Detour at Yucatan

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This was published 13 years ago

Detour at Yucatan

The real Cancun is more than its fleshpot reputation.

The real Cancun is more than its fleshpot reputation.Credit: Reuters

Lance Richardson discovers diving caves and a beach cabana beyond the bristling high-rise of Cancun.

In the 2003 documentary The Real Cancun, 16 American college students travel to the Caribbean coastal city for spring break. What follows is the stuff of stereotype: sunbathing, over-privilege, alcohol abuse and disappearing bikinis. While the impulse of most critics was to shrug off the film as frivolous nonsense, this "real" Cancun was more MTV exaggeration than outright fantasy. Every year - like Australia's schoolies - thousands of kids descend on the white beaches of this famous Mexican balneario (seaside resort), along with honeymooners, American families and European holidaymakers intent on having a good time in an exotic locale.

Many countries have an exotic fleshpot of choice: British travellers head to Spain's Ibiza; Australians to Bali and the party zone of Kuta Beach. For Americans, Mexico has long served this role, particularly the anything-goes border towns, such as Tijuana and the port town of Acapulco, popularised by Hollywood in the 1950s. Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula is the product of a deliberate marketing strategy that recognised the economic value of this type of destination and attempted to build one from scratch.

View from the beach bar at Om Tulum Hotel.

View from the beach bar at Om Tulum Hotel.Credit: Lance Richardson

Gazing north across the Caribbean Sea from the Hotel Zone towards the Isla Mujeres, it's still possible to get a sense of the natural wonder of the Yucatan coast that existed here before 1970. The water is warm, graduating through a tropical spectrum of green and blue. But on the shore, expensive resorts now litter the dunes where thick marshes and secluded beaches could be found just 40 years ago. From 1969, Cancun was systematically developed by a Mexican government that sought to create a dedicated tourist zone on the sickle-shaped beach separated from the mainland by the Nichupte, a large lagoon. So successful was this project that continual development has caused ecological damage to the delicate lagoon ecosystem. There was a dark irony in staging last year's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, a place where everything visible has been changed by man's hand.

In search of something a little less constructed, we catch a bus south along what is sometimes referred to as the Riviera Maya, past Puerto Morelos and the famous nightspots of Playa del Carmen. Only 90 minutes from Cancun International Airport is the comparatively modest town of Tulum.

Tulum is the collective name for three elements: the pueblo, or inland town; the lengthy beach; and the spectacular Mayan ruin overlooking the Caribbean. If Cancun has the aura of a frenetic Las Vegas transplanted to a tropical clime, then Tulum is its laid-back cousin. It caters to tourists but it does so while retaining an essential Mexicanness.

Our initial destination is the beach and after a short cab ride and impromptu Spanish lesson ("Yo," says the driver, indicating himself), we pull up outside the Om Tulum Hotel, a collection of 10 cabanas just off the sand.

Tulum Beach stretches from the Mayan ruin to the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve and the fishing village of Boca Paila. Along this expanse are a series of hotels and "beach clubs", where one can find anything from deck chairs to towel hire.

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At first sight, this arrangement might seem cosmetically similar to Cancun, albeit on a modest scale. It's still possible, for example, to spend $200 on a massage here or have a full-body clay treatment applied by a team of women in white smocks. But unlike Cancun, these establishments are nearly all eco-friendly and boutique, stunted in growth by two notable deficiencies: conventional plumbing and electricity. A lack of grid access means many hotels rely on generators and some - Om included - turn these off about 11pm. Om has traditional thatched roofs to aid air circulation, forbids hairdryers in order to save electricity and has on-site water treatment.

Simplicity doesn't mean deprivation, however; rooms are more than comfortable and, like a number of hotels in the area, Om has a restaurant that brings in its produce daily. This means incredibly fresh meals of seafood and wood-fired pizzas, or tequila-marinated chicken for something with a little extra zing.

Right outside the restaurant window is the beach itself, with the finest sand imaginable. We settle for recliners and an umbrella, then neither of us move for two days except to retrieve pesos to pay a hawker selling chilli-encrusted papaya.

Serious relaxation reaches its apex on this beach, where beer is sporadically unavailable because the delivery man forgets to wake from his siesta. Nobody minds, though - we're too busy dozing the afternoon away as well.

Nevertheless, it's worth stirring and heading a few kilometres into the town of Tulum to appreciate the other things that make it a worthy antidote to Cancun. Housing most of the local workers, Tulum pueblo is a ramshackle collection of shops, bars and tour companies huddled along a main street. Here it's possible to find restaurants where the cosmopolitan menus of the beach kitchens are replaced by more traditional Mexican fare (and more traditional Mexican prices, though the Yucatan still out-charges the rest of the country). While the town is far from picturesque, it's the site of a prosperous community that is yet to be displaced by airconditioned shopping malls. Tourism finances the area but tortillarias filled with locals sit alongside internet cafes selling international phone cards.

While it's tempting to remain confined to the beach, a hire car is handy for day trips to the Yucatan's famous cenotes, or freshwater pools, many connected via subterranean caverns. We choose the Gran Cenote, located outside the pueblo on the road to the Mayan ruins of Coba. Descending a staircase onto a wooden platform, divers disappear into dark caves or snorkel on the surface.

With light playing on the pool and illuminating the cavern walls, it's difficult to imagine a more stunning swimming spot. The water is fresh and clear - a strict no-sunscreen policy is enforced to minimise contamination.

As impressive as the cenotes are, the area's main drawcard is the pre-Columbian ruin overlooking the ocean. Conscious of crowds, we head to the archaeological zone early, though even at 8am, buses are lined up in preparation for another busy day.

Tulum's ruins are the remainder of a once-vibrant Mayan port city, a series of imposing stone structures built along cliffs. While Chichen Itza, the most famous Yucatan ruin, is periodically reduced to a backdrop for light-and-sound spectaculars featuring the likes of Elton John and his red piano, Tulum retains a quiet dignity.

El Castillo is a temple-topped pyramid with columns shaped like rattlesnakes. Erected on the bluff and covered with iguanas, its size still has the power to elicit awe.

A pristine beach behind the Castillo can be reached by a wooden staircase. From the top, I can see bikini-clad sunbathers and I contemplate how different the original residents must have been. Indeed, the entire ruin creates a symbolic contrast with Cancun: an old and new world brought into sharp relief.

FAST FACTS

Getting there

Qantas has a fare to Cancun for about $2626: to Los Angeles (about 14hr), then American Airlines to Dallas (3hr), then Cancun (2hr 30min). A number of airlines can be used from Los Angeles on this fare, which is low-season return from Melbourne and Sydney, including tax. Australians travelling through the US must apply for authorisation before departure at https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov.

Tulum is a 90-minute drive south of Cancun on the Mexico 307 highway and serviced hourly by ADO buses from Cancun City bus station.

Getting around

The most convenient way to explore is to rent a car from one of the reasonably priced dealers in the pueblo, such as Europcar. Taxis are readily available, though comparatively expensive. Hire cars, taxis and bicycles can be arranged through hotels.

Staying there

When booking accommodation, be clear about whether the hotel is in the pueblo or the beach area. If it is on the beach, check whether it is on the ocean side or jungle side of the road — the latter is cheaper but further from the water. The north end of the beach also has more hotels than the end closest to the biosphere reserve. Accommodation on the beach ranges from basic to deluxe. Om Tulum Hotel is a mid-range option, with rooms from $US119 ($116). Ask for a second-storey room; see tulum-playa.com.

Things to do

The Tulum ruins in the archaeological zone are open daily from 8am-5pm. English-language tours are available and the beach is worth visiting to cool off at the end. Entrance fee is 38 pesos ($3). Take drinking water.

Dozens of cenotes are open to the public across the Yucatan Peninsula. The Gran Cenote is open daily for cave diving and snorkelling. Admission for snorkelling is 120 pesos. Guided diving packages are also available; see grancenote.com.

The Maya Spa in the hotel zone on Tulum beach has a Temazcal sweat lodge: a rock-heated steam bath used to purify the body after childbirth or battle and popular across Mexico; see maya-spa.com.

The Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve has an information centre that arranges tours, fly-fishing, kayaking and birdwatching; see cesiak.org.

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