TOLUM AND INTO BELIZE

View as we approached the ruins

10-21-06
Tolum could be one of my favorite spots as of yet. It is a quite beach town located about 80 miles south of Cancun on the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. We found a great spot to stay for our three nights in Tolum, we rented a tiny little cabana right off the beach. The Cabana was a small thatch roofed hut with two small beds and some mosquito netting. I was weary of its ability to resist the afternoon and evening storms but it kept us and our belongings dry somehow. There were a handful of other cabanas sprinkled along the beach and in the center was a bar that had swings for barstools, made for some interesting happy hours. Down along the beach was a thatched roof with open sides, with swinging beds hanging from ropes coming down from the rafters, a great place to escape the sun to relax and read or just stare out to the gently rolling waves and watch the afternoon storms roll in, it was also my favorite siesta location, a place were hangovers end and the next one begins. The snorkeling was great as well, the northern tip of the second largest coral reef in the world extended past our cabana. I saw large turtles, huge rays, dolphins and a plethora of exotic brilliantly colored fish
Just down the road a mile or two was the ruins of Tolum, although not as impressive in its grandeur as Palenque its location along the shore is awe inspiring. The massive stone palaces and temples adorn the cliffs that overlook the powdery white sand beaches and calm turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea.

our cabana in Tolum
On the last day in Tolum we went on a cenote tour, a cenote is an underground cavern that has filled with water. It was amazing. A guide is necessary, first of all they are located in the jungle and they are hidden underground, you could be standing right on top of one and not even know it. There are small cracks in the surface that you climb down into to about 30 or 40 feet down into the darkness, the first one we ascended into was a large cavern with enormous stalagmites and stalgtites that came into view as your eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light. There was a genereator that powered a series of underwater lights that our guide light up upon entering the cave. We put on our snorkeling gear and proceeded to enter the cool crystal clear water which immediately dropped to depths of 10 to 50 feet. The stalgmites and stalgtites extended through the water, you could dive down one cave and come up in another, being careful to not bang your head or end up in a cave with no air pocket, It was one of the most exhilarating expierences I’ve ever had. If anyone is in the area of the Yucatan I highly suggest a visit to a cenote. The second cenote we entered was an entirely different type. We descended the 30 feet down a metal ladder that put us directly into the water, this time our lights were hand held flash lights, the cavern was not vast but a maze of small corridors we had to swim through. The ceiling of the cenote was only inches above the water line not even high enough to get half your head out of the water. You had to breath through your snorkel and make sure your head didn’t hit the ceiling which was comprised of hundreds of thousands of stalagmites the size of icicles, it was like a demented Christmas nightmare. We traveled for about 45 minutes into the depths of the earth then the tight corridors gave way to a serious of large caverns with ceilings of 40 feet or so and the water went from being 6 to 7 feet deep to what appeared to be endless depths. It was a remarkable day one that I think I will always remember.
Our Mexican tourist visas only had a day or two left so we thought it best to move on to Belize, it just wouldn’t be fair to be in México illegally and set a bad example. The Border crossing to Belize was again pretty easy. I have heard all sorts of stories of border troubles but so far so good. Belize is an English speaking country so that made the process a little easier. We crossed over from Chetumal and headed southwest to a small town near the Guatemalan border called San Ignacio. I really enjoyed this town, an ecliptic mix of x-patriots mostly retired U.S. military trying to make the most of their pensions, Rastafarian, Creole, indigenous Mayan people and slave descendants, throw in a few old hippies and some motorcycle travelers to round it all out and it makes for an interesting evening which we defiantly had. I was tempted to stay a few more days but we were both eager to get to Tikal in Guatemala.

Entering the water in the first cenote