would've loved to stop at some of the roadside markets and funky little palapa bars.
The road to Coba finally did turn bad about 5 miles or so from the town of Coba. No biggie though. We pulled into the ruins parking lot around 9am, paid our fee, bought some water, and were on our way.
http://lh3.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQelJ2AdI/AAAAAAAAANs/eT1fVrn7RQ8/s800/Mexico07%20196.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)
http://lh5.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQxFJ2AmI/AAAAAAAAAO0/NFF8NRxC2jc/s800/Mexico07%20177.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)http://lh6.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQgVJ2AfI/AAAAAAAAAN8/yQHtgaiH5jo/s800/Mexico07%20199.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)
We loved the ruins and had a lot of fun exploring the first group. There were already two tourbuses tramping around but the site was big enough that they were easy to avoid. We then, on the recommendation of folks here, I believe, rented bicycles to see the other groups.
This was probably the single best piece of advice we got on the whole trip. Nobody had quite conveyed how...spread OUT Coba is. And even though it was 9:30 a.m. it was SO hot and so muggy. Bicycling provided some nice wind for our sweaty skin and was obviously much faster than walking. And it was just fun!
We were, however, getting confused as to where the big pyramid was. We'd seen La Iglesia at the entrance. Sure it was big but that obviously couldn't have been the biggest one in the Yucatan, right? We explored the whole site (we thought) and were exhausted by noon. I just figured the pyramid wasn't really that big. We left and went for lunch at La Pyramide, where I had chicken tacos (very tasty) and Chris had Poc-Chuc (less flavorful) for very reasonable prices. Then I was reading through the Moon guidebook I'd left in the car and realized....we'd missed Nonoch Mol entirely.
Not the brightest point in our trip, although I must say in our defense that the signage around Coba is pitiful. There are lots of roads and occasionally a sign pointing towards a group but nothing to really lead you in the right direction.
So...we had to go back. I mean we couldn't venture into Coba and NOT visit the great Nonoch Mol, right?
Did I mention that the boy forgot the water we had in the car? And I didn't realize this until we were already well past the entrance? And we didn't rent bikes this time, not wanting to pay twice, and it's around 1pm?
THANK GOD for the stand selling water at the mound itself.http://lh6.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQaVJ2AYI/AAAAAAAAANE/OIbHvMQJlQM/s800/Mexico07%20084.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)
http://lh6.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQYVJ2AVI/AAAAAAAAAMs/YyYQ2d2lpsg/s800/Mexico07%20150.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)
Well thank god that was done with! Coba was awesome and I would absolutely love to see it again. But...not in July.
We got up early to head to Coba, but not as early as we'd planned. This felt like the first night I really had learned to sleep at Hamaca Loca. As much as I loved the place, I'm not going to lie - the beds are NOT comfortable, the sheets are stiff, and given that it was mid-July, even with that wind it was often uncomfortably hot. Not to the point where I would tell anyone it wasn't worth going to, not at all - but it did take us several days to adjust. I felt I was just getting in the Hamaca Loca "groove" by the time we had to leave. So it was PAINFUL to leave that bed that morning. I slept in an hour later than planned and we, having packed up the night before, breakfast bars and thermos of decent coffee from Trece Lunas in hand, were on the road by 8:15.
I'd heard bad things about the Coba road so I was really surprised at now nice and easy the driving was. (After the boy's harrowing journey down 307 at dusk, I was now doing all the driving). I really enjoyed looking at the few villages the road went through and if we hadn't been trying to get to Coba as early as humanly possible I would've loved to stop at some of the roadside markets and funky little palapa bars.
The road to Coba finally did turn bad about 5 miles or so from the town of Coba. No biggie though. We pulled into the ruins parking lot around 9am, paid our fee, bought some water, and were on our way.
http://lh3.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQelJ2AdI/AAAAAAAAANs/eT1fVrn7RQ8/s800/Mexico07%20196.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)
http://lh5.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQxFJ2AmI/AAAAAAAAAO0/NFF8NRxC2jc/s800/Mexico07%20177.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)http://lh6.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQgVJ2AfI/AAAAAAAAAN8/yQHtgaiH5jo/s800/Mexico07%20199.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)
We loved the ruins and had a lot of fun exploring the first group. There were already two tourbuses tramping around but the site was big enough that they were easy to avoid. We then, on the recommendation of folks here, I believe, rented bicycles to see the other groups.
This was probably the single best piece of advice we got on the whole trip. Nobody had quite conveyed how...spread OUT Coba is. And even though it was 9:30 a.m. it was SO hot and so muggy. Bicycling provided some nice wind for our sweaty skin and was obviously much faster than walking. And it was just fun!
We were, however, getting confused as to where the big pyramid was. We'd seen La Iglesia at the entrance. Sure it was big but that obviously couldn't have been the biggest one in the Yucatan, right? We explored the whole site (we thought) and were exhausted by noon. I just figured the pyramid wasn't really that big. We left and went for lunch at La Pyramide, where I had chicken tacos (very tasty) and Chris had Poc-Chuc (less flavorful) for very reasonable prices. Then I was reading through the Moon guidebook I'd left in the car and realized....we'd missed Nonoch Mol entirely.
Not the brightest point in our trip, although I must say in our defense that the signage around Coba is pitiful. There are lots of roads and occasionally a sign pointing towards a group but nothing to really lead you in the right direction.
So...we had to go back. I mean we couldn't venture into Coba and NOT visit the great Nonoch Mol, right?
Did I mention that the boy forgot the water we had in the car? And I didn't realize this until we were already well past the entrance? And we didn't rent bikes this time, not wanting to pay twice, and it's around 1pm?
THANK GOD for the stand selling water at the mound itself.http://lh6.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQaVJ2AYI/AAAAAAAAANE/OIbHvMQJlQM/s800/Mexico07%20084.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)
http://lh6.google.com/armchairshrink/RqLQYVJ2AVI/AAAAAAAAAMs/YyYQ2d2lpsg/s800/Mexico07%20150.jpg (http://www.tulum.info/%3Ca%20href=)
Well thank god that was done with! Coba was awesome and I would absolutely love to see it again. But...not in July.