Day 4
Another early wake up for me. Head to Java Joes.
Take coffee down to the beach to sit and catch up the journal.

Watch a barracuda feed on a school of small fish. Head back to the hotel to get Heather and walk to a cafe to get breakfast. We agree to try for an earlier bus – 11am seems like a long time to wait, and an earlier start will give us more time to find lodging one we get into the wild. While Heather finishes breakfast, I run to the bus station and successful change our tickets to the 10:00am bus. We head back to the hotel to pack our stuff and say goodbye to our little hotel.


Arrive at the bus station early, so we grab some water and watch people come and go. Great place to see a variety of folks.

Board the bus on time and head south.

Dropping us off in the small community of Tulum, standing at the side of a dusty road, Heather and I are doing what we love to do best – exploring new places, not sure of what really to do next, but loving the feeling that we could do anything or go anywhere.
Tulum is a small town very near some dramatic Mayan ruins perched on a cliff overlooking the carribean. We need to find a route and accommodations into Sain Ka'an, so we begin to walk towards the center of town. After several blocks, we find an office that gives kayak tours of Sain Ka'an. When we explain what we're doing and where we're trying to go, they describe a great little placed called Cesiak, an eco-lodgy type of thing with thatched huts on the beach for $50 a night. Not only that, but if we want to wait around for another 2 hours, we can hook in with a passing tour bus for a free ride to the place. Since its 20km south on a bumpy road, this saves either a very long walk or an expensive taxi.
We drop our bags off at this office, and wander toward the ruins. We stop and watch a Mayan ritual in a park where they spin upside down along a pole – the picture will describe it well.

We then settle into a little place for a slowly paced lunch full of nachos and Sol.


Arrive back at the tour office, the van is waiting. The tour guide, an early twenty something straight out of Uconn, tells us that our lodge is 3rd on their stop to pick up folks for a sunset kayak tour, but there's plenty of room in the van for us to ride. He mentions that we'll be stopping at a cenote along the way, so we duck into the bathrooms and change into our swimsuits yet again. Our free ride is turning into a small adventure within itself.
The van heads east to a beach road, then quite a ways south. We stop to pick up a very nice French couple, a couple of stone cold lesbians and their daughter, and a quiet mid-40s couple from upstate New York. We finally arrive at the entrance to Sain Ka'an, and pull off onto a little road and stop.

Ambling along a jungle path through thick mangroves, we pass by a super cool, very large termite nest.


We finally reach the cenote, which is again spectacular. This one is quiet deep – 8 meters according to our tour guide. We all jump in and have a short swim. I don some snorkle goggles for a bit, and enjoy the scenery below.


We dry ourselves off, and continue our trek south. Another ½ hour later and we arrive at our destination, Cesiak. Thanking our tour guide for the free ride, we wander up the path to check in.
The place is outstanding. Our room is a canvas tent held inside a raised, thatched platform about a meter off the ground, and right on the beach. The ocean breeze flows right through the screen windows of the tent. No electricity, so it has a camping feel, and dependent on candle light at night. Bathrooms, showers, and the kitchen are centrally located and shared. On top of the central building is a nice lookout deck to view the pretty dramatic scenery – Carribean to the east, large freshwater lagoon to the west, and our little sliver of land doing the dividing north and south.




We empty our packs and walk along the beach. Not a single person as far as you can see. The beach is very natural looking – lots of seaweed washed up, coconuts in the sand. Heather reads for a bit while I play in the large waves.

After about an hour, we clean up and head to the kitchen for supper. Good Mayan food, although a bit pricey, but since its the only option, it is what it is.

We relocate to the upper deck to eat, and watch the sunset, which is striking. It's not often one is at a spot they can watch the sunrise over the ocean and the sunset over a lagoon, both from the same spot.

We head back to the tent, shower, and call it a night. It's probably 7pm. At this place, you operate with the sun. I appreciate that doing so is quite the point.
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