Tulum Mexico vacation, February 2023
Adventure for Noel and Lionel Space, Nanaimo BC
Observations of our Tulum trip, February 4th to March 7th
(Photos can be clicked on for a larger view)

This will mostly be a negative post, so read at your own risk.

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to construction and living conditions. Mexico is an irritating place for those that find those situations discomforting. There seems to be no building codes, no pride in finished product of facilities, minimal care in maintenance, labor used for long time periods rather than technology, and use of whatever is around to make things.

There was lots of construction in Tulum, so one could witness the quality of craftsmanship that was going into the buildings.
  • Almost all buildings are made of cement blocks. There was often visible air gaps between blocks as they would go up, meaning that the mortar was not adequate. Outside facades and top plaster would hide the imperfections.
  • We saw lots of deliveries of cement blocks and piles of blocks waiting to be used; I only saw one pile of re-bar.
  • Holes cut into walls were rarely sealed.
  • Plumbing was not vented; the bathroom sink would gurgle when the toilet was flushed and sewer smells would emanate from the drain when taking a shower.
  • Fixtures were inadequately installed; an exhaust vent had fallen off from the building across from us and a woodpecker had made a home inside the wall.
  • Sinks were installed with caulking on the outside of the sink instead of underneath the fixture, so of course would shred up during cleanup.
  • Cabinet boxes where made out of cement about 3.5 inches thick and the doors were mounted to frames that were about 3 inches thick. This meant that dishes stored in the upper cabinet were sitting back 3 inches from the front (difficult for short people) and meant that the cabinet above the sink was a sharp head-banger concrete corner just 5-5 from the floor (and of course no light above the sink).
  • I had to purchase a Phillips head screw driver to align the cabinet doors in our facility.
  • Supplied parking at our residence was on gravel threaded between the trees where available.
  • We observed the construction of a sidewalk on the road to our community; it would grow by one bag of cement a day by one laborer.
  • The banisters are 1 inch sticks gathered from the jungle and nailed to 2.5 inch jungle poles permanently cemented at the base; they would not survive a severe push.
  • The roof has plunge pools, a BBQ, and hammocks. The last step from the stairs to the landing is 2" higher than all the other steps, creating a trip factor (the first step is 2" shorter, so somebody goofed).
  • The always open windows at the second story gym have no screens and the bottom of the window is 2 feet from the floor; lean over too far or lose your balance and severe injury will be the result.
  • Our units used 7 liter tankless hot water heaters. Not only would they stop providing hot water after the 7 liters ran out, but the temperature would fluctuate wildly from hot to cold to hot while not adjusting the setting and continuously running (every time).
  • The corner showers have 2 panes of glass and a glass door between them, but there is no stop to prevent the door from just swinging out and making a puddle; we figured out to hang the towel on the top to get in the way of the door leaving the sill.
  • The pan of the shower is hand molded cement with a perfectly sharp edge on the entry sill, so it would cause injury if stepped on.


    • Simple maintenance items:
  • The washing machine in our unit had the hot and cold supply reversed.
  • The supplied shampoo and conditioner mounted on the shower walls (and labeled in English) were filled in the wrong containers (in both showers).
  • The poles for WiFi routers to receive the signal outside was not securely mounted, so WiFi would disappear during mild winds.
  • One of the plunge pools on the roof developed a leak, so we heard a laborer removing the original skin by chopping it away with a hatchet for two days.
  • I watched a very young man spend 45 minutes attempting to smooth out a patch on a wall, applying more mud, smoothing with a trowel, rubbing with fingers, repeat, repeat, repeat; no training.
  • Two days later they glued 3 large mirrors to cover the complete wall. Unfortunately the left side was not plumb and they started on the left side. Out of 6 workers none could figure out to start on the right wall instead of hanging all 3 panes at an obvious and ugly angle with incredibly ugly shims under the support brackets installed with improper screws.
  • There was a worker at our facility that was wearing his hard hat on top of his sombrero.


    • Roads:
  • Speed bumps at many locations within towns, not all indicated in the same way, and rarely painted adequately to see them.
  • Division lines on the roads missing or worn away. We often wouldn't know if we were in one, two, or three lanes.
  • Driving habits were unpredictable. It was always dog eat dog: push your way in when possible, ignore speed limits, ignore stop signs, ignore lane markings when present.
  • Motor bikes would pass at any time if physically capable.
  • Bicycles had their own lane in the city center, but pedestrians would use them too. Bicycles would use the streets, the path, or the sidewalks.
  • Severe lack of signage to help a first timer know where to go.


    • Food:
  • Groceries cost more than back home ($25 Cdn for a pint of Häagen-Dazs or $14 Cdn for a scoop in a cone from a street vendor).
  • Tasteless food: Most foods were very bland, especially anything processed. Cookies, nuts, anything chocolate, cereal, even the eggs. They resembled familiar foods, but all lacked any flavor.
  • I bought some chocolate milk in a glass container; it tasted like turpentine and I threw it out.
  • Meats and vegetables had some flavor and we found some Borden's milk in a tetra-pak that actually tasted like milk.
  • I'm a big fan of Hershey's syrup, but what they sell here is more like a black licorice flavor.
  • It's difficult to find bags of ice and when you do, it takes a sledge hammer to separate the bags from each other since nobody seems to ever buy it.
  • Ice cream stored at all the stores was always only half frozen, where if you removed the lid you could pour it out; it froze solid once at home (and the only decent Ice Cream is Nestle Mokaccino).
  • Yogurt (Yoplait anyway) always has the consistency of tomato soup, it never gets at all solid.
  • Not actually a food, but Vapes have been banned in Mexico (except for the fruity flavors), so 2 in our group resorted to cigarettes again.
  • The restaurant in the community prices itself too high, does not advertise, and speaks no English or has English on the menu. They get maybe one customer a night, which we could see from our balcony.


    •  
    Condo construction: During and After. 
     
    Outlet in ground, in dining area of community. 
     
    Outlets at just about every table. 
     
     
     
    Line drawn level, mirror shimmed up drastically to match non-plumb left wall in gym. 
     
    Park wherever one can. 
     
    The condo dining and kitchen area, with that damn head-biter cupboard over the sink. 
     
    We moved the TV into the living room so that we all could share. 
     
    The gym on the second floor as seen from our balcony; handy. 
     
    Tulum city strip, typical. 
     
    Tulum city strip, gray path is bike path. 
     
    Tulum city strip. 
     
    The best restaurant we found in Tulum city, Mariachi Loco.
    The grilled shrimp were amazing.
    Busy party place on Friday and Saturday nights. 

    The weather was pretty nice, mid 80s almost every day, humidity in the 40% range, and 5 to 15 mph winds with mostly sunny conditions.
    The people were always friendly, although sometimes incompetent to help (sometimes just due to the language barrier) and some intentionally devious to scam.
    We didn't see a lot of homeless people, but there were many foot vendors (mostly old women and children) that would wander the tourist areas trying to sell trinkets.
    There were a lot of people in most urban areas; very busy with vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians.
    Most stores sold the same things, often the exact same things. You could pass a cell phone store, a pharmacy, a restaurant, a liquor store, a clothing store, a shoe store, a jewelry store, a memorabilia store, a convenience store, then repeat the cycle many, many times as you stroll down the streets.
    Outside the city center, there was unacceptable litter. We saw a man just drop his potato chips bag while we drove back on our dirt road to the residence.
    Off the main roads, most people lived just above squaller. Small uncared for homes, tight to each other, no yards, needing paint, dusty dirt roads, trash on the sides.
    Not too many cops, but they were easy to spot as they always had their top lights flashing. Never saw any open crime (just the cons).
    Plenty of taxis available and very reasonably priced.
    Any place where tourists travel to a destination would have scammers that pretend to be official and lie to make a profit. That was very disappointing as you learn to trust nobody.

    The highlights of the trip are presented in the other pages, available from the Tulum main page. We will not be making another trip to Tulum in the future.

    On the last night, Noel and Dorothy went out for drinks at the place across the street. The bar was lighting up drinks for the guests.

    It was too loud for me, so I went for a walk. The city of Tulum is much brighter and alive at night, although it could be that this is the beginning of spring break. Many of the bars play loud, live music. There was not a crowd of pedestrians on the sidewalks, but still a lot of people.\ The dark shops of the day became bright beacons of merchandise. Buildings stood out as modern when lit at night that disappeared into the background during the day. An the back street that parallels the main drag, the local food vendors where selling foods and deserts at half the price of the restaurants. Some locals decorated their homes as they wished. Some of the fancier restaurants closer to the main drag used the streets for their live music to keep all the seats available. Others used the sidewalks for extra tables and chairs. We could hear the loud music in our hotel room until 3 am! No wonder there was a bowl of ear plugs at the front desk.
     
    Fire sticks in the bar. 
     
    Bright shops. 
     
    Modern looking buildings. 
     
    Center center, basketball courts. 
     
    City center ATM with a long line. 
     
    The locals enjoying food from all the street vendors. 
     
     
     
    Mural on a home. 
     
    Typical utility connection at the street; most of this is on the sidewalk. 
     
    Another food establishment. 
     
    Using the street real estate for the live band. 

    We did not feel like we received good value for our money on this visit. We probably should have stayed in a hotel in town, ate out every night, took taxis to our local destinations and tour buses to the farther away tourist attractions, instead of an expensive rental car; we probably would have spent about the same, not had the hassle, stress, and time to gather food that was mostly not available and all the work of food preparation and cleaning that could have been used for more relaxing endeavors, plus we would have bypassed the many scammers that were at every destination and parking lot. The beaches were difficult to access and the sargassum is going to get substantially worse in the near future and most likely forever more. The main plus of the trip is that we missed the snow and bitter cold that hit home during the month of February. And I lost 6 pounds during the trip.

    For our return flight, we arrived in Calgary on Tuesday the 7th as planned, jumping back to the island that night, and returned home the next morning with a ride from our gracious next door neighbor. Our originally scheduled layover gave us 4 hours between flights in Calgary, but WestJet rescheduled us to fly out from Cancun 2 hours later, leaving us 5 hours at the Cancun airport to sit (and bags can't be checked before 3 hours before departure), since our shuttle from Tulum would not allow us to reschedule. Then we sat on the plane for an hour as the fuel technicians couldn't get organized. We landed in Calgary, hitting the tarmac at 9:38 with a 10:25 pm departure at a gate at the extreme other end of the airport, with one guy in a wheel chair, no shuttle services, and customs in between; our racing pace got us there at 10:29 pm, however the flight had been delayed until 10:45, so we made it onto the full plane. Then we sat on the tarmac for another hour as the wings got de-iced and arrived in Comox BC at 1 am. Our van taxi pickup that we had scheduled 6 weeks prior and had confirmed multiple times over the last several weeks, totally bailed. We were the last people at this small airport and fortunately there were 2 cabs that waited to see if our predicament would resolve during our phone conversation (knowing how bad that taxi company is) and then we took both of them to get us back to Dave and Dorothy's house.

    The next day, Thursday, I caught a cold from someone while shopping locally, which hit me Friday morning and I was out for the next week, constantly blowing my nose and sleeping most of each day.

    Tulum main page