Backpacking and Talking to Strangers in Tulum, Mexico

A day in the life in Tulum, Mexico part of the Yucatan Peninsula. People come from here from all over the world to escape covid lockdowns, relax by the beach, Party, scuba dive in underwater caves, and do hallucinogenic toad venom with trained shamans in the jungle. Something for everyone. Ive been here for 2 weeks, and I only have a couple days left in Tulum. I want to get out of my comfort zone, I want to walk around with my camera, talk to strangers, explore this small town with no expectations, just curiosity and awe. I told myself I would do this when I came here but I’ve just put it off, and done a lot of basic things like this. BUT NO MORE, Today is the day! Create ART, Live in the moment! EXPLORE THE EARTH. Nah Id rather just get some tacos. I Love this hostel, its in city centre which is the main area of Tulum. You can walk this town end to end in about 20 minutes. The other part is the Hotel Zone which is the more rich, lavish beach area which we will get to later. Most importantly. The tacos. The food is pretty delicious out here. I would go out twice a day for food. On average id spend about 3-5 dollars a meal Heres what the local gym looks like, I love gyms with really old equipment and no A/C so I was in heaven. But they were insistent on charging me 5 dollars a day which is more than I pay in the US. So I did a lot of workouts at the hostel or at the beach. Id ride a bike its about a 15 minute ride from the centre to the public beach. On my ride back from the beach one day, I took a little shortcut through the neighborhoods on the outskirts of the town. I was surprised to see all these shack looking homes standing right behind these big fancy villas and hotels. I wanted to learn more about the local people, how are they living, how much do they make, where do they work? I wrote in my notes to find a translator. A week later I met Franky, a fashion designer from Ecuador who also likes to make videos so I asked if she would be interested in interviewing some of the locals. She was, so we spent a day doing exactly that. We learned that Many people in Mexico move their lives here to make money off the booming tourism and they just cut away a part of the jungle and set up homes until someone from the government kicks them out. 50 dollars can help a family pay a month of rent here, let’s make it a habit to gift a few people everywhere we travel. A thank you for letting us visit their home. The home of their ancestors. A couple miles away we have the Hotel Zone, this is as the name implies, where all the fancy hotels and restaurants are. Here you’d go out and get a coffee in the morning, shop in some of these boutique stores and go around taking photos in this blogger paradise. Beware others might be doing the exact same thing. You can usually find yourself a great party here in Taboo, and Selina is one of the only hostels you can stay at in this area. I won’t show too much as the art is unreal and you just have to see it with your own eyes. Overall, I was sad it took me this many years to find out about Tulum, an easy 4 hour flight from Arizona I could have spent so many vacations here instead of the local Mexican Towns we would drive to. The vibes, the art, the parties, the ocean, the food, are all reasons to come and visit this place. But for me the thing that made this place special was the people. Experiences are nothing, without people to share it with. Ill leave you with one of my favorite experiences in Tulum, having coffee and talking about the nature of this existence with my spiritual friend Coco in her restaurant/ hotel Chez Cocco Help me grow the channel by subscribing, leaving a thumbs up, and sending to a friend who you think would enjoy this film. Thanks for watching. Don’t forget, live like Today, is your last day.