One day in Tulum. Would love to return!

In front of the cliff-side ruins at Tulum. January 2014

After Playa del Carmen, I scheduled something different for myself. Everything I'd read said Tulum was an eco-resort town built around the ruins that overlook a water-side cliff, and it was the perfect place to unwind and get away from it all. But since the hotel rates were much higher than in either Playa or Akumel, (another town that friends had recommended to me), I only planned one night there for myself. I ended up loving it so much that, although I don't usually do this, I desperately want to return for another vacation there.

The grounds of Suenos Tulum

After exhaustive searching on various travel websites, I chose Suenos Tulum for my one night stay, because the online photos were beautiful, it was right on the beach, and it received consistently good reviews. I took the ADO bus from Playa del Carmen down to Tulum, and then a taxi from the bus stop to my hotel. The bus and taxi together were only $7! Crazy cheap! (And I just have to mention that the taxis I experienced in the whole Riviera Maya area were so wonderful. Friendly drivers, clean taxis, low rates! It was such a departure from the taxi hell that is Chicago, where the drivers are usually rude or creepy and the taxis are dirty/decrepit/smelly).

Giant doors to the entrance of Suenos Tulum

Reception at Suenos

Yoga classes are held some mornings at the hotel.

The reception/lobby is filled with art, crafts and hippie/boho chic decor.

When I arrived in Tulum, the part of town I saw looked very basic and parts of it seemed a little run-down/deserted. I got lost at one point, looking for a restaurant that had closed. I was a bit nervous, (though nothing happened), but I was able to find a taxi back to my hotel pretty easily. The road along the beach, where the nicer hotels and restaurants are, was like a path through the jungle, and very cool. My hotel sat right on that main road, and had giant wooden doors enclosing the property. When I arrived, I was immediately greeted at the door, taken to reception to check in, and the (really hot!) young son of the owners took my bags up to my second floor room.

I fell in love with the hotel immediately. The property is a group of casitas on the sand, with jungle foliage all around. It is decorated in a bohemian/hippie/artsy style that I just love. Everywhere you looked, there were little vignettes of cool collected objects and nature mosaics. It was clearly decorated as a labor of love: very unique, personal and not your run-of-the-mill resort.

Arrangement of driftwood and stones on the beach.

Art and crafts filled the grounds and common areas of the hotel.

My room was so nice. Two comfy beds, fitted with mosquito nets, a ceiling fan, storage cubbies, huge sliding door onto a balcony, a perfect view of the sea, and a pretty bathroom decorated with handpainted fixtures. It is an eco-resort, so there are no outlet plugs in the room, and the electricity for the lights only comes on for a few hours at night. That being said, because it was January, I slept comfortably, even with no A/C, which is really saying something, because I like to be cool at night.

My bathroom featured Mexican tile work, and hand-painted sink and toilet. (But no electric lights or outlets - I didn't mind!)

One of two pretty, simple, comfy beds in my room.

My balcony (2nd floor - perfect view, plus privacy).

I ate lunch at the open air restaurant on site, walked/lazed along the beach for a few hours, then headed out to dinner. It was a very chill vibe, with friendly, but not overly talkative staff, and beauty everywhere. It was heaven.

Open-air restaurant

Dinner and a drink were at a roadside restaurant a few blocks away, called Casa Banana. The cocktail was delicious, and so was the food. The tall, dark, and sexy waiter laughed appreciatively at my attempt to order my meal in Spanish.

The road along the beach and through the jungle.

Mojitos and tacos at Casa Banana.

Casa Banana restaurant in Tulum - before the evening rush.

I lingered over my drink, then walked back to my hotel, stopping at Mexicarte to pick up a few handmade Mexican crafts as souvenirs. It's awesome shopping in a country with a favorable exchange rate!

At dusk, I decided to take a blanket down to the beach and gaze up at the stars on one of the loungers that the hotel set up for sunbathing. They are hard to describe: a hammock sort of thing, that looks a little like a trampoline. A whole family could lounge about on one. I had it all to myself and it was dreamy. I couldn't have imagined a more perfect moment. The stars were so bright and the waves crashing were mesmerizing.

Although the room was dimly lit (which made reading in bed nearly impossible), I did not have any trouble getting to sleep. Midway through the night, a rainstorm kicked up, but everything stayed dry, despite being open to the elements. The ceiling fan stopped during this time, so it was slightly warm then, but then came back on a while later. It probably wouldn't have been comfortable if it was during a hotter time of year.

A combination hammock/trampoline/catamaran. Very comfortable for sunning or star-gazing!

The next day, I had a delicious fresh breakfast, (included in the room rate), at the restaurant under the palapa. I thought about taking part in the yoga class, which is offered a few times a week for $10, but it was at 9:30 and I wanted to get on my way to the ruins. So I checked out, stashing my things in the reception area, and took at taxi to the ruins. They are vast and really cool. I didn't splurge for the guided tour, but there was plenty of informational signage, so I just walked around. Lots of people walked down the many stairs to the sea below for a quick dip beneath the cliff, but I didn't because I didn't want to have to walk all the way up again afterward! It was a perfect, sunny day - not too hot.

One of the tour guides claimed this was the "women's hospital" where midwives helped with babies being born.

The beach below the ruins; many steps below.

After the ruins, it was time to retrieve my luggage and head out to my stay at an all-inclusive resort in Akumal, back up the coast. I was really sad to leave, and bummed that I didn't get to explore Tulum more, do more shopping and site-seeing, or visit a cenote. I will definitely be back, and can't recommend it enough. See you next winter, Tulum!

Two days in Playa del Carmen

I've read that Playa del Carmen is a party town, so I was imagining myself dressed in a pretty sundress, high-heeled sandals, and a light tan, dancing away the night with a handsome, Latin stranger. Reality was a bit different, but I still enjoyed my two days in Playa. My hotel was adorable: the small boutique-style, La Tortuga Hotel and Spa. It was located a few blocks from the beach and one block from the main tourist street of Avenida 5, on a corner in a busy part of town.

Pool atrium of La Tortuga Hotel and Spa, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
January 2013

I was given a room on the third floor, which at first I was not happy about because there is no elevator and I hate climbing stairs (why is it sooo hard?!!). But then I found it the room came with its own private rooftop patio with a jacuzzi! Score! It was so pretty, and so private! I spent one late afternoon just sunning up there and it was so peaceful and serene.

Private, rooftop patio for sunbathing at La Tortuga

So I spent my two days in Playa del Carmen walking up and down the gorgeous beach and Avenida 5 (the tourist street with tons of restaurants, artsy shops, and touristy souvenir shops). My one mistake was walking in high heels for hours that first night and that mistake resulted in horrible blisters that put the kabosh on my late night dancing. Also, I wished I had gotten pesos from the airport ATM while I was there, because I did spend quite a bit of time walking around looking for a cash machine in Playa. Most places did not take credit cards, so having a lot of cash on hand was necessary.

I did get approached by random men a few times while I was walking around, but they were not the Don Juans that I had imagined. They were a little creepy, so I steered clear. One guy wanted me to come back to his place to look at his artwork! I'm serious! Would any woman really agree to that?! Crazy!

The beach in Playa del Carmen: gorgeous, soft sand, not overly crowded, even in January!

I tried several great restaurants, recommended from the Fodor's guide, including Cueva del Chango, and Chez Celine, and one beautiful night, I lingered over a seltzer - (I was a little too queasy for a cocktail) - my feet in the sand, and listened to a live Reggae band at the beachside bar, Fusion. The setting was perfect, but I did feel kind of wistful that I was alone and not with a "boyfriend." I think I was the only solo guest there, so a little bit of loneliness did set in. Afterward, I walked along the beach in the moonlight, then took a taxi back to my hotel. On the way back to my hotel, I passed a part of the street that was alive with throngs of people mingling, drinking and listening to loud music - it was the famed Playa "party scene!" For a moment, I considered jumping out of the taxi and joining the crowd, but my shyness, and the blisters on my feet deterred me. I continued on to my hotel and had dessert by the perfect pool, then turned in for an early night.

My time in Playa del Carmen didn't exactly turn out how I imagined it, but I did love it there and hope to go back some day - maybe next time with an outgoing, single girlfriend so that I can participate in the party scene. I'm probably too old for it, by most people's standards, but I still love the idea of dancing for hours in a tropical location, inhibitions lowered by delicious margaritas, flirting with a cute stranger, and just reveling in feeling sexy and being a woman.

Solo Travel in Mexico (from the perspective of an introvert)

There are many sites and blogs these days that talk about being a solo traveler, but one thing I haven't found are ones that come from the perspective of the introvert solo traveler. Articles talk about how to meet people, not feel lonely, and connect with other solo travelers. But to the introvert, this point of view misses the point of choosing to travel alone.

Approaching Cancun from the air. I traveled on American Airlines and was very excited to find no one sitting next to me on either side in the plane!

I love to travel by myself. In fact, it's my favorite way to travel. When I've gone on trips with other people, I usually am thinking, "I have to come back here, but next time, by myself." I feel the need to experience places on my own schedule and in a quiet, meditative way. It feels like my travel companions get in the way of really enjoying the destination. 

On the beach in Playa del Carmen. The word "gorgeous" can't begin to describe it!

Anyway, I suffer from S.A.D - Seasonal Affective Disorder - and this winter has been particularly bad in the Chicago area, so I decided to actually do something nice for myself and take a trip to Mexico. This was a very scary thought for me. I worried about the safety of traveling alone in a country that sees almost-daily headlines for kidnappings and other drug-related crimes. I worried that I would get lost or ripped off because I didn't know the language. I worried that I would have stomach problems from the water, and it would ruin my trip. I also worried that it would be cloudy and rainy, thus defeating the whole purpose of the trip. I worried constantly and gave myself panic attacks. Luckily, none of these bad things actually happened (though I did see partly cloudy skies on my last day there).

Relaxing and soaking up some Vitamin D on my private roof-top patio at La Tortuga Inn and Spa in Playa del Carmen.

I was able to use credit card mileage points and get a fairly cheap flight to Cancun for the last week in January. Then I did a bunch of research using a Fodor's travel guide (which was pretty lame because it only had a tiny number of hotel reviews), and mostly pouring over  TripAdvisor.I selected three hotels, one each in Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Akumal. I chose three different types of hotels because I couldn't decide which one would be best for me. First I stayed at La Tortuga Inn and Spa in Playa del Carmen. La Tortuga is a small boutique style hotel on a busy street just blocks from the beach. In Tulum, where I went next, I stayed at a bohemian style eco-hotel right on the beach. And then in Akumal, I stayed at a huge, all-inclusive resort right on the beach. In my next post, I will post pictures and reviews on all three ways to stay in the Riviera Maya, along with some reflections on traveling to this part of the world as a single woman in her 40s.

La Mer: Creme de la Useless Waste of Money

Oops! I did it again! I fell for celebrity endorsements of a product, spent way more money than it is intelligent to do, and now rue the day! After years of reading in  US Weekly Magazine, InStyle, and the like, how celebrities are devoted to La Mer Moisturizing Cream, I plunked down the $155 for the smallest one ounce size and tried it out. My first impression was positive. The "Creme de la Mer" comes in a white glass jar with a luxuriously substantial feel to it, like something you might find on your glamorous great-grandmother's vanity table. It's heavy and smooth and gleaming. It also comes with a little plastic paddle/scoop-type thing so that you don't have to stick your grubby fingers in the jar to retrieve the cream. The scent is also very pleasant. An old-fashioned, faint, ladylike floral. The cream is thick and white - and that's where the disappointment began. When I applied it to my undereye area, it didn't blend in easily and I had to really press and rub it in for it to absorb. This felt wrong because I was rubbing the delicate skin under my eyes, which I try not to do, feeling it makes the sagginess of that skin worse. I also tried just patting on the cream and waiting a while to see if it would absorb by itself, but it didn't. It just sat their on my very thin under-eye skin, in a cakey, unattractive fashion.

So the thick consistency is a problem, but what about the moisturizing properties? Does it do what it's supposed to do, i.e. give the skin around my eyes a dewy, youthful appearance? No, it doesn't. After an hour or so, my skin looked just as dry as usual. I also tested the cream on my hands and cuticles, which are always horribly dry looking, and it failed in that respect, as well. Within a very short time after application, the skin on my hands looked just as dry as usual. The cream had no lasting properties.

So in conclusion, this cream is a big FAIL! Too expensive, too thick, not very moisturizing. Learn from my mistakes and don't buy La Mer.