We got up on time (well, Jess did) and got ready to go. Of course, our last-minute tidying and packing took longer than we expected, so we left later than planned. As always happens in such situations, we then had to wait for the subway and the Air Train. Nevertheless, we made it to our terminal 10 minutes before check-in closed, so we were okay. Jer grabbed a salad and sandwich (since AA doesn't have complimentary snacks on flights to Cancun) and we boarded then plane on time. Sadly, we didn't get seats together; Jess was in the row behind Jer.
The flight took off a few minutes late, and there were a few patches of turbulence, but otherwise the flight was uneventful. The salad and sandwich were better than we'd expected. Jer watched "Good Eats" on our new Asus Eee PC, and Jess read a book.
We arrived at Cancun airport just 10 minutes late, and Immigration and Customs were a breeze (even though they X-ray all bags). On our way out of the airport, we were accosted by tour information guy/salesman, Gustavo. He recommended several attractions along the Riviera Maya and convinced us to take a tour of a new resort, the Grand Mayan, at some point during our stay. He also told us how to get to Tulum, and he gave us advice on local transportation.
Following Gustavo's advice, we bought tickets for the ADO bus to Playa. We only had to wait a few minutes before a nice, new air-conditioned bus appeared (playing "Casino Royale", dubbed into Spanish), to whisk us down the coast. We passed lots of big resorts (including the Grand Mayan) on the hour-long drive. The bus station in Playa is on 5th Avenue, the town's famed pedestrian street.
We walked a few blocks along 5th Avenue, past small hotels, restaurants, bars and small shops (selling silver jewelry, sunglasses, t-shirts and the like). Our goal was Yaxche, a restaurant recommended for its excellent regional Yucatecan cuisine. The guidebook lists it as "expensive", but we each had two appetizer-sized small plates and we shared a bottle of water (for under $25) and thought it was a great value, given the quality. We were given a basket of totopos (delicious Mayan-spiced tortilla chips) with sour cream and a tomatillo/tomato/spice salsa. Jess had fabulous panuches with cochinita pibil (small corn tortillas topped with Mayan-style shredded pork, avocado and opinions), as well as nas (Mexican corn on the cob, which isn't sweet, with butter and spices). Jer had Mayan tamales (which were interesting, but a bit bland) and a wonderful shredded chicken and tortilla soup.
Sated, we returned to Playa's ADO bus station (after a quick look at the white sandy beach), where we had to wait a while for our bus to Tulum. This bus had far more local flavor, as it was an overcrowded older model with lots of Mexican riders (happily, we were there early enough to get seats). It took about an hour to get to Tulum, past more big resorts, a few attractions and the cruise ship terminal.
The bus dropped us off at Tulum's ADO bus station, and we wandered for a bit and stopped in a dive shop, where they gave us a map and directions. We still got a little turned around, but found our hotel (Posada 06) after a bit. It opened in 2008, so everything is new and clean. We were taken to Room 12 on the second floor, a spacious "standard room" with a queen bed, large ensuite bath and private balcony overlooking the pool. We quickly settled in and got ready for bed; even though it was only 9pm, we were knackered. We decided to skip the A/C, instead leaving the balcony door open and turning on the ceiling fan. Almost as soon as we crawled into bed, we were both fast asleep.