Muyil

Tony and I left Tulum with the intention of catching the collectivo to Punta Allen-only to be told multiple times that it was no longer running. We had our doubts about the taxi and collectivo drivers telling us the truth because gringos love conspiracy and it'd be easy to assume they just wanted us to spend the 700 pesos on the cab ride... but we confirmed it wasn't running with the owner of Serenidad in PA. (We also found out later on that day through the same source that the way to PA was a taxi to the entrance of Sian Ka'an Reserve for no more than 350 pesos, then a small boat for 250 pesos each which included luggage. Another option to skip the taxi portion and go cheaper was a shuttle from ITours in Tulum that leaves at 2/2:30pm everyday to the entrance of Sian Ka'an where the boats launch for 50 pesos a person). We will return to try it out and update in turn.

Alas we didn't have this information yet and had found some information that led us towards Felipe Carrilllo Puerto and a possible bus/boat to PA that way, so we hopped on a bus south. We decided to stop at the ruins in Muyil because it was in a beautiful corner of the Biosphere and offered our first official set of Mayan ruins to visit. The collectivo driver dropped us graciously at the front and we left our packs with the gentleman collecting 40 pesos a person for entrada.

The ruins were quite lovely and empty of people; we had skipped the ruins in Tulum due to a late start, there were just far too many people for our tastes. (We will return!) We enjoyed the feeling of having the place (almost) all to ourselves. There was even a lovely little path through the jungle (for an extra 50 pesos per person) to the laguna, where we found an awesome lookout tower and saw all around us the beautiful wilderness of the Sian Ka'an stretching as far as we could see without the touch of man to blur it even a bit. The expanse was a lovely little reminder of a jungle version of our mountain home. ☺

After we wandered las ruinas, we retrieved our packs and went across the street for some bebidas frías to sip and contemplate our next moves. We had read about a route online that involved a bus to Viage Chico from Felipe Carrillo Puerto, followed by a boat to Punta Allen...so we decided that we would head to Felipe and stay for the night in a truly Mexican town. (We discovered later that no bus goes to Viage Chico and a boat from there to PA would be thousands of pesos).

We discussed our mode of transport briefly (Tony wanting to hitchike and I preferring to take a collectivo) and after a bit of a rustle, we jumped on a colectivo and made our way to Felipe Carrillo Puerto, a town that quickly stole our hearts. (Spoiler alert!) 😜❤Read more