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Wednesday morning (7/18) at breakfast I turned on my camera only to find a blank screen. The Doctor looked at it and said it looked like it had gotten water in, probably the day before during the rainstorm at Chichen Itza. I felt like I had traded in the curse of the sunglasses for the curse of the camera.
When we checked out of Villas Arqueologicas Chichen Itza, I asked the man at the front desk if there was a Walmart or some place where I could buy a new camera nearby. He said there were no Walmarts, but that Villadolid, the next town over on our way to Tulum, had a store in the center of town that sold cameras. He also suggested trying the gift shop at the main entrance to Chichen Itza, so we went there first. They sold film, but no cameras, but we did pick up a couple of souvenirs from the vendor market outside the entrance.
When we got to Villadolid, we did see a Fuji camera store on the corner. It took us awhile to find a parking spot; The Doctor wanted to drop me off, and join me at the store after he had parked, but I didn't relish the idea of going in alone. After driving around a few minutes, we finally found a spot on a back street, which, although not exactly dangerous looking, didn't look exactly savory either.
We started walking toward the camera store, but on the way I spotted a store called Coppel, which looked like it carried electronics. We went in, and sure enough there was a camera section along one wall. I found a couple cameras I liked, but the first sales person who came over didn't speak English. He walked away, and I thought he had gone to find someone who did speak English, but no one ever came. We found another clerk, and asked him if he spoke English. He didn't either, and when I tried to ask if anyone in the store did, he just shook his head. He went back to the cameras with us anyway, and turned out to be as helpful as he could under the circumstances, opening the display case, and letting us look at the cameras. When I picked out the one I wanted, he wrote down the information, and took us back to a service desk, gave someone the slip, and indicated we should wait in the checkout line.
When it was our turn the lady asked for my name to type into her computer. I wrote it down for her, but she couldn't read my writing, so I showed her my driver's license. For some reason she couldn't seem to see my last name on my license, so she entered me as "FRANKLIN FRANKLIN" in the computer. We then went to the next counter to pick up the camera. This clerk did speak a little English, and took the time to take the camera out of the box, show me the warranty, and even program the camera's menu to English for me. He showed me how to take a picture, and then handed the camera to me to try, so I took his picture.
Finally we were on our way again. We wanted to find a Cenote that we could swim in, and Alejandra had told us there were two near Villadolid, so we went in search of one of those. The Doctor was using his GPS again, and I had my phone on, but neither one seemed to be very helpful. We kept turning down dirt roads that kept getting smaller and smaller, passing very crude and simple homes where the residents stared at us with curiosity, and would usually end up at a dead end. Finally we abandoned the idea of finding that particular Cenote, and decided we would continue on to Tulum where we knew there were other Cenotes, or if we passed any along the way we would stop then.
In trying to get to to Tulum, the Doctor's GPS somehow led us down another dead end road with a church at the end and a lot of children outside, mostly all girls I think. They too stared at us in surprise. It looked like some sort of school, or possibly even an orphanage There was a big sign on the church which said in Spanish "No Photographs".
Finally using the GPS on my phone we got back on track. We passed a flock of vultures along the side of the road, and I could see they were feasting on the carcass of a dead dog. I was actually surprised we didn't see more "road kill" dogs, as dogs were everywhere, sometimes even napping in the middle of the road in the smaller towns.
Just a ways past the dead dog, we saw a sign for Cenote X'Lakaj. We pulled onto a dirt road that led us to a little house at a dead end.
A man came out and looked at us questioningly, and I said "Cenote?" In Spanish he told us how much it cost to get in, which in the end required him pointing to the correct bills in my hand in order to conduct the transaction. We parked the car next to the only other vehicle in the driveway, a pickup truck with a dog sleeping underneath it.
We followed a path until it branched off, one way leading to the Cenote, the other to an overlook above it. From there we could see there was a couple sitting down on the steps leading into the water.
As the Cave Of The Virgin was the closest thing to a dressing room, The Doctor went in there to change into his swim suit, and I walked on down the stairs to the Cenote. The couple were still there, and eventually The Doctor came down and tested the water. I had decided to wait for him to let me know how deep it was before I put on my bathing suit, and as it turned out it was pretty deep, except for the area right next to the steps, so I opted not to venture in.
The Cenote was truly a beautiful spot, but the water was quite murky, and had a primeval feel to it. The Doctor told me later that he had no fear swimming with the Whale Sharks and the Devil Rays, but not knowing what might be lurking in the water of the Cenote out there in the woods freaked him out big time. The fact that the couple weren't getting into the water was not especially reassuring to him either. Still, he got in and swam around a little. There was a big thick rope lying across the surface of the water from one side to the other, and he swam out to it, but I saw him quickly back away from it. He said it was covered with little spiders, and he had no desire to get any closer to it.
Just a short distance from the steps going into the water were another set of steps coming out along one side leading up to a little perch or ledge. He swam over there and climbed out.
He called to me that it looked like there was another path coming down to the ledge from above, so I found it and made my way over and watched him swim from there for a few minutes. Than I had him come up to where I was, and with my new camera we did an impromptu photo shoot, taking a whole lot of "beefcakes" style photos of him in his snug fitting bathing suit. He seemed to be really getting into it, and I know I was certainly enjoying myself.
Three young Mexican guys arrived, coming along the back path from where I feared a drug cartel might be set up. They came down, bringing with them some loud music. The Doctor took another swim, and then we made our way back up the steps. He went to change again, and was gone so long I began to wonder if he was desecrating the Cave of The Virgins in some way . . .
(Me at Cenote X'Lakaj)
When we got back to the small parking lot, the pickup was gone, and the dog had relocated himself to the shade under our car. When she saw that she was about to be disturbed, she crawled out and meandered down the road to another shady spot. I tried to make befriend her, but she only eyed me with lazy suspicion.
Back on the road we traveled a short distance before again realizing we were again off course. We had to go all the back to Valladolid where we had stopped earlier to buy my camera before getting on the right road, but after that we did pretty well finding our way.
We stopped at a convenience store to stock up on junk food, and on a whim I bought a lottery scratch ticket. It was a promotional lottery ticket for the movie "The Avengers". I scratched off the numbers, and of course had no way of knowing if I had won or not as it was entirely in Spanish, but as I had three matching dollar amounts The Doctor thought it looked like a winner. I went back in and gave it to the guy and he gave me my jackpot, a grand total of five pesos . . . which is about 37 cents in American currency. Since that was what I had paid for the ticket, I bought another, but that one was not a winner, so I just kept it for a souvenir.
When we crossed over from Yucatan into Quintana Roo, we went through another of the many check points. This was the only one at which we were stopped. The military official asked us where we were headed, and what our nationality was, then waved us on.
Finally we arrived in Tulum, and without too much trouble, we found our hotel, the Adonis Tulum Resort.
The three hostels we had stayed at so far, as well as the hotel at Chichen Itza, had all been more than satisfactory and each had had its own charm and unique appeal. But Adonis was an all inclusive resort, and a gay one at that (but also "straight friendly" so anyone is welcome) so we knew we were going to be in for a treat. Still, neither of us were prepared for just how nice and luxurious the place was until we finally arrived.
We had to drive through a gate, where an attendant told us to pull up in front of the main entrance. There someone took our car and parked it for us while we went in to register. At the front desk we were offered a cocktail, which of course we both declined. There was a slight problem, as when I had made the reservation I had somehow made the mistake of only making it for one person. I became aware of this just a couple days before leaving the states, and had sent an e-mail to the resort to rectify the situation, but never received a response. The guy at the desk said there would be an additional charge; as it was all inclusive, and all our food and drinks were included, this was to be expected, though he didn't tell us how much more it would be, and I was concerned it would be much more expensive than we might be comfortable with. He said someone would contact us the next day with the details.
They needed to see both our ID's, and while The Doctor returned to the car to get his, I asked the desk clerk how business was. He said it was usually a busy time for them, but they were currently at only 15% occupancy. He told me the resort had been a family resort until about a year and a half ago, when it became a gay one, and that he had been working there for three months or so.
After The Doctor returned with his ID, the clerk put black plastic bands on both our wrists to identify us as guests, and another staff person led us to our room and gave us a brief tour of the resort on the way.
The whole property was breathtakingly beautiful. Sitting right on the ocean, the resort consisted of several two story villas, each containing eight hotel rooms. A stunning infinity pool was in the center of the resort, with beach chairs and tables surrounding it, and even a bar with bar stools submerged just below the surface of the water, so one could swim up and get a drink without ever having to leave the pool.
Just above this bar was the gym/work out center. On the opposite side of the pool was a two story building with a casual dining cafe on the first floor with tables spilling out to the poolside area, and a more elegant restaurant on the second floor. Also near the pool were four small hot tubs.
Palm trees lined the walkways with comfortable benches and chairs sprinkled throughout the grounds. A nice gazebo was positioned on a rise overlooking the ocean, and a promenade ran along the ocean side of the resort. Our building was just across a fenced off area that led into the clothing optional beach, though anyone on the promenade had a bird's eye view of this, and it was also clearly visible from the large floor to ceiling windows of the gym. This beach area had beach chairs, and even a couple of outdoor beds for laying in the sun. There were a small ocean fed pool here, but the water didn't look very clean in it. A red flag served as a warning not to enter the ocean as the surf was pretty rough.
(Clothing optional beach from the promenade)
There was a nice outdoor shower area here, as well as another up by the infinity pool.
Our room was on the second floor of Villa 5, the Ek Balam Villa.
The room was spectacular, and had a lovely hot tub in it.
The bathroom was almost as big as some of the rooms we had stayed in earlier on our trip. It had two sinks side by side, and a long closet with two pairs of slippers and two bathrobes waiting for us.
The Adonis web site had said the restaurants had a "dress casual" dress code, but the guy who had escorted us to our room had told us there was no dress code, just "no sandals". The restaurant was one large room that had been divided into three smaller "restaurants", each with its own menu - Mexican, Italian, and Asian - though we were told we could mix and match from the each of the menus if we wanted to. That night we sat in the Mexican restaurant.
I ordered quesadillas, while The Doctor ordered lasagna from the Italian menu. We were both a little surprised at the diminutive size of the portions, though the presentation was quite lovely, and the food delicious. I also ordered a piece of chocolate cake for dessert.
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(The Doctor and his Lasagna . . . )
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(. . . and my dessert!)
After dinner we walked a little along the promenade. When we we went back to the room, The Doctor filled the hot tub, which seemed to take forever, and then he soaked in it a long time before we turned in for the night.
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