Travel To Wellness Inc.

MEXICO: MAYA TULUM WELLNESS RETREAT & SPA

by Wenda Thomson

The Spa: MayaTulum, Mexico

Location: Two hours south of Cancun by car/taxi or spa-provided vehicle and quietly sitting on a secluded pristine beach along Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, MayaTalum is an absolutely wondrous wellness retreat.

The Environment: If you’re looking for plush white terry cloth robes and intent on lounging with a laptop beachside surrounded by bushels of Blackberries and sandy cellular phones, this is not the place for you. Power is supplied solely by dependable generators. There is only one phone line in for guests for emergencies but user-friendly pay phones are present. Online access was available only and sporadically at the front desk. Guests are there to get a way from “it” all- I can only describe them affectionately as well-heeled but barefoot at all times. Casual and unpretentious, MayaTulum was nonetheless voted by Travel and Leisure Magazine in 2004 and Forbes Magazine in 2005 in their top ten resorts. It’s splendidly serene.

The Distinction: The spa’s signature forte is their MBS (Mind-Body-Spirit Program)offering excellent package deals. The seven-night option includes accommodations, three meals/day, two spa treatments, two half-day tours, unlimited yoga and round-trip to the airport transportation.

The Experience: An impressive and vast slew of the usual spa suspects in terms of treatments are readily available. I chose the more distinctly Mexican options including the reasonable priced Temazcal. Dating back to the days of the Aztecs this sweat lodge was traditionally used for cleansing the body as well as the therapeutic process of cleansing mind and soul.

I also tried the Mayan Youth Keene an ancient Mayan healing therapy emphasizing the importance of the navel region as the body’s “power center”. This marvelous full body massage focuses on the readjustment of internal abdominal organs. I absolutely recommend it for anyone with digestive or reproductive issues.

Accommodations: The lodgings (garden, beach front or ocean view) consist of 44 immaculate cabanas - meticulously maintained thatched huts with garden, beach or ocean views. Tastefully but minimally decorated, they have huge windows, bathrooms (with showers only) and quaint sitting areas.

What to Eat: All meals are served in an exquisite ocean-side palapa (thatched hut) featuring a vegetarian buffet which never failed to astonish with its inventive scrumptious selections. I’m no veggie but even I, not for a moment, entertained marinating the pudgy lizard sunning outside my cabana. One can also order from extensive main menus featuring an array of fresh fish, pastas, sandwiches for instance. (Lunches approx. $ 5.00, dinners $ 10.00
plus at time of our visit). Those pining for a Pina Colada need not fret as there is a full bar.

The Cost: Massages are in the $ 80.00- $ 115.00 range, facials $ 70.00, body wraps $80.00, Special Treatments (Mayan and Ayurvedic up to $ 200.00) (Please note that these prices are quoted in U.S. dollars and were in effect at the time of our visit. Check with the resort for current prices before you go.)

Beyond The Spa: If you are itching for excursions pyramids aplenty abound and trips are available to those at Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza. Alternatively one can snorkel on the barrier reef, swim in the cenotes (fresh water sink holes) or wander the wondrous Sian Kaan (a 1.4 million acre biosphere conservation area) and revel in the floral and fauna. A ten-minute taxi ride will take you to the closest tiny town of Tulum and a smattering of shops, offering various clothing, lovely original jewelry and crafts.

What I liked best: Perhaps this is best summed up by what is not there- MayaTulum is innocent of attitude, electronic “do-dads” and the “Who are you and what do you do?” conversations/nightmares.

The soothing simplicity and solitude of the location and the spa itself as well as the casual warmth and camaraderie of the fellow guests and staff make for an ideal escape and a restorative return to precious privacy.

Basic perhaps by some spa standards, but MayaTulum is to be applauded for the beloved attention to environmental respect, belief in its ancient forms of healing, cleanliness and sincere attention to guests’ satisfaction. During our last languid sea-side lunch my new friend Romi, a now noticeably decompressed attorney, and somewhat of an avocado aficionado, spooned a delicately spiced glob of green into her mouth and grinning announced, “I think I’ve just had a guacasm,” Romi, like many, I learned is a return guest to MayaTulum.

Words to the Wise: Pack a flashlight and depending on the season, insect repellant- oh and try not to grin too obviously when you inform your astonished boss that you are going to be virtually incommunicado.