Tulum

Tulum is a very special place, still (amazingly) unspoiled by American tourism. The sand feels a little bit finer under your feet and it's a little bit whiter here due to less traffic and pollution.  Most of the resorts are eco-friendly, rustic, bungalow-type style and have a hippie, artesanal, organic, raw, yoga, meditative, wholesome, new-age, laidback, topless (or bottomless as I shockingly saw this time) feel to them!  

There are no all-inclusive resorts here, and this is definitely not on my list of "most frugal" places to go, unless you stay downtown in a hostel and eat at Aguachiles everyday, but where's the fun in that when there is a whole strip of cool and trendy restaurants and bars to try on the beach?  There are some very over-priced glorified camping places marketed as luxury eco-chic "bikini bootcamps", which I avoid at all costs.

How to Get Here:

45 min. from Playa del Carmen: take colectivo van from Calle 2 and 20 Ave.

Vans leave every 5 min. - $40 pesos fare

Where to Stay:

When I commented to my friend that it was a little out of my "frugal" budget, she convinced me to stay at this place with only 4 letters: "YOLO".  I said, "This must translate into AHAU in Mayan!"

AHAU TULUM

www.ahautulum.com

Bungalows - $900 pesos per night with fan and private bathroom

I woke up with the sound of the ocean and it was the first thing I saw, which felt amazing, then behind my hut was this raw/organic food kitchen and the "chef" was a very nice hippie Argentinian guy who prepared me a passion fruit/mango/pineapple/banana/probiotic/moringa flower shake for breakfast.  

Here is my bungalow facing the ocean and I can honestly say that life never felt this great before.

The main restaurant here serves delicious fish tacos - $140

If you want luxury:

Coqui-Coqui Hotel is very "sexy-sexy" for celebrity sitings and check out their boutique for artesanal perfumes, candles, massage oil, clothing, accessories - all homemade in Mexico.

Most unusual item:  tobacco perfume.  I ended up splurging on a perfume called "coco coco" because I wanted to smell like the beach!

Where to Eat:

Los Aguachiles

Downtown centro
Here you can eat frugally, healthy tacos are 20-30 pesos each

"Agua chidos" - lettuce tacos with ceviche

Oriental rice with watercress and prawns

JAGUAR - located right across the street from Ahau 

Organic, wholesome, hippie restaurant

Expensive option but as my friend says: "YOLO!" (you only live once).  

130 pesos for exotic fresh fruit cocktails such as hibiscus flower with basil, tamarind with coconut and lime or mango with mint.

170 pesos for brick oven pizza with shrimp

Best Ice Cream:  

Panna e Cioccolato
Artesanal ice cream, located downtown centro. 

Try their unique flavors such as cinnamon, chocolate with chile or corn!

Best Beach

Playa Azul - Hotel and Beach Club
If you just want to come for the day this is the best option as they provide a palapa for free as long as you consume.  Don't be deterred by hotel entrances, all of the hotels allow you to come in and try their restaurants even if you are not a guest.
(*may be closed in low season)

Mango, apple and cherry tomato ceviche

How to Get Around:

It's not cheap to get around in Tulum.  If you go by taxi, they will charge you 80-100 pesos to get from downtown to the hotel zone.  Rent a bicycle for 100 pesos a day or a moped for 300 pesos a day from the downtown area.  If you are lucky, you may catch the employee van that goes from the hotel zone to downtown every hour for 10 pesos.

The REAL Housewives of Mexico - Part 2

Ahhhh, where it all began...

So I went back to Irapitsburg last week and caught up with my old housewife friends...

Typical conversation with housewives of Irapuato:

"You guys are drinking now??!" I ask, surprised, to which they reply, "Well, it's after 12, and when you knew us before you only saw us at breakfast!"

"How much do you pay per slug?" asks D. out of the blue.

T. says, "you know what works the best? Beer traps!"

My interest perked immediately. "What are those?", I ask, "sounds interesting…what do you catch besides husbands?!"  

"Slugs and snails, not males, u wanna catch a husband?" T. replies

Then D. continues to talk about how the white flies have made this foamy infestation on her plants in her garden.

Nice conversations over lunch wouldn't you say?  Definitely conversations in the City of Broken Hearts do not go like this!  Our conversations are more revolved around alcohol, cigarettes and who we partied with the night before.  Actually I was complaining how at the beach there are no baptisms, no first communions, no weddings, no family reunions, I'm totally out of the social circles here.  The only circles I'm in are Alcoholics Anonymous.  No one has gardens, families or warm pots of soup stewing on the stove.  Instead, we are alone, eat take out pizza leaning over the sink and have affairs we try to forget as quickly as possible!

I was driving in a car for the first time since I left Irapuato, and there it is a whole different ball game....you have to be on the constant lookout for mopeds, bicycles, street carts, honking taxis and buses that are weaving in and out of traffic, cutting you off, people are rushing, stressed out and honking at the lights...in Playa we do not have this kind of stress!