❖❖❖

IN THIS ISSUE
CANCUN AND THE
YUCATAN COAST
by Marcy MacDonald

NEW YORK CORNER
RED EYE GRILL
By John Mariani


❖❖❖



CANCUN AND THE
 YUCATAN COAST
by Marcy MacDonald

        When 15th century Conquistadores sailed into Cozumel island off the eastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, they were within spyglass distance of the clifftop fortress of Tulum, one of the last city-states of the Maya people. Today, Tulum is at the epicenter of the Riviera Mayan foodie revolution, and Cozumel is an off-shore runner-up, particularly for traditional Yucatecon food and sophisticated international classics. The near-desert peninsula, which became a tourist mecca by design in the late 1970s, is a great place to jet ski, snorkel, scuba dive, swim, sail, ride horses, speed down a jungle zip line, or take one of the hundreds of tours to nearby modern beaches and faraway ancient archeological sites.          
     There are beaches galore, some natural, most part of a $70 million recovery project, although some of the man-made beaches feel a little like white sand sprinkled over cement. Stick to the north end of any beach for REAL beach (as opposed to the man-made dust jobs).  The relatively calm waters of the Nichupte lagoon boast water toys and games.
      Hotels range from the only nudist resort on the beach, the Hidden Beach Resort au Naturel Club, which has 42 rooms, to the fully clothed El Dorado Maroma Beachfront Resort, which has 72 suites and gourmet cuisine. There are all-inclusive, spa-centric resorts like Grand Velas (below) further along the Caribbean. Restaurante Frida in the Grand Velas features a modern take on ancient Mayan delicacies complemented by more than 85 brands of tequila. You can even sample a tasteful $1,000 Tequilas Premium Clase Azul popsicle with gold flakes. At Grand Velas, tequila is practically served as a kind of health drink.  The hot CoCo Bongo is the place to be seen — you and 3,000 other revelers — and the exclusive Bling is open after 6 p.m. Try the terrace bar and some sushi. 
       If you're unclear about what to expect, remember that the 'all-inclusive' resorts have come a long, long way since they specialized in "hot-and-a-lot" cuisine and watered down drinks.  As a paradigm, take a close look at Sandos, the very loose chain of high-quality Spanish resorts that seem to have covered every base on the 'real' Mayan experience -- or as real as it can be away from the 15th century.
        As I flew over the peninsula, it was obvious that things had changed greatly since the 1970s, when Sheraton's big, beautiful resort had big, beautiful rubber buckets catching rainwater dripping from the high ceiling onto the luxurious, highly polished stone onyx floor.  I had considered the importation of the all-inclusive resort idea to this once-virgin part of the world to be be a huge mistake.  No longer. The bright coastal water is the same piercing turquoise, the beaches that impossible white that makes teeth look dull by comparison, and the peninsula is now a greenbelt destination for ecologists worldwide.
          Yucatan is literally lined with resorts and the businesses that thrive on them, both "duty free" and almost free. Just nine miles (and about as many minutes) from Cancun airport, the Sandos Luxury Experience Resort stands tall -- they're all tall -- at the water's edge.
       When Sandos resorts invited me to the Yucatan, I jumped at the chance to return to Mexico.  Our family had lived, however briefly, in Guadalajara when my father and Uncle Charlie had a factory there that produced Charlie's inventions, which never earned either of them a peso before they went broke.  Still, it developed in me a taste for Mexican food, including several kinds of explosive hot sauces, drink and celebrations.  Tequila, the product of blue agave, was born in Guadalajara, so at least that introduction wasn't necessary on this trip.  Today, there are hundreds of tequila and mezcal celebrations throughout the Yucatan, announced regularly in many of the 13 daily newspapers on the peninsula.  
                  Naturally, upon arrival at Sandos, we were handed a glass of something tropical and tasty and brought by elevator to the Club level of the resort while luggage was distributed to our enormous rooms (above)--mine was the size of a mini bowling alley.  Checking in was painless as not only do the hotelistas register you and encourage you to try all of the small plates of food surrounding you, Club rules seem to include alcohol throughout most of the waking hours. Room service is available around the clock with an international menu that includes everything from Mexican cheeses to cold -- and hot -- cuts of meat.
      We were wined and dined that evening at St. Trop (below), one of the resort's outdoor oceanside restaurants, where every nationality of food is ready and waiting.  A band played everything from the blues to "La Bamba." Preambles to spa treatments include drinks in St. Trop (right), where a variety of tequilas and margaritas taste as genuine as those at Tequila Central, aka: Guadalajara.  Cerveza flows from spigots and cans.  Waiters soon weigh the table down with samples of everything on the menu. 
        At lunch the next day that amazing sea dazzled the eye and lapped against the shore while a band played tunes ranging from Broadway to Badass, beebop and "La Bamba."  The lunch menu offered a variety of snacks, salads, sandwiches and pizza (try the prawn pizza for a nice, new, not rubbery taste) selections, all in sizes ranging from 'bite-size" to "monster." Expertly mixed frozen cocktails with fresh fruit juices (the strawberry margarita went down like a smoothie), beers (XX is a favorite among visiting Southern Californians), and assorted drinks (the right temperature but not the right accent for a gin and tonic) were served by waiters who didn't seem to expect the tip we left.
         If I'd had a doggie bag, I would have used it just to collect the remains of the chicken and habanero (pow! zoom!) quesadilla and a couple of the nice, rolled up little non-greasy pork taquitos and fresh guacamole  in case a midnight snack was required. But the Sandos staff had other thoughts. A tap on the shoulder reminded me that a 90-minute Spa appointment had been booked, beginning in about five minutes. 
        As I headed into the Spa, I felt as if I should be banging a tambourine or doing the twerk as I passed the musicians.  As the fragrance of hibiscus overwhelmed me at the thick glass door, I floated into the women's locker room.  Spa Master Erika Lara welcomed me and took my medical/esoteric history. 
     Once the spa door had closed, the outdoor sounds became inaudible enough to hear inner peace trickling in.  A quick shower and wrap in a bathrobe so thick I practically bounced when I went for a little read in the waiting room with a glass of cooling hibiscus tea that went straight to my head.  I was about to do the sensible thing -- nod off -- when Theresa, the tiniest Mayan woman with the biggest hands I'd ever seen, called my name. The Spa mistress already had a long list of my ailments and she and the masseuse chatted in dialect as I finished reading about an upcoming U.N. meeting on conservation just down the coast.  For an hour and a half this tiny woman solved the problems of my universe. Sciatica: temporarily painless.  Torn rotator cuff: newly relaxed and loosened.  Her touch was so true that she practically massaged me under my vertibrae to ease the nerve pain.  At the end of it, I willingly tipped her 20% of the bill and would have tipped more if I'd been intelligent enough to bring more cash, but in a cashless society, one does what the cashless do.  We recuperated in another room with hibiscus tea and strawberries dipped in dark, dark chocolate -- an ideal healthful food from the people who invented chocolate centuries before they devised a written language.
        Ready for a nap, I dressed for dinner instead, and met the other suddenly healthy revelers for experimental, molecular drinks upstairs in the Club Bar (left), where Manager Julio described how the barristos arrived at their presentations, from Sergio's Watermelon Manhattan to a Coconut Cream and beyond.  Ordinary guests find the intimate lobby bar, Bar One, presents much the same in a glam and cozy atmosphere surrounded by contemporary art and late night musical entertainment.  But up in the Club, we, the chosen few, begin to try a wide range of beverages surrounded by other Club members, just as surprised as we were at the concoctions.  Those who have sampled molecular food (invented by the most famous chef in Madrid and duplicated by the French chef at Sandos) either love or hate combos like frozen foie gras coated in dark chocolate and dripping with calories.  Fascinating combinations constantly being reworked.

INTO THE JUNGLE: THE ECO RESORT COMES OF AGE

    If you actually want to experience something of the Yucatan that isn't just on a day trip (and doesn't include dropping a single star from your five-star resort), consider Sandos' all-inclusive in the jungle: the Caracol Eco-Experience Resort (below)in the province of Quintana Roo, en route to Playa del Carmen.  The key is the location.  This is far beyond a well-organized, vertical Spa experience, but a real slice of the jungle at the water's edge, safe enough for the weakest links in the family or extended family.
       What makes this an Eco-Resort is that they're actually working with the environment to innovate and improve their footprint in the jungle (check with the United Nations to see when they plan another visit to the Yucatan in their sustainability efforts).
      There were ancient Mayan altars set up with special food displays (see photos and recipes) of authentic Yucatecan delights. Demonstrations of preparation and food sampling extends to tours of the various kitchens; these chefs demonstrate everything from ice and vegetable carving to preparing special cuisine that will never taste quite right north of the border.
        The Sandos Caracol Eco Experience is a very, very green experience. In the resort's effort to reduce their ecological footprint, they attempt to promote sustainable practices among guests and suppliers. They practice water and electrical energy conservation and operate a wastewater treatment plant.  They compost, and produce substrate for their Mayan garden ("Ka 'anche") to cultivate medicinal plants and vegetables (like the Mayan medicinal and mythological trees, the ceiba, chaca and chechen).  Indeed, they have an onsite nursery that features reproduction programs for palm trees and endangered species. Ninety-nine of the rooms are deemed 'green' rooms and feature furniture of certified local wood, solar panels, high efficiency air conditioning, LED lighting, and water recycling.  Their guest transport system is powered by solar panels. They've even received an award from the Rainforest Alliance.
    There are more than 60 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, et al.  Signs everywhere warn revelers not to feed the monkeys or the ducks on the properties. There's even a Cat Cafe. One morning ducks found a way out of their enclosure, next to the deer enclosure, and marched to breakfast, where one actually wagged its tail at diners, who are ever tempted to feed them everything from brioche to bacon.       
     Monkeys now have their own charity on the Yucatan Peninsula: Con Mono Maya, which identifies existing populations, works with stakeholder to maintain their habitats and to educate the populace (particularly children and well-meaning, but destructive tourists) about the plight of monkeys and their importance in the ecosystem, as well as to support human communities that come into conflict with wild monkey populations, principally the primates Geoffroy's spider monkey (left) and the black howler monkey.  Vets on the premises tend to all of the animals, feral and domesticated.
         There are so many different taste treats -- from Las Mascaras  Mexican restaurant (very foreign) to the Riviera, a Mediterranean restaurant perched on the coast.  The Moko Mori Art (below) is food art. Don't miss the shrimp with strawberries before you move on to the rest of the Mayan Riviera and the Sandos property Argentinians prefer: the Playa Car, heading towards Playa Carmen.  You start realizing that the reason you recognize the staff at a Sandos resort is that they appear in the resort advertising, so the chef you see in the ad is the one you see cooking in front of you.  They even have their own version of the Cat Cafe and a selection of wines from the Médoc, to make their South American cousins feel at home.  Chef Vincent conjures up a tuna tartare, followed by sprouted okra, a portobello, coconut, a black truffle and toasted 'ashes'.  The kitchen tour shows the place to be extraordinarily clean, and a cooking lesson is de rigeur. 
       Love the place? Want to stay?  Head for the third of Sandos' properties, Playacar near one of the world’s best reef-dive sites.  A high reef off  the shore provides a beautiful underwater landscape.  Years ago, the Mexican Navy blasted a hole in the reef around Cozumel so that cruise ships could have easy access to both Cozumel and Cancun.  When it was discovered that this effort had helped kill the reef, the Navy sank three old warships to begin a new reef and re-plant it with corals.
         This is the picture postcard shot the United Nations sought for their eco conference.  Make room for purple cactus (medicinal); chicle (don't chew in public); the totopas that aren't tortillas; the ceiba tree of life, and the Ixtabai living within the tree -- all are at the heart of "the land of the remembered" in the Yucatan. 

❖❖❖

OR MAYBE, "RAMBUNCTIOUS RUG RATS OFF THEIR RITALIN"