(15 Sep 2014) LEAD IN:
Tulum, the former Maya sacred citadel in Mexico’s Caribbean, is turning into the wealthy woman’s favourite retreat for a digital detox.
But costing on average $4,000 (USD) per week, it’s not cheap to stay in this string of exclusive beachside resorts, all promising yoga, treatments, healthy food and even a bikini boot camp.
STORY-LINE:
This former Maya sacred citadel in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, could become the next fashionable resort for women, looking to unwind.
Along the beach by the Caribbean sea, a string of exclusive resorts at Tulum are offering the sort of pampering stressed out business women are craving.
What has made of Tulum such a sought-after haven is not only the sun, sea and sand, but the range of body and mind healing activities on offer here.
The Amansala Resort, for example, is home to the Bikini Boot Camp, a fitness and yoga retreat where women – particularly those from North America – seek to lose some weight and start living a more balanced lifestyle, with physical activity and nourishing food. A regime they hope to continue in their lives back home.
Coconuts and wooden sticks are the basic tools in this exotic gym by the sea.
Participants experience Pilates, Zumba, Yoga and Circuit Training, and decide at the end what suits them best. Each of these women will spend an average of $4,000 (USD) in this week-long camp.
“We are so busy in our day to day life with family, work, children, whatever it is, that everybody was looking for a place to come where there is no judgement, there is no work pressure, there is no family pressure, cause a lot of us came here by ourselves,” says Christina Lawson, a businesswoman, who came from Las Vegas to destress.
In Tulum, located 100 miles south of Cancun, there is also room for relaxation; reading a book under a palm tree, or indulging in the most exclusive wellness treatments. Healing massages are the most requested by female guests.
Local masseuses, experts in Mayan-inspired healing techniques, offer a complete range of treatments, from hot stones to a massage that uses the natural clay of Tulum.
Tania Ocampo, who works for the Maya Tulum resort, says the goal is to make guests forget about the world outside, starting by pulling the plug on their internet addiction.
“We try to do a digital detox as much as possible for them to really be able to ground themselves and eliminate all of that cluster that they have in their minds. Their everyday life tend to be a little bit hectic, so when they come here we are saving this place for them,” she says.
Up to 70 per cent of Maya Tulum’s guests are women, with most of them travelling in small female groups, without family or friends.
“Most of them are already very successful at what they do back home, and they still have realised that behind all of that success there is still something that is missing, and when they come here they are trying to explore what is that they are missing, and they find the essence of life,” says Ocampo.
The target demographic for Tulum’s high end resorts are lone women in their thirties to fifties.
Yoga is the life-blood of this Caribbean haven but what differentiates it from other expensive retreats is the Mayan history, the wildlife and the ocean.
Simplicity and complete anonymity are two of Tulum’s most valued inputs. That’s how many women engage in deeper healing activities such as temazcal, inspired by a Mayan rebirth ceremony celebrated at night on the white sands at Uno Astrolodge resort.
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