Day 26, 27, and 28: Tulum, a world between luxury and cenotes

Day 26 - Sunday 16.10

After our spectacular dive trip on Saturday, we continued our journey to the next city, Tulum, today, Sunday. The city, located on the east coast of Yucatan and about 2 hours away, is much smaller than Cancun and has become very touristy and famous for its beautiful cenotes. A cenote is a karst cave (hole in the ground) with groundwater access, but more on that later.
The journey in the highly air-conditioned ADO buses (Mexican transport company) was cold but still very pleasant, compared to Mexican standards. When we arrived in Tulum, we had to negotiate a somewhat acceptable price for our taxi ride, which we luckily managed to do. The arrival at our Airbnb was overwhelming. We felt like the only guests in a huge house with several apartments and a pool on the ground floor, as well as a rooftop pool. There was also a second platform on the roof, equipped with some exercise equipment and a toilet, which we used multiple times during our stay (referring to the exercise platform ;)).
In the afternoon, we enjoyed the aforementioned rooftop pool and spent a cozy evening at the accommodation after a shopping trip around the corner (2km walk). We also heard about another birth today. Leander, the son of a very good friend couple of ours, was born. :)

Day 27 - Monday 17.10

The day started again with an excellent self-prepared breakfast to give us enough energy for a city exploration tour. Very cleverly and foresightedly, we set off around noon, with temperatures feeling like 45 degrees, to find a laundromat. 4 kilometers later and 2 liters lighter, we arrived completely sweaty in a nice little salon with a bar. After starting our laundry, we treated ourselves to a cappuccino, a cerveza, and a cheese quesadilla.
With fresh, good-smelling laundry in our luggage, we had to make another walk through the whole city (as we cleverly chose a laundromat at the other end of the city, but we have no regrets here either). After a surprisingly expensive shopping trip, we made ourselves a delicious dinner and enjoyed the evening again on our private terrace.

Day 28 - Tuesday 18.10

After our routine breakfast, we packed our swimwear and headed to the nearest scooter rental to rent a vehicle for the day. The 125cc scooter brought us safely to the aforementioned cenotes. The first cenote, Cenote Escondido, surprised us with its crystal clear water and unusual calmness. Besides us, there was only one other couple at the water hole, as well as three divers exploring the underwater world. After taking some cool underwater photos and making some spectacular jumps from the "diving platform" located there, we made our way to the next cenote, Cenote Cristalino. This karst cave was even more beautiful. The greenish-blue water was full of fish and beautiful underwater plants, providing an excellent environment for another underwater photo shoot with our GoPro, which we borrowed from a friend at the beginning of our trip. After a few hours of splashing, jumping, and photographing, we headed back on our scooter towards the shopping center, which was located a bit outside the city. Knowing that we only had a motorized vehicle for today, we made some good purchases. In addition to muffins and chocolate croissants, we also bought a local hop drink, as the prices here were much lower than in the city. By now it was already dark, and we made our way home. We drove on the unpaved road towards our Airbnb, and nothing stood in the way of dinner. After dinner and a short pool session, we treated ourselves to a drink or two on the terrace and enjoyed the evening in a cozy atmosphere.