Tulum 2024 - Apparently GPS Had a Nit to Pick

 The 2nd morning of my stay I rented a bike. I would have it for 3 days. It was the last one the rental store had available. It was to become integral to the impressions of Tulum I was to take home with me. 

My adventure began. I rode to the park I had discovered the day before encountering, along the way. an iguana, its chameleon camouflage making it blend in with the pebbled walkway. The same beautiful blue birds flited through the dense trees.

 I had seen a rock store on my trip to Chedraui the previous day and decided to check it out. GPS got me there without issue and I shopped a bit. I had to be cautious, whatever I purchased would have to fit in the gym bag I used as a carry on in case my luggage never caught up with me. Fortunately the gym bag was underpacked on the way in. 

I put the coordinates for the hotel into GPS and headed back, or so I thought. There are no real landmarks in Tulum. Much of what you see there looks like everything else you see there. Somehow GPS forgot to inform me of a soft right turn and I became, in a word, lost. I found myself at the coastline. I would have enjoyed the sight of the light blue sea and proliferation of pelicans had I not had the anxiety of not knowing where I was. I did appreciate the cool ocean breeze as it was getting to be early afternoon and the sun was becoming increasingly hot and the air growing thick with humidity. 

GPS led me on a 2 hour long loop tour that afternoon. I bike frequently during the summer so, once again, I was up to the challenge. I rode down dusty highways abutted by jungle on either side. There was sporadic construction of new apartments and resorts. The edges of the jungle were filled with litter and the greenery was gray with dust in the areas of construction. 

GPS led me through an area of dirt streets lined with shacks and dilapidated, sagging buildings. Some of the houses had water reservoirs on the top of them as I assume that running water was a luxury. It is an area, and a reality , that most tourists will never see, even though it is no more than a mile or so from their hotels. The extreme poverty, juxtaposed against the relative luxury of the resort area, was heart rending. The worst poverty I have ever witnessed was on the island of St Lucia. This came a close second. The poverty on St. Lucia I witnessed through the windows of a tour bus. This I was confronted with first hand, out in the open. Reflecting upon it later it brought me almost to tears. 

Somehow I ended up back in the hotel zone, where I started. GPS informed me of the soft right turn this time and I arrived at the hotel. 

Water dripped down the back of my legs from my sweat soaked shorts. I immediately went to one of the small rooftop pools and immersed myself in the cool water.