Climbing the Pyramids of Coba, Mexico with My Family

Steven, my dad, at the foot of the Nohoch Mul Pyramid. 

Coba is near Tulum, Mexico. We went in June 2011. 

Susan, my mom, and dad climbing their way up. It's about 95 out.

Almost there.

Dad, Mom, & Steven Jr taking a breather in patch of shade.

Requisite vanity shot at the top. (Wish I would have taken one with the whole family up there).

View of endless jungle. The Caribbean is out there somewhere. 

Making our way down. 

And down . . .

And down. Sara, my sis, sporting a bandana. 

What I wish I had known before driving a rental in Mexico.

For some reason when I think about driving in Mexico I picture scenes from the 1980 movie Herby Goes Bananas.

In this endearing Disney flick a VW bug with a mind of its own helps break up a crime ring based in Mexico City. If I remember correctly, the movie features traffic jams, car chases down sidewalks and impossibly narrow streets, and ends in a car pile-up involving strategically placed banana peals.

While all in good fun, the overall impression of the film is that Mexico has the worst traffic and roads on the planet. With Herby as my only Mexican driving experience, I was terrified to drive.

Either the roads have improved since 1980, or Herby just isn't a good indication for Mexican driving. I found the roads in the Yucatan Peninsula easy to navigate and in excellent condition.

I would suggest three tips to anyone renting a car in the Yucatan area of Mexico:

1. Stop signs are merely suggestions. Its just a fact of life on rural roads. I came to a full stop once, just out of the airport and was nearly honked off the road. Stop lights, however, are serious business.

2. Leave your ego at the border. On two lane roads Mexican drivers are extremely courteous. If they sense that you would like to pass them, they will pull over into the shoulder. Go ahead, let those eager drivers behind you pass without any road rage.

3. Watch out for speed bumps. Every Mexican town and village is equipped with massive road bumps called Topes. Take heed, and drive slow, or you might loose a tail pipe.

In the Yucatan a car's the way to go. There are so many beaches and Mayan ruins to explore, I couldn't think of any other way to properly visit.

Introducing VRBO.com

About a year ago, my good friend Lar Macfar introduced me to an excellent vacation rental website www.vrbo.com. He uses it to book condos and houses mostly in Kauai, where he likes to vacation on the Princeville side of things with his wife and kids.

He suggests making an initial offer of about half the posted price on two or three properties, live with the original rejection, and then to check back with the house a week or two before your vacation date for a good deal.

Last week, I booked a dream of a house on the beach in Tulum, Mexico for $250 a night following Lar's advice. The four bedrooms, rooftop deck, and beachfront hammocks were worth every peso.

Below are some photos of some real estate on Tulum Beach I captured with my blackberry. My family liked Tulum better than Hawaii.

Swimming in the water is like flying through a sunny blue sky.

Dream Vacation Rental (Must be the palapa-style dormer windows)

Villa Tortuga where I stayed with my fam (behind all the coco palms)

Interesting Chic-Shack Abode

Swiss Family Robinson Style Vacation Home

Damn that Lock!: Banyan Tree Mayakoba

The Banyan Tree Mayakoba is beautiful and all that.

I stayed in one of the resort's villas. Extremely spacious, these rooms have three basic parts: living room and dining room, pool, and bedroom/bathroom. Here's a description from the website:

Feel at home in a unique pool villa tastefully decorated with handcrafted Mayan furnishings, yet retaining its modern comforts. Each freestanding villa curls around its own individual garden area, creating a private yet spacious outdoor area, in a unique layout drawn from courtyard houses of the Far East. Each villa also enjoys lush greenery and private swimming pools that begin from 30sqm.

Sounds nice, doesn't it? When I am escorted into my room, the attendant suggests I leave one key on the dining-room table (separated from the bedroom/bathroom by a garden and pool), in case I get locked out of my bedroom.

What?

Imediately, I imagine several lock-out scenarios:

• Slipping outside for a moon-lit skinny dip in my private pool
• Getting an apple from the fruit tray in the living room area
• Walking out for the morning newspaper
• Checking the weather

Each scenario ends with an awkward phone call. "This is Mr. Bartholomew. I'm calling you from my living room. I'm locked out of my bedroom, and happen to be indecently dressed.  Could you please send someone over? I'd prefer if they'd throw the key over the gate."

I had a difficult time relaxing in my room, and my pool, and my living room area. I wish the hotel would have supplied a neck lanyard or techno wristband for my key.

Its really stressful to constantly keep track of a room key. The Banyan Tree Mayakoba should throw in a complimentary massage with every guestroom to help with the anxiety.

Zoetry Wellness & Spa Resort: Fat Camp Disguised as Luxury Getaway

 Note to self: Don't ever put detailed calorie breakdowns on menus, especially at a resort. 

We arrive at Zoetry Wellness & Spa Resort just before lunch. Zoetry is a luxury all-inclusive resort just 15 minutes south of Cancun. It's on a beautiful stretch of beach, but the resort needs some help.

Veronica and Nacho welcome us in the open-air lobby just as a "Mayan cleansing ritual," called Temascal, begins.  A man in traditional Mayan garb walks around a fountain with a smoking chalice. Six or seven chubby Americans follow him in nervous conga line fashion. After a few circumambulations, the guy in the Mayan loincloth wafts smoke into each of the participants faces. Then the procession marches down the sidewalk to a stucco pyramid, opens a full length door, and disappears.

Nacho, explaining: "You usually have to crawl into the small openings of traditional temascal huts. We thought it would be too hard for our guests, so we made it bigger, and put in a regular door."

They call their very standard steam room a temascal hut. I don't know how I feel about that.

At lunch Connie mentions I will be going to Dubai in a few days. We digress into a pop environmentalism monologue.

Nacho: "I saw a special on the Discovery Chanel about those islands they have in Dubai. They think they are invincible, but they should have learned from the mistakes of others." He continues in a Sodom and Gomorrah accusatory kind of tone, "In Cancun, they ignored the natural paths of the currents and storms, now they are paying the price. But here," We look down the beach, "We are built on the natural coast line." 

I doubt the builders of Zoetry learned much from others.

I find its kind of luxury amateur at best. With selective bulldozing, and a few million in corrective surgery, this place could do justice to the turquoise water and golden sand at its front door.

Anachromism on the Caribbean: Ritz-Carlton Cancun

The Ritz-Carlton Cancun exists as an icon of brand culture, but of Ritz-Carlton culture of the 1990s. Walking into the lobby and observing the decor, staff uniforms, and language, is a bit like walking into a colonial reenactment plantation in Georgia. The whole thing feels like a stage set somehow, conveying a sense of luxury, but how it used to be.

"They still have to wear pantyhose to work!" Connie half whispered on our tour with Sales Director, Mariana.

In the public areas of the hotel, we passed 18th Century Spanish portraits, copies of Watteau, sparkling chandeliers, sunbursts and marble halls.

At lunch, discussing programs I might consider bringing to the Ritz, I couldn't help but notice how the weight of tradition seemed to weigh down on Mariana, Catholicly.

I wonder what conversations might go on in the sales office about the gleaming white, beach chic properties down the street, steps away from mega clubs where youth and the young at heart evangelically dance and celebrate life. "How, will we stay relevant to the young generation?" a director might ask.

Later, during our tour of the spa: "Mr. Bartholomew, I have taken the liberty to book you an appointment tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m." Mariana did not mess around. Like all the staff here, she anticipated my slightest whim and proactively ensured its fulfillment. 

With the breeze and sunshine streaming in from my ocean-front balcony starting at 5:30 a.m. I had no trouble getting up in time for my appointment.

While it may feel a bit old-fashioned, the service level and dedication of the Ritz Cancun staff continue to inspire. And for this reason alone, this white-gloved anachronism on the Caribbean is worth a stay.

My New Favorite Hotel: Rosewood Mayakoba

"Rosewood Mayakoba has a completely different ambiance at night." Tulio depresses the golf cart's accelerator and we roll to a stop by one of the resort's Beach Front Suites. We enter a suite, encountering perfectly-designed everything.

But we ignore all that.

Before us, through two sliding glass doors, lies a terrace, two loungers, a simple plunge pool, a strip of sand, and our own private Caribbean. We step onto the terrace.

"The breeze is very fresh." Tulio pauses a moment. The twilight view requires a slow, deep, salty breath.

"But I sure wish it had an outdoor shower!" Connie turns to inspect the bathroom.

"I second that."

The rooms we're staying in, Over-water Lagoon Suites, have outdoor showers. I find mine to be the perfect mix of absolute privacy and exhibitionist thrill.

If you're not into that, there are always the ocean-front rooms.

Mexico is Safe and Thriving: Well, the Yucatan at Least.

I've been in Cancun for about a week now. And seriously, what's all the fuss about? This place is thriving with billions in investment. The biggest danger posed to tourists are the drunk foreign teens falling off of their hotel balconies during Spring Break.

Suprise #1:Cancun is a world-class family destination.

Forget Disney. I've visited and spoken with reps from some incredible ecological parks fit for families of any age. For starters, take a look at Xcaret, Xplor, Rio Secreto, Xel-Ha.  These parks integrate the unique culture and environment of the Yucatan into world-class, dare I say, theme parks.

As much as I love Disney, I sometimes sense an underlying snark or some loss of dignity vibe from employees because they work at a theme park.  I'm generalizing here, but all the employees I encountered love their jobs, and love showing off their hospitality role (stellar English included).

Suprise #2: Cancun's night clubs are worth a trip. 

Do you ever feel a sense of nostalgia for night club acts of those 40s dance movies, I love lucy, and White Christmas? The genre is alive and well in Cancun. Sure, its sexed up, but it's incredible how much investment and innovation goes into Coco Bongo's shows.  My hosts from International Incentive Travel, a destination management company in Cancun, insisted on taking me, and I acquiesced mostly to be a good guest.  The show opened with a rocked-out version of Phantom, including areal dancing, trapeze acts and chorus lines. And that was just the beginning.

Suprise #3: The economy is hopping down here.

2009 is considered the bad employment year down here, but things have totally turned around. I came with the false assumption that Cancun was hurting with the bad press about Mexico in the USA. I've toured new properties, golf courses, and hotels in construction,  representing billions of USD in investment.  My host, Erika, shook her head at the one kid we saw trying to bum change off drivers by washing windshields. "I don't know why he's doing that. Everybody can get a job here," She explained.

British Airways, Air Europa, and Condor Air are introducing new nonstop flights from European capitols whilst US carriers continue to cut back. What's going on? Why does mob-mentality fear keep the US masses from visiting?

Cancun is safe, there billions of investment dollars at work here, and you aren't going to find the parks and Mayan ruins anywhere else on the planet.

I'm coming back soon, and bringing my whole family with me.

Is Mexico Safe?

"Listen to me Chris, nobody wants to go to Mexico. And I'm starting to wonder myself if it's a bad idea. I don't think I want to go anymore." Kate was on the other end of the line. My silence was not helping build her confidence. She continued,"We'll figure this out. But I'm worried."

Kate's response is pretty typical, and understandable. The US news media runs stories of drug-related beheadings and corpses dissolved in vats of acid on a daily basis. Even with the real and terrifying drug war going on in the country, I'm confident my incentive trip for 300, 40-minutes south of Cancun, is not in danger.

But I still feel bad for Mexico's real and perceived problems. To help, I'll keep sending my deposit checks to the Fairmont Mayakoba, and keep praying the situation improves.

Last Thursday, I went out to sushi with my friend Susana from Visit Salt Lake. Her parents are from Mexico. "He just had to get away!" She described how her little brother got into drug and gang trouble in Utah. ". . .and then he moved to Mexico.  He cleaned himself up. He's working hard, and he just moved to Cancun where he's selling time share condos at the Mayan Palace. He's a new man now."

She told me how her grandparents found bodies, dumped by the cartels, on their ranch in Zacatecas. "But Cancun is different," she assured me, "All the police in Mexico are corrupt. But the police in Cancun are soldiers from the Mexican Army. They aren't the same. You're safe there."

I'm headed to Cancun on Tuesday night. I have a schedule full of hotel visits, restaurant tours, and venue sites.  The way I see it, to visit Mexico right now is to seize a golden opportunity. Rates are as low as you'll find them, and the beaches promise to be as sun-kissed and empty as ever.

Get me on that plane! I can't tell you how excited I am for the food.

"Mexico: safer than Canada," The Economist, 24 Aug 2010.

Announcing Montage Cabo San Lucas

In anticipation of my stay at the brand new Montage Deer Valley tomorrow night, I've lifted a segment of an interview with Montage founder Alan Fuerstman from the April 2010 edition of Enigma magazine:

What is your future vision for the Montage brand?

 

The next Montage to open will be the Montage Deer Valley, which is in Park City, Utah. It’s a mountain resort, ski in and ski out, but a resort that will also have appeal on a year round basis. Again, it’s a magnificent location. It’s probably the preeminent ski mountain in North America. It has all the physical attributes of the top of the line resorts with all the comforts of the 21^st century. We went all around the world and looked at the best ski resorts and integrated some of those facets into the design of the property. It should quickly become the top ski and mountain destination resort in all of North America. 

We’re also working on a project in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Some of the finest resorts in the world are in Cabo and I feel we have the best location in all of Cabo. We are very disciplined about building Montage hotels and resorts in destinations reflective of the best locations in a given market. They are also all destinations that already have some great luxury hotels. From a risk perspective, that’s a smart way of doing business. We aren’t trying to create a new market for luxury; we are going into an already existing market with superior locations and products and combining that with a type of service we’re becoming known for. With those elements we should be able to ensure the greatest opportunity for success.