Tulum, Mexico 🇲🇽

The skinny road leading in and out of Tulum is busy with tour vans and people on bicycles (without helmets of course). The combination seems dangerous, especially with the way our driver has been driving, but maybe the danger and the thrill of things like that in Mexico is partly what makes it a fun and different place for people to visit.

The ancient ruins of Tulum are an incredible site! I love wandering through thousand year old architecture for some reason. I always have, ever since I spent the summer in Italy during my senior year of college. 

These here in Quintana Roo are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, probably largely due to the amazing scenic backdrop of the Carribean Sea. 

After a 30 minute educational tour we were set lose to wander on our own for another hour. Here’s the two minute time lapse version if you want a taste of what it’s like here:

This was our guide for the day. He gave the tour in English and French but also spoke fluent Spanish of course, and 2 other languages. He said he learned them all in private school here in Mexico. 

After the archeological site, we had another hour to enjoy the beach in Tulum. We were on the North end of town so I walked down to the ocean and headed south.

It is gorgeous here! Simply stunning! 

But the seaweed... it’s even worse than in Playa del Carmen. 

It’s not pretty folks. And it smells bad, and when you walk through it to get in the ocean there are thousands of tiny little bugs living in it that swarm up around your feet. And there are chunks of it in the water everywhere. Hardly anyone was actually in the ocean.

People... we are killing our planet. It’s easy not to think about it in the comfort of our homes, when our garbage is bagged up, picked up, and hauled away... out of sight, out of mind, right?

Not here in Mexico. The beach is littered with garbage and even the sand has pieces of plastic mixed in everywhere. At first when I saw it, I thought for a second that it was a beautiful array of sea glass, but alas no... just tiny pieces of plastic in all different shapes and sizes mixed into the sandy white beaches of the Carribean.

And the seaweed has to be dying and washing ashore for a reason right?  

I am not an environmental expert by any means, but I would like to hear from some people who are. If we could somehow manage to stop creating more pollution and trash, could the oceans clean themselves and get better, or have we already done so much damage that it’s only going to keep getting worse?

This article just popped up in my Facebook newsfeed...

Pacific plastic dump far larger than feared

So, so sad! Such a beautiful place on this planet is slowly dying. I’m thankful for the chance to come here and visit, and I hope that we can find a way as a species and a planet to save this beautiful space God has given us.