Akumal is a tiny town north of Tulum towards Playa Del Carmen. The name ‘Akumal’ means ‘land of turtles’ in Mayan, which is pretty appropriate seeing as snorkelling with said turtles is the number one thing to do there.
One afternoon in Tulum we randomly decided to jump into a collectivo (public minivan) and head to Akumal Bay. It was an excellent choice. Swimming with sea turtles was a pretty magical experience.
Akumal Bay
I had very high hopes for Tulum and if I’m completely honest, my very first impression when we got off the bus wasn’t the best. You see, people always tell you to go to less touristy Tulum instead of Cancun; that evil, Spring Break infested, commercialised, resort town further north. So I was surprised to find that compared to other Mexican towns we had visited, Tulum was rather touristy and full of Americans in their hire cars.
Not that I have a problem with Americans! I’d rather Americans in Mexico over Australians in Thailand any day. We are the worst. Anyway. Tulum was just more western than I expected.
But any negative thoughts I had that first morning were completely dashed just a few hours later when we visited our first cenote. Tulum has so much to offer; the endless cenotes, caster sugar sand beaches, aquamarine water and delicious Al Pastor pork tacos.
Oh and Mayan ruins! Right on the beachfront.
A cenote is a natural limestone sinkhole and there are about 700 of them in varying sizes and shapes dotted around Tulum and the entire Yucatan Peninsula. I was beyond excited for Tulum having seen incredible photos of cenotes and their deep cave systems, perfect for snorkelling in. We tried to see as many as possible during our time there, but only managed the following 4! Going to have to go back and do the remaing 696 because we became completely obsessed with these crystal clear natural pools.
1 The unnamed cenote
This first cenote we came across entirely by chance while trying to ride our bikes to the beach. It has no name and doesn’t appear on maps. We paid 80 pesos each and had the place completely to ourselves for the first few hours. Quite the impressive start to our cenote tour!
Magic
I’d say it’s fairly common knowledge that things like nachos and burritos are American inventions, rather than legitimate Mexican foods.
So what happens when you order nachos in Mexico? This:
A few tortilla chips, some putrid plastic cheese dip and some pickled jalapenos straight from a can.
May I suggest the superior alternative of chilaquiles?
I’m drooling
Chilaquiles is a dish made of lightly fried torn tortillas cut into triangles, topped with red or green salsa or mole, sometimes with chicken or chorizo (like in the photo above) and garnished with sour cream, local cheese, onion and avocado slices. Sometimes chilaquiles are topped with eggs and refried beans as well. They are often eaten at breakfast.
They are one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten in Mexico. Order the chilaquiles.
Before a day (or just a few hours, which is what we lasted!) of exploring ancient Mayan ruins, breakfast is a must. I recommend pork tacos. Three is far too many but will stave off lunch for a very long time. Any street taco stand in the town of Palenque will do.
Deeeelicious
San Christobal will always remind me of: churches, Mexican street corn, Andrew turning 26 and the best fish tacos ever. We arrived off the night bus from Oaxaca and were instantly struck by how cold it was (it was bound to be at 2200m above sea level!). The cooler weather was really nice for endless strolling.
One of San Chris’ many churches
Oaxaca was a hell of a place to start our Mexican adventure. Mind blowing food, beautiful cobbled streets, amazing architecture, great stuff to do nearby and SO much colour.
To get there we took a rather painful overnight bus from Tapachula through the state of Chiapas, where we were stopped about 10 times for passport and drug checks. At one point we were lined up along the highway while heavily armed police searched the inside of the bus, using screwdrivers to remove random panels to peer inside with a flashlight. It was a long night.
We spent two days just wandering around Oaxaca, admiring the streets but also attempting to work up an appetite to squeeze in as much food as possible. If you missed my last post on all the incredible food click here. On the two other days we headed to ruins and to a pretty amazing swimming spot. Take a look:
Despite Oaxaca (‘Wa-hacka’) being kind of out of the way I knew there was no way we were going to skip the culinary capital of Mexico. See my last post for further clarification! So when we arrived I got busy researching every single dish I wanted needed to try, wrote everything down in a notebook and set out to find it all.
I’ve waited a long time for you
We crossed over into Mexico from the Guatemalan border after two solid days of travelling on chicken buses and crowded collectivos (mini vans). In the nondescript town of Tapachula we followed two friendly men to the bus station to buy a ticket to our first proper Mexican destination of Oaxaca city. With a few hours until our bus was due to leave, Andrew went in search of food and returned with the tray of tacos pictured above.
In order to appreciate the significance of this humble plate of food, we must travel back to 1996/1997. I believe it was around this time when I first developed an obsession with the tacky cliched yellow and red packages of Old El Paso Mexican recipe bases that seemed so exotic on the supermarket shelf. It was a Tuesday night and it was just Mum and I at home. I don’t remember what faux Mexican (slash Texmex) dish we made but I do remember it was the first time Mum showed me how to make guacamole. I distinctly remember mashing the avocado in our blue and white china bowls, marvelling at how something so delicious was so easy to make.
And so a lifelong (so far!) love of Mexican food was born.
When I tucked into that plate of beef tacos at the bus station, it felt like I’d been waiting 20 years to do so. Probably because I had! No amount of inauthentic homemade Mexican or overpriced ‘street corn’ from Mamasita in Melbourne could make up for the real thing. A random cart near the bus station would prove better than anything I’d ever had before.
If only I knew how much more was to come…
I should preface this list by saying that I had zero expectations of El Salvador. We weren’t planning to go there, I hadn’t read about it at all and so the things that surprised me might not surprise a traveller who has done basic research.
That said, I was completely blown away by El Salvador in the best possible way. We spent 4 nights in Santa Ana. Here’s what surprised me:
My Bloggable Day 