Yucatan Peninsula with view of Carribean on one side, and lagoon on the other
Ah, how hard it has been to come back this time! Just had my 4th trip to the Tulum area of Mexico, which is only 2 hours south of depressing, monocultured out Cancun. I mean, there was a Hooter’s and an Outback Steakhouse. Gross.
We packed up the family for a full 8 days in a gorgeous villa owned by Cameron Boyd, the director of a very cool ecoresort called CESiak.
The house was the grand prize that we won with our friends Stephanie and Dahlia, who bid on the house in a silent auction for a fundraiser at Clara Mae’s pre-school EBI.
We had a giant white palace, replete with deep freshwater pool and two huge roof terraces, for the 6 of us. Every night, we had fresh lime margaritas, played cards, swatted mosquitoes and hunted for the colorful crabs that came out in force. It was hurricane season, which meant violent winds whipping through our open windows, along with many flashes of lightening on top of us followed by thunderboomers. Dramatic!
Jumping out of ocean as daily storm approached
Pool action
Clara Mae loved it and played with her friend Alana endlessly in the pool. She really learned how to swim just before we got there, thankfully. She learned how to dogpaddle and also to dive for rockets on the bottom of the shallow end and jump big waves in the ocean. Such a great set of memories she will have!
It was humid and the showers were a welcome break for the intense, bright sun. I think this is a great time to go, actually.
Love to go again. Really would like to buy land and build a fat pad with lots of Ed’s Modular Dwellings on the site so we could have jumbo retreats down there. Tulum is really blowing up, tho. The freeway is being widened to add more lanes and the prices were NOT THAT MUCH CHEAPER than in the US. I mean, a Dos Equis was $3 and margaritas were nearly $7. WTF? The nature cannot be beat, tho. And it was really remote. Not a soul on the beaches while we were there.
Mayan ruin
It was super hot at the ruins, which were swarmed by black crows for some reason. The biggest iguanas I have ever seen sunned on the rocks near the beach there. When I first went to Tulum for spring break in, like, 1987, you could climb and enter the ruins. They are now totally roped off. Sign of tourist times, I guess.
Doug on our rooftop terrace at sunrise
Sunrise shot on the beach, slightly cranky cuz it
Best places for dinner:
La Zebra- where they had free Salsa lessons on Friday nights, amazing live music and served some muy fuerte habanero salsa and shaked strong and tasty drinks. Bonus points for having a nice, modern set up on the beach, too and excellent service. Total pick-up joint but not in a sleazy way.
Zamas- right on a nice little cove on the beach!
Om Tulum– another nice spot with modern hippie yoga vibe. Great bar and cozy restaurant that was open sorta late, which is rare out there.
Ah, it sounds glorious. So jealous.