Yucatan: Where Modern Eco-Chic Meets Ancient Worlds, Attache, 2005

Moonlight guides us on a bumpy dirt road that skirts the shoreline of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Torches mark the entrance to our beachside retreat. Glowing ceramic lanterns illuminate an open-air yoga hall that doubles as the concierge desk. Narrow halogen beams bounce from headlamps clicked on to lead us the rest of the way down a sandy path to our bamboo-sided cabana. Once inside our room, we light candles—on distressed-wood tables, beside a four-post bed draped with an elegant yellow batik bedspread, and in a bathroom blanketed with ornate Mexican tile.

After depositing our bags in the room, I pass through teak-paneled, glass double doors in the rear of the cabana, and 40 paces later I stand on a lily-white beach. The wind hisses through the palm trees. Waves wallop the surf. On a shoreline occupying something on the order of 20 hotels, I don’t see a single electric light. I’m completely unplugged. I can’t be reached.

We’ve checked ourselves into an eco-chic suite in the town of Tulum, 80 miles south of Cancun. The locale sits on the edge of a natural area about 1.3 million acres, the approximate size of Everglades National Park. Selling features of my room call to mind the set of Gilligan’s Island: thatched roof, sand floors, no phone, no electricity. But I’m hardly roughing it. In the morning, on a secluded patch of private beach, massages are conducted by a gentle giant dressed in white. At scheduled afternoon yoga sessions, instructors with toned bodies encourage groups to hold statuesque poses.

The next few days are spent feasting on Italian-Mexican fusion, Thai-Mexican fusion, and Argentinian fare—just a few of many dining options a short Jeep ride or ocean-side walk away. I’ve also hiked through a mangrove jungle to swim in the cool waters of the cenotes (freshwater sinkholes this region is famous for); skimmed across wide-open Åats where boneÄsh and tarpon roam while on the lookout for wading birds; and snorkeled to see canary-yellow and peacock-blue Äsh hovering beneath massive mushroom-shaped structures that are part of the second-longest barrier reef in the world.

Being off the grid never felt so good—and there was relatively little time required in getting to this beachside village dotted with shabby-chic villas, Robinson Crusoe–style cabanas, and adventurous spa offerings. Once a haven for hippie backpackers sparked by wanderlust, Tulum has blossomed into a bona fide eco-tourist destination offering a judicious balance of natural experiences and rustic elegance, an earthy, beautiful place where fashion models are flown for photo shoots. Along this coastal stretch of the Yucatan known as the Mayan Riviera, Tulum is found literally at the end of line: beyond the suburbs of Cancun, past the bustle of Playa Del Carmen. Go any farther south and you’re in the bush.

Even though electricity is non-existent—or limited to whatever is produced by solar panels, wind turbines, or generators—the long list of amenities that are available is enough to make this transition to a simpler, more primitive eco-existence all the more palatable. Book a room containing a bathtub carved out of a local zapote tree trunk. Order up a mud-wrap and expect the mud to be locally gathered from the depths of a local cave. Take your pick of massages: Swedish circulatory; lymphatic drainage; reiki. Find meals that range from authentic Mexican huevos motulenos (fried eggs on corn-toasted tortillas with habanero refried beans and chili sauce) to portobello and mozzarella burgers to shrimp tacos served with spicy peanut sauce.

Tulum is a place that has come to satisfy travelers with varied passions. With close to a dozen recently built yoga halls on this strip, it is likely one of the fastest-growing yoga destinations. Yoga devotees from around the world come here for extended trips designed to soothe body and soul. Within striking distance of world-class fishing grounds, saltwater Åy fishermen come to live the dream: days spent perched on the bow of a skiff, stealthily poling through clear water in search of hard-fighting bonefish, child-sized tarpon, and the elusive permit Äsh. Cavers come to explore the cenotes, where fresh water in the aquifer has eroded the limestone above creating a ground-level opening into a sinuous maze of underwater tunnels. Then there are the dive locations—900 feet from the shore is a Äsh-Älled barrier reef that extends southward beyond Honduras; it’s shallow enough to be explored by snorkel or more extensively with a serious dive. And lovers of Mayan ruins have long come by the busload to enjoy what is arguably the most scenic site on the Yucatan.

A major center for maritime commerce in the 13th century, the walled city-state of Tulum was on the rise during a time when Mayan civilization as a whole was in its decline. And while not considered among the most significant of Mayan ruins in Mexico, Tulum remains one of the most visited attractions of its kind. Set on a rocky bluff overlooking turquoise water surrounded by three walls each approaching a thickness of 20 feet, architectural structures and other relics found strewn across roughly four miles date back more than a millennium. There are shrines and graves, as well as serpentine columns and frescoes of the city’s chief deity.
If you’re staying in Tulum, you can ride a bike. On the other side of the hotel zone, you can explore Mayan culture (and the surrounding natural landscape) by boat with an eco-tour of the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve.

The 1.3-million–acre reserve is the largest protected area in the Mexican Caribbean. On a map of the Yucatan, it cannot be missed. It covers close to one-third of the eastern coast of Mexico. Sian Ka’an contains 23 known archaeological sites. Artifacts found here date back 2,300 years. It is believed that passageways through the mangrove thickets were once an ancient trade route from Tulum to the town of Muyil, about 15 miles south. But Sian Ka’an is not just visited for its ruins. It also contains over 100 animal species (jaguar, puma, crocodiles, howler monkeys, and snakes) and over 330 bird species (brown pelican, cormorant, great blue heron, and ibis).
As we prepared for a guided eco-tour through the reserve, we made nervous jokes about the eating habits of crocodiles. We shared information gleaned from Internet searches made prior to our trip in an effort to identify native species we’d never heard of: An agouti is a small rodent bigger than the common guinea pig; a basilisk is a lizard that can grow to two feet long, and it appears to walk on water. Reminders that our tour through this natural area did not focus on the observation of large tropical animals did not seem enough to calm the more nervous in our group until we actually got there.

Our guide pointed out poisonous plants as we hiked through the jungle. Termite mounds the size of washing machines were visible everywhere among the trees. Orchids were identiÄed and discussed at length. After seeing a Mayan temple and swimming in a cenote and watching large birds fly overhead, we let go of our fear—and we floated for a while downstream with only our life vests as support.

After our tour through the reserve, we headed back to Tulum, which suddenly seemed like a big city by comparison. Here we could order exotic appetizers in one thatched-roof restaurant, order entrees at another, and cap off the night in a coffee shop where long translucent drapes dreamily swayed in the entryway.

Like the Mayan civilization that once sustained itself here, Tulum’s identity as a burgeoning eco-tourist destination will surely one day come to an end. Encroaching development from the Yucatan’s eastern coastline makes this a seemingly inevitable reality. There are already rumors of its hotel zone being placed on the electric grid. Some hotels are beginning to offer wireless Internet access. And more hotels are cropping up each year. There may soon come a day when the natural surroundings that originally attracted people here are replaced by the kind of resorts found farther north. But until that happens, I’ll happily pack a flashlight—and do my best to steer clear of staying in places where I have the option to check email.