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."

New York Times may have spent 36 hours in Merida

And then again they may not have. Nothing new in this New York Times article... It seems they neither wanted or needed my advise...It's about as reliable as Trip Advisor. It would be hardly worth coming to Merida for 36 hours if this is all you did.

YUCATECANS are fiercely proud of their culture, sprinkling their Spanish with Mayan words and quick to recount the stories of resistance and revolution that set this region apart from the rest of Mexico for centuries. Somehow, those tales seem a little distant now in Yucatán’s capital, Mérida, a languid city of pastel mansions and evening promenades. The city, now one of the safest in Mexico, is an architectural jewel, and has one of the country’s largest historic centers outside Mexico City. Block after block of houses dating to the mid-19th century and earlier are in the midst of a restoration boom, and the city’s cultural and restaurant scenes are flourishing.

Merida: Mexico's Foodie Hot Spot

If you read this article in Departures Magazine you'll have the impression Merida is the Foodie center of the universe. I doubt you'll leave town with the same impression unless you are invited into the private homes of Yucatecans and Expats who are fortunate enough to have a real Mayan cook from a nearby pueblo cooking their meals.

Here's another article about authentic Mayan cuisine from Mark Bittman the New York Times food columnist and friend of a friend.  This one is about his travel to the interior of the peninsula on the trail of farm fresh peasant fare.

"Almost all of this food came from their milpa (which Rosendo still works, with a hired hand), and from the garden, where there are tomatoes, pigs and chickens. With the exception of the lard and the eggs from those animals, the meal could have been produced 500 years ago, and in much the same way. It tastes like that: essential, ancient, unlike any food you’d find in a big-town restaurant."

Let's Get Spiritual

From the article "Spirited Away in Merida" by Guy Saddy for ENROUTE the inflight magazine published by Air Canada.

Although gods have shaped this place, the hand of man has also played its part. Speeding down cobblestone thoroughfares with John Powell and Josh Ramos, two ex-New Yorkers who’ve made a permanent home in Mérida restoring and leasing Spanish colonial homes, we pass street after street crammed with centuries-old architecture. The motherlode is on Paseo de Montejo, a boulevard lined with spectacular mansions; most were built during the henequén, or sisal, boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when Mérida was rumoured to have more millionaires than any other place in the world.

We shoot by Parque Santiago, where we will later dine alfresco on habanero-laced Yucatecan specialties such as sopa de lima and panuchos at La Reina Itzalana while a guitar-and-vocal duo bangs out a tune – yet more evidence that almost everywhere you go in Mérida there’s music. We pass Parque de Santa Ana, whose night vendors sell sweet, tequila-flavoured ice cream, and circle Plaza Grande.

But soon a sense of déjà vu takes over: Haven’t we been by here before? Many of the streets are dominated by pastel-, white- and cream-coloured structures, lending a uniform esthetic to much of Centro Histórico and likely the reason Mérida earned the nickname “The White City.” After a while, the streets – and, indeed, the city itself – appear to meld into a single, disorienting blur.

Slow Food

An article from the SF Gate on Merida's new slow food market.

"Slow Food International, which began in Italy, is best known for its activities in Europe, but the movement has spread to 132 countries. The aim is to preserve culinary traditions, focus on organic regional produce, and encourage healthful eating — in other words, the opposite of fast food. Though Mexico is a relative latecomer, it was a natural, and nowhere more than in the Yucatán, where tradition still rules."

"Slow Food Yucatán's first endeavor was to publish a directory of sustainable, organic food growers and artisanal food producers in Yucatán. Projects on the drawing board include rooftop gardens in Mérida, raising funds to help farmers learn organic growing and find a market for their produce, and distributing healthy lunch kits and nutritional information to school children."

How Safe is Mexico?

AOL has an article on Safety in Mexico fear factor 1 to 5.... 5 being safe.

CANCUN, THE RIVIERA MAYA AND COZUMEL

Fear Factor: 5

Cancun is one of Mexico's most popular beach resorts, which average around four million American visitors per year. Last year a retired Mexican general investigating corruption was assassinated by drug traffickers, but that's been an isolated event. Over-consumption of alcohol by younger tourists is a problem, and there have been rapes. But on the whole, Cancun is extremely safe. "The leading cause of foreign tourist deaths in Cancun is heart attacks, car accidents and accidental drowning," says Canadian writer Marlo-Renay Heresco, a Cancun resident who blogs about her life in Mexico on her website, atravelartist.com. "The key to success when traveling or living abroad is exercising common sense." The Riviera Maya (the Yucatan coast stretching south from Cancun) has little to fear beyond sunburn. The island of Cozumel off the Riviera Maya is a popular, very safe destination for cruise ships, where problems are the occasional purse-snatching or picked pocket.

MERIDA AND THE MAYAN RUINS IN YUCATAN

Fear Factor: 5

Although many people visit Chichen Itza on day-trips from Cancun, Merida is the gateway to comprehensive exploration of Uxmal and other significant Mayan ruins scattered across the state of Yucatan. Merida is a quiet, charming city, and the main ruins have well-organized tours and visitor's centers, as well as guards. In addition to hotels in Merida, the Yucatan has a number of colonial-era haciendas that have been converted into small resorts. Mayan villagers are welcoming. Here again, it's not a good idea to drive on unlighted roads at night, but central Merida's busy colonial-era streets are safe to stroll at night. "Mexico is a large country... deciding not to travel "to Mexico" because of violence is like saying you won't go to New York because of a murder in Denver," says Merida resident Ellen Fields. " Yes, there are places in Mexico where violence is on the rise. Where I live, Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula, and the nearby Mayan Riviera, has not seen this violence and is a very safe place to visit or to live."

MEXICO CITY

Fear Factor: 4.75

No one thinks twice about visiting our nation's capital, and the same should go for Mexico's capital. In 2008, Mexico City had a homicide rate of nine for every 100,000 people, while Washington D.C. had a rate of more than 30 per 100,000 -- over three times higher. Visitors to Mexico City should exercise the same precautions taken in any of the world's big cities; sticking to busy, central areas and remaining aware of one's surroundings. It's very important to take only radio-issued taxis or taxis from official stands, never the "libre" (independent) or Volkswagen cabs, as there have been many instances of robbery and kidnapping. Don't walk at night except short distances on busy streets. This is an exciting city full of museums, art galleries and fabulous restaurants, not to be missed. Most people include a visit nearby to the majestic ruins of Teotihuacan, which are well patrolled and perfectly safe, with a visitor's center and organized guides.