Los Angeles to Tulum
The flight from Melbourne was made up of 14 uneventful hours. we flew with Virgin Australia who were excellent. The entertainment had a good selection (though I’d already seen most of it) but the best bit was the free sleeping mask and earplug that went straight in my bag ready for long bus trips through South America. Thanks Virgin!
We landed in Los Angeles in good spirits and not feeling overly tired. Because we had booked our flights separately we had to come all the way out of the airport and go trhough check-in all again. We’d allowed 7 hours, this might seem crazy but when LAX is bad, it’s the worst. It’s definitely one of the most nonsensical airports.
Last time I’d gone through LAX on my way to Boston I’d had 2 hours to make the connection and I actually missed it. When it’s busy the airport handouts of little orange bits of paper called “express passes”. If they’d given one to me on this trip I would have put it in my bag to use as toilet paper, they definitely aren’t any use as an express pass. The problem is the pass is very much an example of the airport fixing the symptom not the cause. The cause is a terrible an inefficient airport. What ends up happening is these express passes are handed out to everyone in the airport because everyone is late for their flights and it just excaserbates the problem. This time through LAX however was a breeze! We were scowled at for a few seconds for the ever accomodating homeland security (no smiling allowed) and were picking up our bags in now time.
Once through we had over 6 hours to kill. Last time we’d been to LA we’d stayed in Venice Beach and loved it. The best part is that (in LA terms) it’s right next to the airport. We asked the information desk where we could store our luggage while we went in to the city and the very nice German lady behind the desk told us that LAX airport didn’t provide such a useful and everyday service. Thanks LAX…
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As we were in the backpacking spirit now we decided to get the bus to Venice. We got the shuttle to Lot C, and caught the #3 bus to Santa Monica which was about a dollar each, we disembarked at California Avenue and walked down that to get to Abbot Kinney Boulevard where we grabbed some lunch a “The Butchers Daughter”. Everytime I go back to LA I like it even more, which isn’t hard because the first time I went I hated it. It just can’t be done in one trip, nor would I want to. Getting on the shuttle bus from the airport to Lot C we were treated to the classic “Enigmatic Bus Driver Samuel L Jackson-esque character” – just like the movies he was shouting in a west coast drawl things like "Heeeeyy maaaaan, why you gotta park theerrre!? That's where my bus is goin'!", and “Where y’all goin?! You had a good trip?! Leeeetts get outta here!”. It was like being in Die Hard 3, but with no bad guys or infact any of the film. |
This was our first real test of walking with our packs. The walk from Lincoln and California is about a kilometer, which normally would be fine, but we were both carrying an extra 25 kilos. It had also been about 10 degrees when we left the airport, but by the time we got off the bus the temperature was rocketing in to the mid 20’s. We got really hot, and Kate’s pack wasn’t adjusted quite correctly and was hurting her shoulders, and hips, and spirit. Despite that the lunch at the Butchers Daughter was really nice, and in Kate’s words “very Melbourne”; I think that just means very hipster… |
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My highlight was actually seeing a tiny hummingbird flitting about one of the back streets. Hummingbirds in LA?! Who knew?! This was also a test for my photography skills… as you can see, I need a little practice! |
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This second flight was with AeroMexico who were fine, definitely worth the cheaper price tag. At Mexico City we flew in and the view was awesome. Lights were everywhere and spread out as far as the eye could see. With most cities you’d get spots that were slightly darker and less well lit but not Mexico City. Mexico City was switched on and had no signs of being switched off.. We landed and made our way through immigration. We got slightly confused as there didn’t seem to be any immigration forms and I was worried about going up to the desk without the right form, we went up to the desk after exploring and asking a few airport staff in broken Spanish and were promptly given the right form and through within minutes. At baggage claim we almost left without taking our bags from baggage claim as you need to take them to the connecting flight baggage area, it’s possible that one of the staff might have done it for us but I’m glad we double checked!
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After going through customs and into Terminal 2 we checked the boards for our 1am flight and were suddenly worried about not seeing our flight. Were we in the wrrong place? We asked around and a security guard told us just to wait til an hour before the flight and it will magically appear. Not trusting the man in the slightest we decided to try and find a way to get wifi - a task in itself - one of those "Give all your details to us and we will give you 4 minutes of free wifi.... no actually.... 4 minutes is all you get" types of wifi. We found that we were in the right terminal... so that was a start so we decided to ask someone else. We were told to wait an hour before the flight to see the gate. So we did just that. And lo and behold the flight appeared. We spent a couple of hours getting a subway (the only other choice was starbucks, some doritoes from the 7 eleven and a massage for 30 bucks). It was a tough choice and we went for the subway. |
Once on the flight to Cancun we fell asleep almost immediately... we'd been awake for over 30 hours by this point and the subway and plane food We hadn't really provided any sustenance. We blinked to find we were decending into Cancun. Perfect.
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Once we landed we grabbed our bags and went outside to find some collectivos (basically mini-buses that go from town to town and only really leave once full). We faced a decision. It was about 4am, was it worth going into Cancun and waiting around to get a bus, or should we stay at the airport and get an actual bus to Cancun which would be way cheaper but as far as we could tell wouldn’t leave til at least 9. Another long wait. Our indecision made the decision for us. The collectivos all left and weren’t coming back until more flights landed a lot later.
We sat around outside for about 15 minutes while I explored slightly. Cancun airport seems to be set out of confuse tourists as much as possible and force them into taxis or the most expensive forms of travel possible. The arrivals and departures are completely seperated off and if you leave the arrivals part of the airport you’re not really allowed back in. Possibly to stop people coming in to baggage claim and nicking bags… but also meaning you can’t get back to the bus stop if you leave, very annoying.
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| After a while we got bored and hungry and went into Departures where we were no longer the only people in the airport. We found a resturant that was open and got some nachos (which turned out to be delicious!) and a beer (as is well known the laws of physics – how do those massive planes fly?! - and alcohol consumption before midday don’t really apply at airports). Afterwards we started talking to some of the taxi touts. they of course tried to rip us off. We were starting to get very tired and wanted to make some more progress and it didn’t appear we’d be able to get a bus out of the airport for another 3 hours. We started haggling. Kate did some great bargaining. and we got it for 300 pesos each. I reckon we probably still got ripped off but it was definitely better than some of the prices being offered. |  |
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At Cancun ADO bus stop we promptly booked a ticket to Tulum at 10:30 giving us about 2 hours to grab a coffee and for me to go looking for some camping gas which I’d guessed would be easiest to find in the bigger cities. We were looking for a small cafe/resturant about 5 mintues from the bus station. After 20 very hot minutes walking around an area with no road names and little relevance to the map (and also a lot of people who had clearly never experienced a gringo showing them a map and asking for directions before) we decided to head back to the bus station and for me to grab a taxi and go in search of the gas from there. We were both very tired, dehydrated and hungry by this point! |
I jumped in to a taxi and exclaimed in my best Spanish ""Walmart por favor, necessito camping gas!”, I hoped that meant “Walmart please, I need camping gas”. The taxi driver replied with “Ah English! Let’s go!”. I didn’t have much time to haggle but I got him to drive me to and from Walmart for about 100 pesos (7 AUD, 3.5 GBP). I looked around Walmart for about 10 minutes before leaving empty handed and very down trodden. I’d done a bit of research and believed Walmart was the best bet. I was wrong. In hindsight the Mexican supermarket of Chedraui would have been a better bet, but even that would have been unlikely. I made it back to Kate – who was waiting with the bags at the bus station – with about half and hour to spare. We stocked up on water and had a couple of magnums (though I dropped half of mine of the floor) before jumping on our bus and having another couple of hours snooze.
We woke up to most people getting off the bus. I asked the bus driver if this was Tulum, “Si” he replied. I looked around, it didn’t look right. “Centro?”, “No”. Must be the next one then. This was the Tulum ruins. We stayed on the bus for about another 10 minutes before we were delievered to the Tulum ADO bus station.
From there we just needed to walk about 800 meters to our hostel “El Jardin de Frida”. It was about 35 degrees and sunny, with very high humidity. With our big bags it was hellish. The main town of Tulum is also based along a main road about 3-4k from Tulum beach. The road is very, very busy. With huge dusty trucks and untamed dogs roaming in places. Part of the road is sectioned off, and this gives some respite, and the shops and resturants along the road looked extremely inviting with what looked like artisan coffee on offer. If Kate hadn’t been half asleep she would have been very excited. We decided to make a last push to our destination and we literally fell through the door of our hostel with our last ounce of strength.
We were greated with a garden oasis, and friendly staff. The resturant that is part of the hostel was offering Mango smoothies for 50 pesos which we went for immediately, they were delicious and we felt life flowing back in to us. We were into our room shortly after and we asleep within minutes. Air-con, a fan, and a comfortable double bed, bliss. After 40 hours of travel time, we had finally made it to Tulum…
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