Cenote Dos Ojos
Filed Under Mexico, Travel, Tulum | 2 Comments
Wow!! The Dos Ojos Cenote is unbelievably beautiful. We have been to a couple of other cenotes including a small water hole by the beach, but this one is the best so far. Somehow it reminds me of Puglia, Italy.
10 minute car ride up north of Tulum, Dos Ojos awaits you to come and experience what nature is all about. Wow…! Now. all I want to do is taking serious lessons to be the professional scuba diver and do Cenote hopping! In ancient Mayan, the word Cenote meant ” Sacred well”. This clear fresh water holes erupted all along the Yucatan Peninsula are exclusive gem to here and only a few island of Caribbean ocean in the world, so it’s quite unique and proud natural source of Mexico.
Now come with me to do a tour of Dos Ojos!!
Emi getting ready! Yes he does have a licence to dive and Emi’s brother, Andrea is a well known professional diver who works with world archaeologists. Including Gael, we did get to see beautiful under water of Dos Ojos with Emi’s guide. I am so bugging Andrea this summer to have him teach me! It really didn’t strike me until this time to have the urge of learning how to do scuba diving.
Denny, Emi and Gael. It’s Gael’s turn now to get to see what’s under the water. I mean it was AMAZING to look up to see the cave and the bats! and also under the water…!
Nice mask mark Jaehee! and Mowgoli the jungle boy, you did great job today! Mommy’s so proud of you!
A Day at Boca Paila, Tulum
Filed Under Family, Mexico, Travel, Tulum | Leave a Comment
It was healing then. Now it’s all about having fun! I love you Emi, Gael, Denny and you, Tulum
From the top: the bridge of Boca Paila, Casarosas on the beach, Gael chasing mommy, the men of the family; the fisherman, 3 men breaking down the coco!, a smarty Pelican waiting for some fish bit from the human, Emi looking out to Biosphere near Boca Paila, Jaehee enjoying the beautiful light and sunset over the Biosphere…. And Repeat.
Back to Tulum: Sun Bragging
Filed Under Family, Mexico, Travel, Tulum | Leave a Comment
A few friends have had bit cold days in Tulum recently, so I was bit nervous when we woke up but we had great hot sunny day all day. Nice breakfast in Copal terrace overlooking the ocean and we even bragged about how hot the sun was and Gael even asked me to tie his hair in a pony tail.
Stretching and scratching, just ordered breakfast and just like 2 big cats under the sun. haha!
Hey, 3 boys. It makes me feel so happy to see Gael, Emi and Denny are all together. Like Daniel said, the Blood is thicker than the Water. The Love. The Bond. The Generation. Brother, are you here with us…?
OK, That was Heavy but Good!
Now we are going for a walking tour of where we are staying at, Copal.
I need to ask about what this is. I do think people go in there? Right in the middle of it, there seems a fire pit. Below is the Yoga house of the Copal.
Visiting the Pre Maya Civilization: Coba
Filed Under Family, Mexico, Travel, Tulum | Leave a Comment
Over so many years of visiting Tulum, we’ve done most of historical Mayan ruins except Coba. Coba is a large ruined city of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is located about 90 km east of the Maya site of Chichen Itza, about 40 km west of the Caribbean Sea, and 44 km northwest of the site of Tulum.
My favorite ruin is so far is Chichen Itza because of it’s better condition of Pyramids and the most intrigued workmanship of it even though I prefer the natural surrounding of Coba and the beautiful ocean view site of the one in Tulum. The fun thing about visiting the Coba is that they rent out bicycles to go around the site. All the ruins are connected with charming lush trails with tons of trees and birds.
This is called an Air plant. You see the roots are out in the air. They grow quite big at the end. Actually we have one in our Brooklyn home from Tania!!
8 years ago, when we climbed up to the Chichen Itza ( now climbing up to the Chichen Itza is banned.) , we had the same method: your own risk, a massive rope attached to the center of the pyramid, crawling and climbing.
Gael, mom loves you , you brave boy! You are the best Gael! We made up to the top together!
Dripping sweat. But big joy that we all did it together as a family.
Doing the Local thing: Tulum Village
Filed Under Mexico, Travel, Tulum | Leave a Comment
Am I too old fashioned? Am I not cool enough? I always prefer to be on the rather local’s side. You know what? At the end, that’s a real smart deal. That’s how I see it. No need to completely stick to 100% local, but you want to see how people live and what they eat. They are who they are either it’s good or not to you.
Here, come and stroll with us the village of Tulum.
My favorite cart of all in the entire village. The Chiapas’s ladies’ cart! They sell all hand done dolls, shirts, textiles and leather bags and more. Of course you see same or similar goods in more of store spaces, but the flair that this cart brings is so much more charming. I love it. They are beautiful and affordable.
By the way, the restaurant behind is a Argentinean steak house. They have impressive selection of meat. ( I did hear though all the meat are coming from Canada not from Argentina. But I do think they have quite good food including salad and pastas)
Their “chinturo”, the “belt” reminds of the “Obi” of Kimono. See, they all come together. By the way, lovely mom and 2 daughters.
Hahaha, You know I had to try this one on me this time. This is a skirt from Chiapas of Mexico. Anything more “cultural” or “traditional” things you see in Tulum would be generally from Chiapas or Ohaka. Some of the skirts are in wool and seriously hairy. The belt is also hand woven just as the skirt. So many people asked me if the necklace was from Tulum and no, it is not. I did buy it in NY Chelsea flea market 7 years ago. It became my staple thing to wear for the beaches.
By now, I have one of each of all these stuffed animals they make. They are absolutely AMAZING. The shapes, colors, expression of each. They are brilliant.
Under $10, 3 of us can have a big lunch here. Our favorite grilled chicken place in the village. Juicy and well seasoned! It comes with delicious fresh tomato & chili salsa, rice, simply chopped cabbage and warm tortilla. Try it. Good idea to take out and eat them on the beach!
I don’t know what happened to the bigger photo of this place. Anyway, fruit shop right near the municipal office. They have ugly yet delicious fruits. No preservatives here.
Typical Mexican souvenir shop. There are many of these kind along the main street. Colorful hammocks, sheets, carpets, floral dresses, plates and more.
After visiting Coba, we turned our car to Punta Laguna where there’s a quite and beautiful lagoon and lush jungle with Spider monkeys are. Only 10 kms away from Coba, this beautiful and humble Lagoon offers you exotic plants, toucans, many different gorgeous mariposas (butterflies!), thousands of water lilies and even crocodiles!!!
Walking into the jungle!. It was such a spontaneous trip to Punta Laguna, we were not prepared with proper attire. We wished had long pants and long sleeved tops on to reduce mosquito bites. But once we were stopped by scene of spider monkeys flying all around us, we couldn’t care less about bug bites!
The spider monkey is considered a primitive new world monkey. They are called spider monkeys because they look like spiders when they are suspended by their tails. Spider monkeys are usually all black, but some have flesh coloured rings around their eyes and white chin whiskers. Hair generally coarse and stringy. Lacks underfur. These monkeys depend highly on their keen binocular vision. They have slender bodies and limbs with long narrow hands.
We only had tasted what it would be like to be in the middle of the jungle this time. But I’m determined to go back and really explore. Gael could not take his eyes and ears off from the monkeys and all those sounds the nature makes. How wonderful it is to have a chance to be the little part of the nature! Now that’s priceless.
Healing me, Tulum
Filed Under Mexico, Travel, Tulum | Leave a Comment
Clogged pores, hazy lungs, tired soul and beat up spirit.
Stinky worries. Useless thoughts. I don’t need them. They can go.
I feel healing.
I’m not anxious to meet new and wonderful people.
I reconnect with myself first. I bond deeply with Emi and Gael.
I inhale and exhale.
I drink it up again and again.
The Sun. The wind. The powerful energy.
Lunch at Sian Ka’an (Cesiak), Tulum
Filed Under Mexico, Travel, Tulum | 2 Comments
Park Sian kaan. The south strip of Tulum houses the most beautiful and untouched natural reserve that stretches all the way down to Punta Allen, a small fishing village. A small ecotourism and education center, it serves as a model for sustainable development in sensitive tropical ecosystems. The revenue generated through tours, fishing, beautiful accommodations, and various on-site activities is used to fund conservation and education programs within the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve. Read more about it at http://www.cesiak.org/
God bless. I’m thankful.
And there, there is one restaurant with a deck you can lo0k over both the ocean and also the biosphere. And also they serve excellent seafood ( I think it is maybe one of the best/freshest seafood in Tulum) and drinks along friendly service.
The seafood platter for 2! : Broiled lobster over fresh bed of mixed green salad, grilled octopus, fillet of sole, grilled shrimps and delicious calamaris. It’s actually enough for 3. Now wash it down with chilled margarita!
Feliz Navidad, Tulum
Filed Under Family, Mexico, Travel, Tulum | 2 Comments
Haha. It was a hottest day since we got here. We hit the beach nice and early. Calm ocean. It was a beautiful day. We had a wonderful day. Lovely long lunch at El Tabano. Kite flying. New friends for Gael on the beach. Lots of reading for Emi. Body boarding. Sand, Salt, Wind, Laugh, Emi, Gael and Me.
Sun ray was falling. It was a white Christmas for us.
Merry Christmas from Tulum
Filed Under Mexico, Street, Travel, Tulum | Leave a Comment
