Saturday, December 1, 2012

Boom Boom Tulum

Josh & I took off for a 10 year anniversary visit with David Keeps to Tulum for Travel+Leisure. For the past 3 years we've stayed at Coqui Coqui and had most of our meals at Hartwood. So traveling with David was like rediscovering Tulum. Coqui Coqui and Hartwood are still going to be my home away from home but now I know there are a few other options when there's no room at the inn. "In Tulum, luxury and earthiness coexist, but the coin of the realm is spirituality. It is a place known for on-site shamans, and the swankest hotel in town, Be Tulum (where the Argentinean-style rooms have limestone walls, freestanding tubs, and air-conditioning), offers something even more ambitious: for $100, the in-room menu promises that a holistic card reading will “recess your inner wisdom and clarify your paths.” Seeking a more hands-on experience, I stop at a roadside kiosk for a massage in a palapa and a take-home jar of Dijon-colored Mayan Clay, which claims to relieve sunburn, eye bags, insect bites, and depression. “Mix it with honey if you put it on your face, then wash it off in the ocean,” the salesperson advises. The idea just makes me hungry. At Casa Jaguar, where Euro-house lounge music provides a mellow backdrop for conversation, my friends and I enjoy cocktails that combine mezcal with hibiscus, cinnamon, and orange. We are joined by Jiri Filipek, a Bangkok-born former Manhattan fashion and home-décor retailer, who has set up Passage to Culture, an insiders’ concierge and tour company for Tulum visitors. “It’s like the Wild West here in a way,” she says of her new home. “If you have a dream and ambition, you can re-create your life here.”

Valla con Dios...

The New York Times has discovered one of my favorite towns the Yucatan. Hopefully it will be 20 years before they discover my other favorite. Austin Considine bit off more than he could digest when he tried the habanero in Valladolid but he survived to write about it. "Authentic: it’s a word that is frequently used when describing Valladolid. Culturally speaking, it’s a layered authenticity. The city is deeply Mayan, from the cuisine — sweet and spicy, heavy on the beans and slow-roasted pork — to the guttural consonants of the Mayan language heard on its streets. Many women wear the traditional Mayan huipil — white cotton blouses or dresses adorned with bright, flowered embroidery and sold in places like the Mercado de Artesanias, a block from the city’s beautiful, newly refurbished Parque Principal, or central square. It is also distinctly Spanish: Founded by invading Spaniards in 1543, its colonnades, pastel stucco and paving-stone streets give Valladolid an Iberian feel. The central cathedral, a fortress of ascetic Franciscan architecture, is standing room only on Sunday evenings. As in Spain, shops are often shuttered each afternoon for siesta."