the creme du jour: Tulum.

This trip was one of my best. A few of us piled into a jet and flew down to México for some sun and fun over the Christmas break. After a seven hour trip to Cancun via México City and a two hour drive from Cancun, we finally took a left onto RT 109 in Tulum. This is a magical little strip of road parallel to the beach that's filled with smaller boutique hotels, dimly lit restaurants and some of the kindest and best looking squatters/swingers/hippies/philosophers/musicians/artists/yogis around. This part of Tulum is very different than the downtown area that I've visited twice before. Both are unique in their own way but our hosts at Casa Luna Limon, who own and operate a production company (http://www.gorilafilms.com), provided us with the opportunity to experience Tulum in the way they live it. Here are a few highlights: fresh squeezed juice and chilaquiles each morning, family style Méxican dinners, dance parties on the beach, a super close call with two wild dogs, guided tours of cliff jumps-yep I did it-and cenotes (underground fresh water systems) that are not advertised to tourists (scariest thing I've done in awhile), knowledge of the best and cheapest places to buy ceviche, pool parties, taco lunch for 4 people for $13 bucks, a group bike ride past the check point to the Sian Ka'an reserve at the end of RT 109 for a ridiculous lunch on top of some hotel we didn't know existed and then a mad dash home at dusk on a dark, dirt road with no lights or reflectors on our bikes, a self guided tour of Pablo Escobar's abandoned home 'Casa Magna', evening music session including didgeridoo lessons for Kayte with some guys living in a tent city across the street from our place and then a moonlight jam session on the beach-for real, body painting, body surfing, skinny dipping, coconut harvesting, storytelling, some tequila and a whole lot of other stuff. Oh yeah...music, music, music--our hosts had the BEST taste in music and played it from about 10am-12am. Amazing.

This was our lunch while visiting The Sian Ka'an Reserve.

Kayte and Felix on our way back from Pet Cemetery Cenotes.

Lunch in The Sian Ka'an Reserve.

This ladder down through a tiny, dark hole in the ground led us to the fresh water cenote we swam through for about an hour. Clearance above our heads was about a foot at some points. Yeah. I didn't appreciate Kayte biting my toe 1/2 way through. We all made it and I'm glad we did. It was so incredibly beautiful.