Tulum 2024 - Not My Cup of Tea

 I have had the good fortune to travel extensively throughout the western hemisphere. Since I was a tween my parents were both teachers leaving us entire summers to sojourn. One summer we set out from California, where we lived at the time, and drove across the U.S., up the eastern seaboard, into southern Canada and back. I was perhaps 12, old enough to have memories of the sights we experienced. 

At 15 we struck out again, flying to Brussels and driving, without an itinerary, through Europe. It was 1973. We visited, among other places, the then eastern bloc countries of Bulgaria, Romania, my mother was a big fan of gothic horror, and the various countries that at the time were consolidated under Tito as Yugoslavia. While Yugoslavia had maintained a certain level of autonomy in those years, thanks to the political savvy of Tito, Bulgaria and Romania were still under heavy Soviet influence. I will forever be grateful to have experienced that moment in history, with due respect to the hardships of the people that lived there at that time. 

A friend of mine once described me as the most curious person she knew. Seeing the Coliseum, Eiffel Tower, the home of Anne Frank in Amsterdam, walking across the slick marble floor of the Parthenon at that young age excited my teenaged mind. It created a desire to see and learn more. For many of my adult years financial constraints prevented me from satisfying this curiosity in terms of travel. But that time is behind me and I can now, within limits, explore the world.

I do not regret my visit to Tulum, I have made it my motto to not regret anything in my life. Even hardship will endow you with knowledge and wisdom if you are open to receive it. The frustration with Tulum is the same frustration I had with Cancun, I flew there once on a buddy pass when my sister was a flight attendant, there is virtually nothing to see or do. On the trip to Cancun the high point was a day trip to Chicken Itza, which sparked  my interest in Mayan culture. In Tulum, with the exception of the ruins, doing nothing seems to be the point. I consider that pointless. It is fine for some but not for me.