Cheery And Cheer: Travelogue - The Mayan Riviera and a Recipe

XPUHA- Between Playa Del Carmen and Tulum (pronounced - IshPooHah)

This past week we have been in the Mayan Riviera in Mexico for a little get away. Not that we are tired of cold or winter since it's barely begun here in New England, but it just seemed like a good idea, and it was. Warm but not super hot, and this time of December is the end of the rainy season so everything is lush, fresh and green, and no crowds - plenty of tourists yes, enough to keep places in business and mostly Europeans it seemed, but not the crowds that will be flocking here the week of Christmas and after, so it was perfect. This post is not just a journal entry, but also travel information in case you might want to visit there yourself, so here's where we went and what we did. It's kind of long with lots of pictures but there is a tasty recipe at the end!

The view outside our window, the ocean is behind the buildings - we spent no time in our pool at all as there were so many places to go to that we missed our own place entirely.

More of our window view

We stayed in a village called Puerto Aventuras about 45 miles south of Cancun. Puerto Aventuras in a gated community where many locals live, tourists rent condos, and there's a big hotel called the Omni. It has its own little downtown commercial area against a harbor, nice beaches plus its own schools and library. The restaurants and shops are wonderful and several times a day dolphins in training and their trainers put on shows for the diners and tourists in the harbor right along the landings of the restaurants. We caught one unexpectedly as we were looking for a place to eat the afternoon we arrived.

I should mention that this area is known for dolphins, sea turtles, coral reefs for snorkeling and scuba diving, mayan ruins, loads of underground rivers and caves, soft white sand and glorious turquoise ocean water. The beaches are incredible and the food has a definite mayan influence. The landscape is jungle, low flat jungle right up to the water. When you fly into Cancun, if you are not staying right in that area, you take Highway 307 south to all the other areas tourists flock to and you can't see the towns or the resorts on either side of the road as you drive, just the level jungle with huge stone entry areas announcing which town, resort or eco park is behind the entry. It's pretty cool but it makes you want to go in each entrance so you can see what is really behind the enormous facades.

Our first full day commenced at the Mayan ruins located in the town of Tulum. There are fourteen destinations to go in the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula to see anceint ruins but Tulum is the only one located on the sea. The backdrop as we walked from building to building was stunning. After we left the ruins, we drove to an area of Tulum called the hotel row, not like you're probably envisioning - these are more huts than your typical idea of a hotel and again, the road parallels the sea but you never see it or the hotel until you stop and walk into a particular hotel set in the jungle with the ocean right on its other side. We stopped at a hotel called the Zebra that we had read about just to have lunch but the manager told us to help ourselves to all of its beach amenities when we were done eating. We walked through this little path below from our car to reach the restaurant:

Sitting in the dining room and scoping out the beach chairs to decide where we would camp out after eating.

Four levels of hot and spicey

The Zebra dining area - the rooms here are thatched - their beach club area is fabulous - the food is amazing - it looks like a wonderful place for a future stay.

Dan had a beef burrito and I had the chicken mole - it was the best mole sauce I have ever tasted and Dan's burrito was incredible - look at the detail of it below!

Killer burrito - eat your heart out Cafe Rio - hee! The tortilla was flakey too.

On the beach after lunch

The road along Hotel Row in Tulum- hotels/inns/ocean on the left and wonderful shops, not your typical touristy junk, on the right

I wanted so many things in this shop

After a beach day, we ate in our own village at an Italian restaurant called Massimo's - so delicious! I can't believe we ate Italian but it was so highly recommended by everyone and just across the street from our hotel.
The next day we went to a place called Aktun Chen near the town of Akumal. This eco park has underground caverns with limestone formations and pools, some you can swim in. We didn't swim in ours as we were not in the particular swimming caves, you take the zip lines to get to those - we didn't take that tour but rather opted to go underground to see the stalactites and stalagmites and scores of bats. There are also protected areas of the local fauna where we went after to look at deer, monkeys, snakes, wild pigs and turtles. I loved this place.

Dan and one of the pythons they set free every day - they move too slowly to escape and don't go far anyway. It takes three men to carry them in and out.

Going down for our underground adventure - you stoop a lot so the hardhats protect your head from scrapes - those aren't for head protection if the ceilings collapse

Lunch in Akumal at Lunita in Half Moon Bay

Akumal Bay - this is where you go to snorkel and see the thousand of sea turtles that are swimming out right behind the boats you see. We hung out here the rest of the afternoon.

I can't count how many diet cokes with lime I drank this week.

We ate dinner in the very very lovely city of Playa del Carmen that night and walked all up and down its 5th Avenue after just watching people and going in wonderful little shops. The whole area is super safe and clean.

A little plaza in Playa del Carmen

I couldn't find the name on this church in Playa del Carmen

Yummy Mayan food we ate for dinner here

Our third and last full day we decided to have a snorkeling and laying on the beach day a bit south of our hotel at a beach a local American expat told us about - he calls it a secret beach because most tourists don't find it since it's down a dirt road with a tiny sign and he said the snorkeling is great. It's called Xpuha. And it was a fabulous beach - you pay 40 pesos (3 bucks a person which you get refunded if you buy food or drinks and show your receipt) to get through a rope gate, you proceed down a dirt road and there it is, a very un-fancy beach club with chairs, loungers and umbrellas on the beach in front of a little open air restaurant and bathrooms. What more do you need? If you walk that particular beach from end to end, which I did and its about 3 miles, you will encounter a couple other delightful hotels along it, set back, very laid back and lovely. The water and snorkeling were wonderful. The water is turquoise when you look at it but it is minty, crystal green when you are swimming in it. We did have a couple russian girls sit next to us that were a bit odd, sitting on each other and posing and filming each other all over the place, but it was not crowded at all, just enough people to feel like you are not alone but not so many you can't find a place to lay, snorkel or swim - it was just perfect like Tulum.

This is the secret beach club you need to find!

Lunch - we got our entrance fee back.

The Russian girls

Getting ready to snorkel

Dan is all about the shade - I am full sun.

Happy brown sun kissed feet

We ate again in Playa del Carmen at a restaurant called Deliciosas just across the street from where we had eaten the night before. Mexican food with a bit of Brazilian influence this time. I had flank steak filled with goat cheese, rolled up, wrapped in bacon and served with a side of pureed yams with some unknown to me herbs - incredible! I took a picture but couldn't find it.

On the way to the airport the next morning, we stopped in Playa del Carmen and ate at Chez Celine, a French boulangerie where we ate amazing croissants along with our eggs that rivaled those in France. Their bread was so good we asked them to make our sandwiches to take with us on the airplane and we got a couple pastries to go as well - all so delicious!

Outdoor seating at Chez Celine

Aerial picture of Cancun as we take off

The shades of blue and green in the sea just amaze me - the dark blue indicates the coral reefs. We'll be back!!!

Everyday, twice a day, I ate beans there. Because I eat a diet full of fiber from veggies, fruits and whole grains every day, I don't suffer gastro intestinally when I also eat beans. I love beans and they are so darn healthy we should all eat more of them. In our condo was a cookbook called Everyday Mexican Food and I found the simplest recipe for Frijoles de la Olla (beans straight from the pot). The author, obviously Mexican, said that she eats beans everyday and always has a batch in the refrigerator to heat up and eat in a warm tortilla with a bit of mexican crema or sour cream - sounds good to me! So I made a pot today and we ate them with dinner. They were so easy and delicious in their simplicity. I plan to eat them ALOT. My husband who is not as crazy for beans as I am loved them so much he had a second big helping. Give this a try:

Frijoles de la Olla

3 cups dried pinto beans (I used half pinto and half small red)
4 mashed garlic cloves
1/4 onion chopped
2 bay leaves
Enough water to cover the beans plus a few inches
salt and pepper freshly ground but not until the beans are done!

Pour your beans in a pot, sift your fingers through them and look for pebbles, I found two. Add the water, and onion, garlic and bay, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer a couple hours until they are very tender; add more water as needed. When done, S & P to your taste. They are wonderful straight from the pot as a side dish for your meat and salad. If you want them refried, do this:

Put 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Add 1 serrano chile stemmed, halved and seeded. Cook it for one minutes til it begins to brown. Add the frijoles de la olla with their cooking liquid and cook over medium heat, mashing the beans frequently until they form a thick paste with chunks, about 10 minutes. Season with more salt and pepper if needed.