Tulum ruins in the distance

Tulum is a small town about 130 km south of Cancun.  It's most well known for it's Mayan ruins, which are perched on a hill facing the Caribbean sea.

Tulum is where I'm going to spend the first 7 days of my 2017 Mexican adventure.   I chose here mostly because some friends, Brindle and Bob (B2) are staying here.  But also, I wanted to explore a different part of Mexico.

Today, I ventured to the beach with B2.  The beach is about a 4 km bike ride from town.  Partly on a main road with a good bike path, partly on a small road, which is parallel to the beach but separated from the beach by trees and shrubs. 

The beach is beautiful!  and very long.  Brindle and I walked far enough to see the Tulum Mayan ruins in the distance.  This was especially interesting because I was on that stretch of beach about 30 years ago.  I was there, camping for one night, with a friend and a dive master from Cozumel.  It was kind of magic.  I hadn't traveled much before or seen many things.  We lounged in a hamac with the full moon and Mayan ruins in the distance, alone on the beach that had yet to be "discovered" by tourists. 

We left the beach at about 5 pm.  So did many other tourists.  It was a fun traffic jam on the bike path back.  A parade of beach cruiser bikes of every kind!

Photos:
1) The Tulum ruins in the distance.  It's crazy think that 30 years ago, this beach was deserted.
2) A fun sand castle on the beach!
3) De-icing our plane.  Who knew it was such a manual type of job?
4) The first de-icing fluid was white/clear.  The second one was like green Ghost Buster slime!!!!