STEPHANIE MORK

Tulum. The destination of dreams. The place you picture in your head when you’re having a rough day at work and you just want to be somewhere perfectly breezy and tropical with a margarita in your hand. 

Truth be told, I think I enjoyed Tulum more in my head than actually being there. I feel like I was deceived by other bloggers talking the place up, when in my experience it was overpriced, dirty, not very accessible oh my god it was hot. My style of travel doesn’t include the all inclusive resorts or a huge budget – I stay in airbnb’s, cook and eat out 1x per day and buy snacks and drinks and use public transportation or bike when possible. So my point of view is that of a normal person with an average budget. If you don’t fit into that category, this post (or this blog!) isn’t for you. 

All that said, I am not a complainer and I will try to make the best of any situation so while I did enjoy parts of my trip to Tulum I felt like it didn’t live up to the expectations I made based on other people’s experiences. 

I am a list person so I will start with the things I did not like about Tulum:

• The beach was covered in seaweed: This has become a problem not only in Tulum or just Mexico, but in other coastal areas of the pacific. The seaweed covered about 4-5 feet of the beach so much so that people weren’t going in the water and it was really smelly. You could go in the water if you really wanted, but you had to jump over that pile of stinky pokey seaweed. Not so much like paradise.

The seaweed problem is actually an environmental issue. After experiencing it, I did some reading and found that it is caused by agricultural runoff, deforestation and warmer waters. The nutrients from animal waste and dirt, combined with higher temperatures is contributing to seaweed overgrowth that ends up washing onto th beaches. The planet is moaning and it makes me sad that I literally didn’t read anything about this issue before going on my trip. It made me have a renewed desire to think twice about the actions I take in my daily life and to be a proud vegan. 

Side note: Animal agriculture is the number one contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental destruction. If you care even the smallest bit about the future of the planet, please think twice about purchasing and consuming animal products. 

• Overpriced: The food was priced the way you would expect in the U.S. in upscale areas, the food was good but simple and was definitely upcharged for tourists. There were a few speciality vegan restaurants we visited that I felt the price was warranted, but most of the time I felt like I was getting ripped off. The shopping street on Tulum beach was also insanely priced. A simple dress would cost $100 and a pair of mens swim trunks were $160! “Oh but this is the best material.” blah blah, there is nothing in my mind that warrants that much money for a pair of swim trunks. There isn’t anything there for normal people to buy, which makes sense because beach road also has the most expensive hotels and restaurants. 
• Dangerous: Sorry to say, but our airbnb was broken into and a bunch of our stuff was stolen. This was incredibly traumatic. It wasn’t our fault, nor was it a set up – it was just something that happened and unfortunately to us. I do realize that this may swing my view of Tulum one way, but I also think if this never happened I would have still been disappointed by the hype of Tulum. All of this to say, bad things do happen for random reasons but in all of my travels, this is the first time I have experienced a break in and it is one more reason not to go to Tulum. 
• Not even remotely bikeable. I feel like I had this idea in my head that we would be able to leisurely ride our bikes to the beach or to a cenote la te dah but definitely not. This is a car centric community and Tulum is basically straddling a highway. There are no bike lanes, no great bike paths to the beach or on beach road AT ALL. Once you get to the beach road, you are biking right along with all of the cars. Not ideal or safe, or leisurely! In fact, it was super stressful to bike around and we eventually gave up and drove our rental car everywhere. 
• We also had the WORST experience on Cozumel. Just don’t even. If you go, be prepared to be ripped off, scammed, threatened, served chicken when you ask for veg and bad snorkeling.

Here are things things I did like about Tulum/Riviera Maya:

• The food was REALLY good. Despite being overpriced, damn it was probably some of the best vegan food of any of my travels. To be specific, my favorite restaurant was actually in Playa Del Carmen (Called La Senda – we went back four times it was so good) but Tulum has it’s fair share of vegan options. Raw Love was an experience and although overpriced, I have never had anything like the items we ordered. Two other restaurants in Tulum that I enjoyed were La Zebra and Burrito Amor. In Valladolid, we stopped at a great restaurant called Yerbabuena del sissal. So in all, there are amazing vegan options all over this area which is a definite plus.
  

• The ruins in the area are actually super cool and worth the visit. We visited the Tulum ruins, Chichen Itza and Coba. Go early to all of them to beat the heat and the crowds. Chichen Itza’s heat and hagglers were relentless, so not for the faint of heart, but it was really cool and I am still glad we went.
  

• Akumal was the only beach that we found to be free of seaweed. We were super annoyed at all of the snorkeling rules, but once we figured out where we could snorkel for free it was a really nice place to spend the day. The restaurant on site was also good. Be prepared to sit in the sand if you go because the beach chairs are reserved for hotel guests only. Don’t pay for a snorkel tour, because you’ll just be bobbing around with a group of other Americans and will probably be less likely to actually see anything. We saw sea turtles, stingrays and a bunch of colorful fish just in the public swimming areas. 
• The cenotes are cool. The only one we actually went to was Cenote Calavera, but we had so much fun here jumping into the cenote and seeing the bats etc. inside the cave. This cenote is really small and got fairly crowded as we were leaving, so again best to arrive early to have less people. I honestly didn’t even try to take pictures – we just have a few of us jumping in the water but I don’t even care because it was so much fun! We talked to other people that enjoyed other cenotes in the area. If we had more time we would have gone to see more but that break in sucked up a good chunk of our time and energy. 
• Lastly, we went to a hotel/resort called Caleta Tankah with a day pass. This was a magic find by Mike and was just an amazing way to spend some time. This place has an ocean cenote that has been unaffected by the seaweed. The rest of their beach was shit and full of seaweed to be honest, but this little ocean pool was protected by the surrounding rocks and had the clearest water. Perfect for relaxing, ordering vegan nachos and pina coladas, reading, taking a swim, jumping in the water from the rocks, snorkeling. You name it. This was the kind of vacation that I had been dreaming of. You can rent a cabana or day-bed or use the beach beds and I remember being happy with what we paid for the day and the service we were provided. Recommend if you are in the area and not staying at a beach front resort! Don’t do what we did and get there after lunch, go for the ENTIRE DAY you will not regret it. 

So there you have it. MY truth about Tulum. Hopefully this will help anyone else make an informed decision on whether they will travel there. I don’t regret it, but I won’t be going back anytime soon. 

Florence is one of the prettiest cities in Italy. The art is fantastic, the views of the river and the duomo are hard to beat and the gelato is the creamiest in the land. Spending a few days here alone, you will have the time of your life and eat some of the best food you’ve ever had. Here are your must hits as a solo female traveler in Florence. 

Climb the bell tower of the Duomo at Sunset:

Everyone says to climb the actual Duomo, but when you climb the bell tower, you get to look at the Duomo instead. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen is this incredible domed structure against the orange pink of the Tuscan sun lowering below the horizon. Listen to the bells, feel the breeze and take a selfie at the top of the tower with the Duomo behind you. Talk about magic, people.

Drink wine all day long:
Who is going to stop you from drinking wine with lunch, wine with an afternoon snack, wine for happy hour, another wine just because, and wine with dinner and dessert. Italy is amazing and sells wine in juice boxes that you can literally take with wherever you go, so when you get thirsty, boom! You have your handy wine juice box. Since you are alone, being wine tipsy all day might just make your time be that much better – talk to strangers, soak in the Italian vibes, stroll the cobblestone streets in a dreamlike state because Italy deserves nothing less. 

Try a new gelato place everyday:
Florence is the gelato capital of Italy, so it’s pretty hard to go wrong here. Always best to wander off the beaten tourist track for more bang for your buck as well as more flavors and creamier gelato. My favorite in Florence was Gelateria La Carraia on the other side of the river, past Ponte Vecchio. 

Eat THIS sandwich (multiple times because it’s that good):

This is the best meal I had in all of Italy. All’Antico Vinaio has THE best fluffy foccacia bread, fresh, unique fillings and the smells to fill up your stomach before you even spot the teeny tiny storefront. The line is long, but it’s worth it and it moves fast AND you can even order wine to drink while you wait in line. I had something with spicy eggplant and an olive spread. Doesn’t even matter what you get because the bread is what makes the sandwich.

Climb up to the top of the Piazzale Michelangelo:

For the best view of the city, walking up the hill to this spot is worth the climb. Pack some wine juice boxes and some snacks and head up there for one of the most romantic sunsets of your life. This is truly what people talk about when they say how beautiful Tuscany is – Florence at sunset is the essence of Tuscan beauty people. If you are in the city center, cross the river at Ponte Vecchio and walk to your left along the river until you start to see some gardens. There will be signs to help guide you to the top, but it’s hard to miss! 

Do whatever the heck you want because you’re in Italy and when are you going to be there alone again? Let yourself feel the freedom of traveling alone, meet new friends and go dancing, dine in a fancy restaurant alone and order the most expensive dessert, wear something edgy and European because you’re not at home. 

Soak up that Italian culture, because its richness and flair can’t be found anywhere else.

Nearing the end of my time in Bolivia already I thought I would share some of the random thoughts that I’ve written down as I’ve been in places and situations that I didn’t want to forget. These range from funny to serious to just observations.

So, welcome to my mind for a few minutes 🙂

• Thursday morning on the Teleferico: an old man with gnarled hands from years of hard labor, a young man writing music and looking wistfully out the window, two young chatty girls talking about boys and school, two young men looking nonchalant with their earbuds on their way to school and one little girl on her way to school watching the older girls intently and then me, a white girl just taking it all in.
• If travel has taught me anything it’s that the world is incredible. It always reminds me that people are people and they are all just living their lives with their own triumphs and burdens. Everyone has a story.
• From the backseat of a bumpy 12 passenger colectivo van: Trying to take pictures of the amazing snow covered mountain views but I stopped after a few tries. Those pictures remind me that it’s not about having the perfect picture or having the perfect experience or even a perfect day. It’s about taking things at face value because we get to choose how we react to each and every situation. Regardless of those blurry and crooked photos I will remember that bumpy ride anyways.
• Travel friendships are something special. They are short lived and sometimes intense  but you get to share unique experiences and once in a lifetime moments with these people which binds you for life. Everytime you think of that memory or experience you think of that former stranger, 24 hours later turned friend, next to you in those moments.
• Eating out alone is something that I forgot I kind of like. I had the privilege of eating out in Europe alone a lot too and it just feels so luxurious. You can think about whatever you want, you can eat whatever you want and you can take as much or little time as you want to just sit there and enjoy the ambiance or people watch or drink another glass of wine or cup of coffee.
• Still always seeking out green spaces. Sitting in one of the plazas close to my house – with just a teeny bit of green – there are teenagers playing frisbee, kids rollerblading, people walking their dogs, old men just sitting and watching the world.. Not so different from home.
• I sat with an older gentleman on the Teleferico today. When we got off, the attendant immediately came to help him. It was really sweet to witness this young man interact with this older man with grace and respect. That’s the way it should be.

Bolivia has been a unique experience to say the least. My public health work here hasn’t been my favorite and I don’t know that I gained any new job skills, but I’ve definitely been reminded of some important life lessons and I think (at least I hope) my Spanish got a little better.

Next up, Peru.

Really, this country keeps surprising me in all the best ways. I spent a weekend in a region not too far away called Yungas. It’s where the infamous most dangerous road, “death road” is and it’s also the in between landscape from the Altiplano where La Paz is located before you hit the Bolivian Amazon. I honestly didn’t even know that Bolivia had an amazon so you can imagine my pleasant surprise visiting the very edge of this region and finding just a little bit of tropical jungly feels in the town of Coroico.

Coroico is this little town that literally sits on the edge of a mountain and then also surrounded by mountains that look all tropical and wild. Pictures don’t do anything do show how cool this place is and every time I saw it from a distance I would just think – how the heck did people even build this?

The main thing that attracted my friends and I there was the zipline that my classmate had told me about from her practicum earlier in the summer (thanks Rach!). Maybe I have just really been missing nature and green things, but this weekend was so much more than just a zipline.

The area around Coroico we learned contains about 114 other communities. As we drove around the area, it was easy to see how 114 little towns could hide in the shadows and nooks and crannies of the mountains. The views were constantly incredible and the area also grows coffee, oranges, bananas, corn and coca, which was cool to see oranges and coffee beans growing just off the side of the road.

Anyways, I could talk forever about how cool this place is. Here is my Coroico top 5:

1. Ziplining through the Andes was something spectacular. If you’re brave enough to bike the death rode, go for it – but this is a good alternative for just enough adrenaline rush to get your heart pumping but you don’t have to work as hard for the views. I am not sure if I was crying because of the views or the wind in my face but there were definitely some tears.  We went with a company called Zzip the Flying Fox.
2. Rio Negro. A natural pool with a waterfall surrounded by mountains. This was one of those beautiful unplanned happenings. We made friends with a taxi driver for the weekend who suggested we go there (honestly really good sales tactic!), and it was the perfect way to end the weekend. Not too far from Coroico – it was sunny and warm, the place was dotted with locals, we had the waterfall all to ourselves, three hours to kill and sandwiches to eat in the sun. The memory of swimming in a freezing cold Bolivian waterfall is going to stick around.
3. Hostal Sol y Luna.  Is it weird that our hostel is one of my top 5? It was such a tranquil place. Away from just stuff – we had what we needed and hot showers to top it off. There is a restaurant on site so we had nice relaxed mornings eating outside and nice relaxed evenings sharing Pacena’s (Bolivian beer) and just chatting over snacks. Also amazing maracyua (aka passionfruit) juice.
4. Cafe Almendra. Yay for vegetarian restaurants in the middle of nowhere! This is the cutest little place with the best food, run by a sweet little woman and her family. They also have homemade popsicles for 2Bs which is like 30 cents. Amazing. (Again, thanks for the rec Rach).
5. Last but not least, we went to an animal reserve called Senda Verde. It was a pretty cool place that has animals that have been rescued from situations where they would be sold for their meat or skin. In hindsight, we should have taken the English tour because I probably would have gotten a lot more out of it, but I understood about 60% of what the guide was telling us about the animals and it seemed like they knew what they were doing – and we also got to stay with our friend from Spain who doesn’t speak English. Highlight was the bear for sure. We also saw monkeys, parrots, toucans, snakes, turtles, a capybara and an anteater.

An overall highlight would be just the views. I normally don’t like being in the car, but I didn’t mind because it just meant more mountains, more green and more sky. Also traveling with former strangers that are now friends is always a bonus.

Coroico was a weekend for the books.

I am quickly learning that Bolivia is a very diverse country. From the cities with colonial roots and winding masses of alleys, to the snow capped mountains, to the rain forest like jungle, to the flat flat desert, to the completely untouched wide open landscape – it has just about everything.

I made a venture to the southern part of Bolivia to see what I thought was just going to be the infamous salt flats, but I got so much more. I guess that’s the beauty of just signing up for a trip with your newfound friends and roommates and showing up with a backpack and some money.

I’ll be honest and say I had some anxiety going into this weekend. Limited communication, long car rides, traveling with new people, cold temps, many unknowns.. but I also have to say it was probably one of the coolest weekends of my life. I’ve never seen anything like the landscape we saw, and although I know I am just scratching the surface for the beauty that this world holds – this part of the world is truly something amazing.

Trip highlights:

• The FOOD. I’m a little food obsessed but it was so beautiful to be served amazing veg meals in the middle of nowhere. Food tastes better when a) you don’t have to cook it and b) when you’ve been traveling all day. One of my favorite meals was lunch on the salt flats. I don’t even remember what I ate – maybe quinoa with some egg and avocado – but it was just the pure experience and memory of sitting down to this meal on top of the biggest chunk of salt in the world.
• The insanity of how far we traveled to reach these middle of nowhere places! I have to appreciate both the 10 hour bus ride from La Paz to Uyuni and the many many hours we spent in the car to see so much in so little time. Also our driver was great, the snacks were great, and I will not forget listening to Miley Cyrus’s, “The Climb”, as we entered the salt flats.
• Laguna Colorada. Aka the red lake. There was something about this lake that blew me away. I remember seeing it in travel guides before I came here and thinking to myself, “Oh, that’s so far from La Paz I definitely won’t get there.” And then had no idea we were going there until we were there. I don’t have the words to describe the feeling that this place gave me, but it was something like freedom and strength and pure awe at the things that exist in this world. So often I try to be a sponge to soak up what I am experiencing, but I don’t have to try that hard to bring this experience back to mind. This one will stay with me forever.
• The rest of the highlights are too many to name so I will just ramble them on in a big long list:

– Biking on the biggest salt flat in the world.
– Bright pink flamingos in a lake with the most perfect reflection of the mountain
and clouds behind it
– Llamas just doing their thing.
– An Island in the salt flats filled with cacti – Isla Incahuas
– Seeing snow capped mountains that were across the border in Chile.
– Soaking in a hot spring under the clearest starry night sky.
– Listening to John Mayer driving through the desert.
– Watching and feeling the snow fly in front of a 7 colored mountain and desert.

I could probably go on forever, but hopefully this gives a glimpse of the uniqueness, wildness, and beauty that this part of the country is home to.

Bolivia. Put it on your bucket list.

One week down and it feels like I have been here forever! Granted my Spanish could use a little a lot (!) of improvement, and I could be more comfortable getting around – but so far so good. I am thankful for my experiences of living in new places and adopting new normals living at camp, moving around in college and my various stays in other countries. It becomes easier to adopt new ways of doing life each time.

This week I spent most of my time learning about the city and being introduced to the work I will be doing as well as learning about Bolivian culture and history. The majority of my work will consist of researching, writing and observing. My tangible takeaways will be a few articles in a newsletter for an organization focused on child sex trafficking and abuse and my research will be about creative and sustainable water solutions as well as information about violence against women in Bolivia. This is probably subject to change as is most public health work, but that is what I know for now 🙂

Here are my favorite things about La Paz so far:

– It’s so chill. Its unlike any other city I have experienced. People are really friendly, public transportation is fairly easy, and I feel safe. Most people also don’t look twice at a white girl or pay much attention to me which is a lovely relief to (for the most part) blend in.

– The public transportation system is basically a gondola cable car type subway system. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen or experienced and it is the biggest transportation system of its kind in the world. Its really smart too – with 11 lines it makes commuting calmer, faster, and cheaper than buses or cars. Since La Paz is really hilly and mountainous, it makes so much sense to travel this way instead of on the ground. The views are just incredible too – mountains and sky and city for as far as you can see.

– My host mom – Olga. She’s the sweetest. She is patient with us learning Spanish and cooks amazing food. Olga is attentive and kind and cares for her students as she would her children. She brought me to the store this week to buy slippers because my feet are always cold 🙂

– This is lame, but accessibility to little luxuries. La Paz is fairly modern. I bought nivea lotion and peanut butter and oreos the other day. There is also a Burger King and a Cinnabon across the street from the apartment building I am living in so first world food cravings can be satisfied at all times. I know I can survive without luxuries but its nice nonetheless.

Overall, I think I’m going to like it here. I am learning a lot about public health in Bolivia and am looking forward to learning more about the culture and history of this unique and beautiful country.

Until next time.