As many people know, I’m all about creating meaningful travel alternatives. Recently, I had the honor of putting together a program for a dear old friend from the San Francisco Bay Area.
She and her friend came down to the Riviera Maya on New Year’s Day, and each of them brought their 18-year old daughter. I picked up my travelers at the Cancun airport and checked them in at Casa Boutique Hokhmah, a lovely, sustainable Bed & Breakfast Inn operated by my neighbor Malonie on the Ruta de los Cenotes.
The following day, the four women visited the Boca del Puma cenotes and eco-park. When I met them in the evening, they were still overflowing with excitement about tree top zip-lining, refreshing themselves in the cenotes, learning about the chicle era (natural chewing gum cultivation until the late 50s), and meeting a baby monkey!
Spending the first few days in the subtropical rainforest was a new experience for all of them – and a sharp contrast to the remainder of their stay at the high-end Mayan Palace resort.
Follow our footsteps as we explored the Caribbean island of Isla Mujeres and the archeological site of Chichen Itza, climbed the tallest pyramid of the Yucatan peninsula, and participated in a Temazcal purification ceremony!
This is our first travel story – may it be an inspiration to readers!
Isla Mujeres – just perfect for us women!
We drove up to the Ferry pier in Puerto Juarez at the north tip of Cancun and parked at the Ultramar valet parking lot. On the boat, my travelers were taken by the different shades of blue and turquoise of the ocean. We started with a light lunch at Aroma Isla, and then hopped on our rental bikes for a relaxed island cruise.
Our first stop was to be the floating island built by Richart Sowa on empty plastic bottles. Richart developed this brilliant idea of creating living space using reusable plastic bottles (aka: trash), and it attracted international media for many years. The floating island was not in the lagoon when we visited. Some locals said that it had been moved elsewhere. When I reconnected with Richie afterward, he told me about the sad developments that were partly caused by a hurricane, partly by the local government, and to my big disappointment, partly by some locals who plundered his then temporarily unoccupied floating island. Whatever the future of Richie’s floating island is: his idea is still alive and has already been invited to teach the construction of such living spaces in other countries.
With the floating island not in the lagoon, we continued back to the main road and headed towards Punta Sur and the Cliff of the Dawn – the easternmost part of Mexico. After exploring the southern tip and the remnants of the Ixchel temple, it was time to return our bikes. But not without a quick stop at a beach on the open ocean side! We found a perfect spot that provided good access despite the rough waves that day. We had a blast – especially one of us!
A delicious dinner at the beachfront Luna Grill was the perfect round-off for our day on the island!
For more info or to schedule a tour please get in touch! You can also find other tour inspirations in the Riviera Maya here.
