Friday was the last full day of our adventure. We decided to ride (seriously....but it wasn't as bad as the previous day) to the Tulum ruins (only two miles away versus the 11.8 miles we clocked Thursday). We were bombarded with various tour offers all the way up to the ticket counter. We didn't feel the need to have a specific tour guide for these ruins, which ended up being a good move as we were able to get in and around everything we wanted to see in a fraction of the time. Plus, we stopped and listened in to a couple of formal tours. Kendall, again, hated this tour as the ruins really did not interest her at all.
After leaving the ruins, we were able to access the public beach area. It seems like all of the hotels/resorts have bought up the beach-front locations, so finding a public access area (free) was somewhat of a challenge at times. Thankfully, we landed at the most well-known public beach in Tulum, Playa Paraiso (Paradise Beach, appropriately named). We were immediately approached (see the theme here?) by a guy who was renting out umbrellas/table/chairs and we jumped on that opportunity as we didn't want to sit and bake in the sun all day without some sort of shade reprieve. It was the best purchase we made the entire trip. They also brought us drinks and lunch, and it was truly the best way to end our vacation. We easily spent half a day there, relaxing, swimming, playing beach football, repeat.
Tulum really was a magical place. I would go back again in a heartbeat. I know it's growing like crazy, as evidenced by all of the construction (commercial and residential) going on, but it's definitely worthy of another trip. We had such an amazing time!
