Bev & Terry's Travels in Mexico: Traveling and Those Damn Glorious Sandwiches

After Sista left, I spent a couple of days and nights alone in the casa. I walked. I walked a lot. I went to the coffee shop. I walked to Santiago and walked more. I walked and looked at so many newly furbished houses in the Santiago, San Lucia, and Santa Ana areas of centro. I love walking.

Terry was back in El Campo, but just finished up his project so I decided to fly home and visit family and fly back with him. I bussed into Cancun and took a Southwest flight to HOU. And we had a weeklong visit with family and spent time out at the ranchito. We said our goodbyes at the airport when Kim, Harbor and Isla took us to Hobby. We landed in CUN and stayed a couple of nights in Playa del Carmen before bussing back into Merida.

Plans are Made to be Broken
Immediately we started planning some travels. We had decided to go inland and see more of Chiapas and the waterfalls. Then we would decide from there whether to keep traveling inland or where to go next. I sounded exciting and we were as ready as ever to head inland. But, I got up one morning and said to Terry, "You know, we should just go travel around and spend time on the beaches. That's what we really enjoy doing." I knew immediately from the look on his face he was in. We just can't get too far away from the beaches. The first part of our plan was to go to Tulum and hang out for a few days then we would decide where to go from there. We decided to stay in Tulum town rather than directly on the beach. Hotels are much cheaper, food is cheaper, drink is cheaper and we are, well, cheap.

Beautiful Beach in Tulum

Sandwiches?
Part of the ritual is to make and take wonderful sandwiches along with other bus foods to eat along the way. Especially because we usually head out in the early mornings. There's nothing better than to pull out a sandwich about the time the bus rolls through Valladolid. Well, unless you have Mexican Chee-tos which are the best ever! (we had those too) I make glorious sandwiches with great care and I wrap them up in plastic wrap just like one may find on the street. I put them in the refrigerator so they stay nice and cold before packing them in the go-to bag for travel.
Well, usually that's what I do. This morning I packed bananas, snack bars and Chee-tos but I forgot those damn, glorious sandwiches. It didn't occur to me until we got to the bus station some 7-8 blocks from the house. Terry asked where the sandwiches were, and I remembered! They are still in the refrigerator. Ugh! I spent a lot of time making those glorious sandwiches. It's not even about the sandwiches - it goes beyond just a sandwich. It's a ritual and a part of traveling just like packing swimsuits. So I made the decision to walk quickly/run slowly back home and get them. I had about twenty-five minutes before we were to board the bus. I don't have a watch and I left my phone with Terry so I couldn't even judge my time. So I ran faster. I got to the house and Terry had unplugged the coffee pot so as I grabbed the damn, glorious sandwiches I still couldn't figure out how much time I had left. I pictured Terry loading up on the bus and texting me along the way to tell me to just catch the next bus to Tulum. One thing about it - he would go hungry and I would have damn, glorious sandwiches to eat. So I ran faster and sweated more. I made it and even had time to spare as the bus was about 10 minutes late pulling in, which is highly unusual as the buses are the one and only thing I am aware of around here that keeps a real schedule.
Cool as a cucumber Terry, sweaty as a pig me, and those damn glorious sandwiches boarded the bus. We ate two on the way and we ended up throwing two away in Tulum the next morning.

Tulum Town
We arrived in Tulum early afternoon and took the short walk to our little hotelito. It was new and $27/night. We had A/C, ceiling fan, in-room coffee, in-room safe, bottled water, super nice Spanish-speaking staff, and free breakfast. Meets ALL of our requirements. Oh - and we had free live music that went on into the wee hours of the morning. On our last of three evenings in Tulum we realized we had a fabulous mirador overlooking town. It was sweet!

Hotelito - $27/night

Our first evening was spent getting to know town and we ate an unbelievably good and inexpensive dinner at a sidewalk restaurant. I originally ordered sautéed pulpo (octopus) and Terry ordered fried coco shrimp. The waiter told me they were out of pulpo but he suggested I try the squid. Honestly, the only time I had eaten squid it was fried, round pieces for an appetizer. This was sautéed thin, slabs of squid and it is now my #1 reason for going back to Tulum.