Mexico December 2022

It's a very long time since I agreed to this trip. I'm anxious. Its not the company, although we are an odd bunch. Or the destination, because Mexico is high on my as yet uncharted bucket list.

It's the style of holiday we are going on.

Upmarket, but nonetheless fun in the sun with none of the inconvenience of moving out of your comfort zone.

Perhaps I feel like I'm letting myself down. Eleven hours on a plane. To Mexico. That enthralling land, so rich in history, with danger in the best possible sense around every corner for the traveller.

We usually absolutely love a local beach bar, and food at a hippie food shack.

We are three couples. And the birthday girl chose her venue. We are hangers on. And no one forced us!

I think this WhatsApp posted on day 3 sums up my fear!

We were five star bound, no cattle class for us this trip. Extra legroom, real glasses and steel cutlery.

Our destination airport, Cancun, I literally knew no more than this even on the plane. No transport planning required. I'm ashamed to say I didn't even know the name of the no doubt luxurious resort we were headed for!

Not travelling, but tourism. Food from every continent available in multiple restaurants themed to perfection. Mexican Disney on sea.

Paradise for some, but for me as far from my own view of travelling as a boarding house in Blackpool.

I came under no duress. In fact I was looking forward to a beach holiday. What scared me was the complete lack of familiarity with this form of travel. Thoughtfree effortless comfort, seemingly devoid of any relationship with where in the world we were going.

The passengers clapped when the Captain told us it was 30*c in Cancun.

We arrived at Secrets Resort, Akumal near Tulum. Its beautiful. Recently acknowledged with 5 diamond stars, whatever that is.

I tried hard to see a down side. Our room was enormous, with private pool which allowed us to swim up to our room. A fridge stocked with inclusive drinks, the biggest bed you've ever seen. A bar within meters of our rooms. Silence when the door shut.

The breakfast selection was ridiculous, lunches were extravagant affairs. Dining covered French, Italian, Mexican, sea food, steak house, tepanyaki, and I'm sure there were still places to find! I was lost several times. The staff had an incredibly happy disposition. There was free yoga, dance classes, tequila tasting, Spanish lessons, there was literally everything! There's even a 24 hour porn channel which did not go unnoticed by our travel companions. We had true belly laughs, loved the weather, and I ndulged.

So I relented. I loved it. Relaxed more than I've done in a very long time. Fuelled by a steady stream of beverage that should probably knock a grown man to the gutter.

Guess what? It felt like Mexico too. The sea was beautiful. There was a spectacular reef along our beach. The staff were local. Margaritas and tequila freely available.

As for food, the selection was spectacular. I chose rare tuna steak at the seafood place, a massive succulent sirloin at the steak place, ossobuco at the Italian, filet mignion at the French place. Asian fusion allowed us to mix Vietnamese spring rolls with soft shell crab, Goyza, sashimi, tempura, sushi, and that was all even before the main course. Lunch was wood fired pizza or luxurious beach surf and turf. The inclusive package allowed us to sample every imaginable cocktail, all far too sweet for my taste, as well as endless beers, even beers with frozen margarita top, and a wine list that is really pretty good without the need to shop the menu for fine wines.

The hotel was spotless and bars, night clubs, swim up bars, sports bars, coffee shops, and margarita stalls abound.

Our travel companions were not in the least intrusive, and we had an unspoken agreement that we did whatever we wanted to do and if it coincides then we did it together.

We managed nearly five days without thinking about leaving the resort. Then we took an Airbnb trip to see Cenotes. These are sinkholes, resulting from the collapse of limestone, exposing crystal clear groundwater. In the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, cenotes were commonly used for water supplies by the ancient Maya, and occasionally for sacrificial offerings.

We chose a trip to include unnamed Cenotes, local cookery and bike tour.

We headed for Chemuyil and visited 4 Cenotes, three private and one larger named Cenote Xunnaan Ha.

The water felt cold but in fact had fixed 24*c temperature. The coldness was due to the marked contrast to the 31*c air.

The Cenotes dropped down into stalactite roofed caves and we bravely dived to get from one cave to the next! A real life adventure.

A good site for local info is https://travelmexicosolo.com/best-tulum-cenotes/

We cycled between the Cenotes on rickety bikes adding to the experience as we rattled through the estate where our tour guide lived. He showed us the school and took us to the local Verdura vendor to buy spices at local prices. We learned about some of the difficulties of the Mexican education system and health care.

Gill our guide started the tour at his relatively humble home. He showed us how to prepare an authentic Mayan pork stew. Cochinita pibil is a traditional Yucatec Mayan dish. Preparation of the traditional cochinita involves marinating the meat in strongly acidic sour orange juices, adding annatto (achiote) seed, which imparts a vivid burnt orange color, and roasting the meat in a pot while it is wrapped in smoked banana leaf to give extra flavour. We also mixed up a powerful chilli sauce made from ground roast habanero mixed with salt and citrus. Red Onion salsa marinated in lime. The host cooked the pork for the two hours that it took for our bike tour.

On our return from the Cenote we had a real feast of Cochinita eaten in the traditional way using piles of yellow corn tortillas, washed down with super sweetened rice milk. Delicious.

To top off a great local tour we jumped on a local workers minibus back to our resort, surrounded by Mexicans snoring away, loudly sucking boiled sweets, and happily chatting on their phones. Real life as we had requested!

Back at the resort the staff were shocked to see us climb out of the local bus and rushed about to get us cold flannels. Well at least we had left the resort, my guess is we were a tiny minority who bothered.

Back at the resort our five star luxury continued. The trip to Chemuyil had tickled our adventure buds and we decided to trip out again later in the week to Tulum archeological site.

We took a taxi and found the ancient Mayan site easily. We ignored local guides who offered to skip the queues for a price. We strongly recommend in all such cases looking at the queue yourself before being hoodwinked into paying extra. Turned out automatic ticket machines were available and 85 Paseo secured entry with no queue. (£3.50 approx)

We did splash 47 USD$ on an official guide - mainly because our incongruous host stood out from the others with his extraordinary Dick Vandyke British accent, he might as well have been carrying a chimney sweeps brush! We were so glad we did because he illuminated the Mayan history for us and elevated what would otherwise have been a very hot walk around the attractive gardens to a cultural, historical and even philosophical experience!

Culturally sated, we took a local cab about 7km back to Tulum town where a sudden full monsoon turned the side streets to a surging torrent. As we ordered spicy margaritas we smuggly estimated our trip cost about a quarter of the price offered by reception at our hotel.

Of course we found a series of excellent bars and restaurants to keep dry in. This Tulum link is particularly helpful:

https://mexicodave.com/tulum-travel

It seemed pretty hard to go wrong here and there was definitely more of the traveller vibe we are familiar with.

Back at the resort the holiday flashed past. I'm very glad to say I've loved it, properly relaxed. Fully converted to the resort style holiday.

Upsides are plentiful. Downsides few. It's slightly more expensive than solo travelling, but the food and accomodation is so much better! The feeling of freedom and exploration is lost in exchange for luxury and pampering.

My fear of being stranded not knowing culturally where in the world we were was exposed as a complete myth.

I even realised that hippie food shacks are also pretty much the same the world over.