Why visit Mexico and why Tulum? Well the obvious answer for you being here on this webpage is of course cenote diving… aka cavern and cave diving. But after a long day frog kicking through the crystal clear waters of the cenotes, your pilas need recharging and your engine needs fuel, and whatever your poison is, Mexico has the answer… Mexican cuisine is famous for its colourful and flavourful food; most of it wrapped in a tortilla or at least served with tortillas or totopos also known as corn chips, like we know it from “Tex-Mex”. But this is also where the similarities stop. Mexican food takes time to prepare and it is often a combination of many different flavours. It is often slow cooked and the dishes vary from region to region. A popular dish in Tulum and the rest of the Yucatan is Cochinita Pibil. Pibil comes from the Mayan word píib, meaning "buried" which refers to the way the pork is cooked in a pit oven wrapped in banana leaves. This is a favourite amongst many of the divers in and around Tulum and something you are likely to experience as your dive lunch with Green Divers Tulum. Whether in tacos or as a torta it is a lovely and filling lunch that will easily see you through your next dive.
Tacos are probably the most famous Mexican food. Tacos are considered a street food though they make up a big part of most Mexicans everyday diet. They are made up of a small tortilla filled with meat or other fillings topped with pico de gallo, onion/cilantro, and/or salsa… But be careful these salsas can be devilish hot. Sometimes it’s the green salsa, sometimes the red, or maybe it’s both. But be sure that if there is a black kinda burnt looking salsa then this one is picante!
Another very common and popular street food is the torta which is a type of sandwich. Tortas are very often sold by the same vendors that sell the tacos and the fillings are also the same… The difference is a sandwich roll vs a tortilla. Your torta also comes in a “drowned” version. Torta ahogada which is when the sandwich is soaked in a delicious salsa. Yummy!
So… as they say: “When in Rome” or in this case when in Tulum, fill your tired diver's body with some gorgeous tacos, tortas, sopes, salbutes, panuchos, huaraches, quesadillas, or tostadas. Whatever the name, the taste is to die for and you will want more.
Don’t let yourself be fooled by the often shabby looking “establishments” where if they have chairs, you can be sure they are made of plastic, the clay pots with salsas are often chipped, your tacos are served on plastic plates covered by a plastic bag so they don’t have to wash up, and service and hygiene is nothing like what we are used to from Europe. The food is great, the tacos tasty, and the salsas are so full of flavour and spice that you will want to come back over and over again.