04-24-2008
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#1 (permalink) |
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way into it
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Indiana
Posts: 201
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TR: A Playa sandwich with a little dessert
I would first like to give a big 'Thank you' for all the info/photos on this site. Here goes my first TR contribution:
About 6 weeks ago I talked my cousin, Patrick, into traveling to Q Roo with me. We had the options of flying out of Midway on ATA or Indy on Frontier. Price was similar, Indy is easier but ATA had much better flight times. We decided to go with ATA due to the better flight time, but when I got online to book it was too late - the price had doubled. Little did I know that it was a blessing in disguise due to the pending bankruptcy! Whew!! Since it was Pat's first trip down and he was interested in snorkeling and diving, we decided to move around a bit, thus the 'Playa Sandwich'. We arrived in Playa around 9:30 and decided to stay the night at Siesta Fiesta before moving south in the morning. Not too many pics from day one. Arrival at the Playa terminal:  Caught the Fire Dancers on the beach at BP: YouTube - Fire Show That was pretty much it for day one. Day 2 To the bus station via the beach  Cochinita tacos for breakfast  Grabbed the bus to Tulum and checked into the Weary Traveler Room  Common areas    From there we swim suited up and decided to check out the reef at Tankah. The RM map said that you could rent kayaks from the dive shop and paddle out to the reef so that was the plan. We climbed in the collective but werent sure exactly where to get out, and the driver didnt know what we were talking about so he dropped us off in front of the deserted Freedom Paradise. We decided to walk in and check it out. It was weird to see it empty 'cause it looked like it had been a nice place. We toyed with the idea of buying a couple of hammocks and a cooler and camping out there for a couple days, but decided not to since we had already checked into the Weary. Road from the highway  deserted resort   complete with snack  We stripped down to our swimsuits and left our clothes/shoes/hats/sunglasses/map/snorkel bag in a heap by the big palm. No one in sight. We found entry into to water to be impossible due to the rocks that covered the bottom of the shallow water. Ouch! Decided to walk down around the corner to see if it was better. In front of FP   Next resort down was Dreams Tulum and water entry was better. We saw lots of interesting critters snorkeling in the shallow water. Take a look:    We had a great time snorkeling! Unfortunately, when we went back for our clothes they were gone!  Remember the walk back to the highway?  I whined the whole pebble poking way! And I felt a little embarrassed flagging down the collective in nothing but a swim suit. Next stop new flip flops (I didnt pack any other shoes).  My cousin also needed new flip flops, but fortunately he had brought some tennis with him because size 14 is impossible to find in Tulum. It was funny watching him shop. He would go into the store and ask if they had size 14 and they would take one look at his feet and start laughing and shaking their heads. One guy said he had a really big size in the back that would fit. When he brought them out he insisted that Pat try them on even though they were only size 12. He just couldnt imagine feet any bigger than size 12.  Had some tamales from a street vender, bought some passion fruit from a market, and ate some more at the Argentinian restaurante. Later we hung out getting to know some people at the Weary and had a very interesting time. End of day 2. |
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04-25-2008
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#3 (permalink) |
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aņejo
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Southwestern Ontario
Posts: 1,811
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What a way to start a trip....
the snorkelling looked great. Assume the people that took your cousin's shoes had rather "large" feet. Coming back to a deserted beach and finding you stuff gone would be a real shocker!
Can't wait for more. |
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04-25-2008
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#8 (permalink) |
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way into it
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Indiana
Posts: 201
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The abandoned resort was at Tankah, which is a little north of Tulum. It was called Maya Tankah Freedom Paradise or something like that. I found these videos (in Spanish)on youtube explaining that they guy who was supposedly renting the place had made off with everything he could pry loose:
YouTube - Freedom Paradise - Julio Cesar Rincon, Estafador YouTube - Freedom Paradise - Julio Cesar Rincon, Estafador 2 From what I can make of the posted comments, the hotel is/was owned by somebody powerful who used it as a drug port and several murders and a rape took place there! Yikes!! Looks like we were lucky that we just lost our stuff. I forgot to mention that my cousin had buried his wallet because he was afraid it would float out of his pocket while swimming ( I always just swim with my $$). Luckily the 'buried treasure' was still intact even though everything else was gone. 
Last edited by Playadicta; 05-04-2008 at 06:59 PM.. |
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04-25-2008
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#9 (permalink) |
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way into it
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Indiana
Posts: 201
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Day 3
Got up to cook-it-yourself breakfast of eggs/pancakes/cereal. The main grill was taking forever to cook so we moved our food over to the burners in the back of the 'kitchen'. After we finished and someone else started to use the burner we had been using, someone who worked there came over and said not to use those burners because they didnt work. The girl argued with him and said they did work 'cause she had just used them. He said that no, there was a gas leak on those, and they could blow us up
. Boy, you'd think they'd have turned off the gas and hung up a sign. But I forgot, this is Mexico. If you blow up it's your own darn fault.  You can also 'burn your own bbq' at the weary:  And they provide free transport to/from the beach:  And free (extremely slow) internet:  Instead of the beach, we opted to try the snorkeling at Akumal and climbed aboard a collectivo. Arrival at Akumal:   We stored our stuff in a locker at the dive shop, which was nice 'cause they also had bathrooms and a shower. Except for the fact that there were a lot of people and their fins flipping in your face at times, we thought the snorkeling was great. Check it out:             and a cool (even if amatuer) video: YouTube - Akumal Barracuda After that, it was back to tulum for a snack before supper:  At some point, we took a gander around Rancho Tranquilo. As the name says, it is very tranquil and is set in the midst of lots of tropical vegetation / fruit trees:        It was very quiet and nice for a budget stay, but there was hardly anyone staying there and we decided we liked meeting all the interesting people at the Weary Traveler better. Plus the Weary included the breakfast and the beach bus. We ate dinner at some restaurant on the street but that's all I remember about that. Then back to hang out at the common area at the Weary. At some point I took this pic out the bathroom window of the Weary:  Ended day 3 buying a blanket, since I had been chilly at night and hostel only provides sheets. Slept snugly in my blanket. End of day 3. |
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04-25-2008
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#11 (permalink) |
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life=playa
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 719
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Wow, really different report. Love it! You guys are certainly much more adventurous and brave than me! One review about Weary Traveler said "I didn't get bed bugs this time!"
 What kind of camera did you use for those underwater shots? They turned out fantastic!!! 
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04-25-2008
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#12 (permalink) |
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way into it
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Indiana
Posts: 201
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One thing I forgot to mention is that immigration only gave us 10 days on our visa. In the past we have always gotten 180. Anyone know what is up with that? Upon seeing my measly 10 days granted, squelched were my fantasies of Frontier cancelling our return flight and me calling my boss to say I was legitimately stranded and would need at least one more week
 .Also, anyone know of a hostel/budget lodging in Akumal? |
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04-25-2008
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#13 (permalink) | |
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way into it
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Indiana
Posts: 201
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Quote:
. Luckily, I have never had any problems hostelling. It is not for everyone though. In February I brought my mom down to Playa for her first time and we stayed at Sandos Playacar cause I knew she would not go for any kind of roughing it. She asked me to show her the hostel in Playa so she would have an idea of what we are talking about when we go to hostels. She took a few steps inside the door to look around and said "Oh, It's like a soup kitchen." That really made me laugh.The ray in Tankah, the big turtle eating the grass, the barracuda & the polka dot fish were taken with some kind of Olympus Stylus waterproof camera, maybe like an 800. The rest were taken with my Canon PowerShot SD800IS in a WP-DC9 underwater housing. I think the quality is similar on the 2 cameras, and the Olympus was a lot less bulky than the underwater housing. If I had it to do over again, I would probably just buy the Olympus (although I do love my Canon). I must add, though, that both cameras were a shot in the dark when taking the photos underwater. You cant see what you are taking a picture of thru the LCD so you are just aiming blindly and hoping you capture something. |
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04-25-2008
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#15 (permalink) |
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aņejo
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 4,102
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Great report so far! Your underwater pics are fabulous!!
Was that Freedom Paradise resort the one that was for "large" people? I remember seeing it once while looking for a resort for us a while ago. More, por favor! 
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Is that abandoned place near Xpu-Ha?
