In which Roz and Layla paddleboard in a lagoon (and do not stand on their heads)

By Roz

After two happy hour mohitos in Casa Violetta, we decided it was more than time for dinner, and we headed back to Zebra, where we had been on our first night, to have their delicious pepper, potato and cheese dish. We wolfed this down as though we hadn't been fed for ages (the excitements of the day had clearly made us hungry) and then headed back to Casa Violetta for a nightcap and dessert. Only this time as we walked along the beach we began to notice that the ground was alive with crabs. I'm not sure how we had managed to miss this the first few times we'd been on the beach at night, but it certainly made this romantic wander home less romantic (and more focused on suppressing embarrassing shrieks). But all in all it was a very jolly evening. 

Next morning, we were up early. Again. Layla, you see, doesn't believe in lie-ins. Our alarm went off and I began with my usual tactic of suggesting she shower first. I have now perfected this to such a degree that I don't actually have to wake up to do it. Her second attempt to wake me (after she'd showered, at the late hour of 6.55) I had little option but to crawl out of bed. But I must admit it was for a good cause: our plan was to go paddleboarding and we'd been told that we needed to get there early. And so we had an early morning romantic march along the beach in time for a quick breakfast overlooking the sea before hopping in a car with a very nice Mexican guy (who'd lived in Brighton for a year and missed fish and chips!) who was to take us out paddleboarding for the morning. A not very long drive took us to a lovely lagoon - part of the national park that we'd been to on our first full day in Tulum - and then it was time to hop on to the boards for a very lovely, serene paddle round the lagoon. It was fun to have the place entirely to ourselves, and even better to find that - despite the small waves - we were still able to stay upright. We had a mini lesson half way through on how to handle boards in the sea - which ended up with Layla and I almost being able to do a small jump to change our foot position. Layla wussed out of doing a headstand on the board, despite my best efforts to goad her into doing one (blackmail and so forth) but otherwise it was really fun. The water was perfectly clear, there were tons of fish and we were entirely surrounded by jungle. After a while, we slipped into the water (me carefully keeping my hat on to protect the burn from the sun) and pottered around for a while looking at fish - and waiting for them to nibble at us (as we had been told they might) - and contemplating the 80ft hole in the middle of the lagoon, created by a meteorite and where some believe there is a spaceship. Fortunately, however, there was no sign of either of Martians, nor of the small crocodiles that we'd heard could also sometimes be seen. 

Out of the water and headed towards the car, we had the brainwave of persuading our guide to take us to a nearby-ish cenote. This turned out to be fab. Much bigger than we expected, there was a few different pools, all connected by caves and channels and it was fun to swim through and explore them. Layla had a snorkel mask which meant she was able to steer us both away from random rocks (whilst I used my burn as a good excuse not to have a snorkel - I am an idiot and don't really like having my face into the water). The temperature of the sun and the water was perfect, and though there were some other tourists kicking around, none of them spoke English which made them less objectionable! 

It was then time to return for drinks and then lunch, with lovely ocean breezes to keep us cool. I, however, was so transfixed by my book (Goldfinch, the new Donna Tartt) that I was barely able to look up from my book to eat (or look at the sea). Eventually Layla persuaded me that it was time to go in the sea. We'd hoped to take out paddleboards but our guy from the morning wasn't around any longer. But in searching for him, it emerged that the restaurant was willing to lend us boogie boards - which was almost better. We bounded down to the beach and into the sea...and then noticed we were pretty much alone. One look up at the sky told us why - it was almost black, with a storm clearly on its way. We agreed that we'd stay close to the shore but decided to press on anyway. (This turned out to be a perfectly sensible decision, since we were later joined by an over ambitious paddleboarder and some swimmers - and the rain never made it to shore.) We had a lot of fun trying to catch waves with our boogieboards, despite the fact that we usually failed, and were out until we were pretty much exhausted. We shared a beer and briefly returned to our books before heading home sandily for a shower. 

We headed out for the evening feeling virtuous, having just packed, and went back to Casa Violetta for one of their delicious mohitos and some guacamole. With delight I returned to my book and quite some time passed before we both realized that we were getting hungry - and felt completely shattered after our exertions during the day. We shamefacedly decided to stick where we were for dinner rather than being more adventurous. But we had a lovely meal and managed to keep ourselves entertained until 9 or so when we decided to give in and slowly make our way home. Not a very magnificent last night in lovely Tulum, but we enjoyed ourselves! 

I was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow. But I was woken in the night by the loudest rain I have ever heard. The storm that had been threatening us whilst we were on the beach had finally arrived. This meant we woke up (6.30 alarm again!) to a very sodden town. We splashed our way along the road to the lovely place we had had breakfast on our anniversary morning and ate breakfast with a fairly cheerful air, congratulating ourselves at leaving Mexico at exactly the right moment. From there, we headed to the bus and I returned to my audiobook (which I am also transfixed by) and gazed at the rain as we passed through the countryside. And now: home.

Books read by Layla whilst on holiday: Pigs in Heaven (Barbara Kingsolver), Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook (Todd D Brown), Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood), A Cure for Dreams (Kaye Gibbons), and half of The Year of the Flood (Margaret Atwood). 

Books read by Roz whilst on holiday: Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden), Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood), The Room of lost Things (Stella Duffy), Tepper Isn't Going Out (Calvin Trillin), Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore (Robin Sloan) and 3/4 of both Goldfinch (Donna Tartt) and The Year of the Flood (Margaret Atwood).