Revisiting a Mayan Retreat

Chasing the Jungle Butterfly in the Yucatan

By Murray D. Laurie

They flickered like confetti at a fiesta, golden bursts of color animating the casita garden.   The jungle butterflies were throwing a big party to welcome us back, as we sashayed through the meandering pathways that led to the new waterfall and sparkling pool.

Instead of searching out the hottest EuroChic beach resorts along the Riviera Maya near Tulum, we had opted to revisit La Selva Mariposa, the luxurious bed and breakfast just off the Tulum-Coba Road, about ten miles from the Caribbean shore.  A serious warning from my dermatologist suggested that this might be the year to skip the all-over, all-day-long sun tanning that had drawn us to the Yucatan time and again.

The American couple who built and manage La Selva Mariposa (the Jungle Butterfly)  kept in touch with us after our visit last year, and had invited us to be among the first to nestle into one of the two suites in their new casita, built a short distance from the main house with a private, walled garden and a splashy waterfall tumbling into the cenote-style pool.  We had our pick of rooms, each with a private bath and more amenities than we could take in at once.  We chose the one with the open-air shower enclosed by stone walls, but the other one with the cozy reading nook off the bedroom was quite tempting.

Most of the furniture in the casita was built by Luis from native woods, rich looking with hand-rubbed finishes, and our hostess, Mari, had picked up the vivid woven fabrics that brightened the walls and bedcovers during her travels in Mexico and Guatemala. They joined us for cocktails around the pool and told us about some of their recent discoveries, places to explore that whetted our appetite for adventure and sensuous experiences.

Breakfast of fresh fruit, coffee and pastries from a little shop in Tulum got us moving, if only to stroll through the extended series of pathways winding through the trees that shelter La Selva Mariposa.  Modeled after the Sac-be, the smooth, light-colored road system built by the ancient Mayans to link their ceremonial cities and pueblos, these are part of our energetic hosts’ daily exercise program: we passed them making their third and final jog of the morning.

“Tomorrow would be a good day for a Mayan massage,” Mari suggested.  “Our neighbor processes native earth with healing properties into a silky smooth mud that she uses in her massages.  She is usually tied up at one of the spas along the beach, but has a few free days.   Let me know if you are interested.”   Maybe Mayan mud would be good for my sun-ravaged skin, a better option than the all-day dive on the reef that was on our “to-do” list.

But today’s jaunt took us westward, back to Ek Balam (Black Jaguar), a tree-shaded ancient Mayan city in the process of being restored under the supervision of archaeologists.  It is about an hour’s drive from La Selva on good roads.  Climbing up the steep stone steps to the top of the monumental temple adorned with stone sculptures opens up a breathtaking view of the surrounding jungle, largely undisturbed. Our guide, who grew up in the nearby pueblo, said that a thousand years ago, when this was a bustling center of ritual and worship, the view would have been of cleared land, the milpa, or corn fields that fed the Mayan population.  He pointed out the other features, the ball court and the smaller temples, and the double wall that surrounds the site, not yet fully excavated, so there will be more to see if we come again another time. Butterflies abounded here too, and there were some imposing iguanas guarding the mysterious structures that always leave an unforgettable architectural impression.  For a small fee, we took a bike tour to the marvelous cenote next to Ek Balam, a steep-sided sinkhole developed and managed by the local citizens, where you can take a refreshing dip in cool, clean water.

We were not all that far from the better-known site of Chichen Itza to the west, but since the Acropolis at Ek Balam had satisfied our taste for climbing, we headed for the picturesque provincial city of Valladolid for a leisurely lunch in a restaurant across from the pretty central square.  Spanish builders in centuries past also left impressive buildings behind to mark their presence: a brooding stone cathedral across from the square and an even gloomier complex of buildings several blocks away, the Convento de San Bernadino, set in its own square and surrounded by brightly painted homes and shops.

Looping back toward Tulum, we turned off onto the road to Coba, another grand Mayan site.  But this time, we bypassed the archaeological zone and headed down the back road to the Choo Ha cenotes we had learned about from our hosts. Instead of an open pool, these were underground caverns, and we had to climb through a small hole in the ground, down twisting wooden steps into the darkness only partially illuminated by electric spotlights. The scary descent was worth it.  Spectacular stalactites hang from the ceiling and stalagmites rise from the dark pool, oh-so-mysterious-looking in the dim light, but the water was deliciously cold, deep and crystal clear. Underground cenotes were sources of water for the Mayans, and some were places of worship, even of sacrifice to expiate the wrath of the gods or to ask their blessing.

We rewarded ourselves next with a day of relaxation, the utterly divine Mayan Clay Massage, and a shopping trip to Tulum to pick up some bargains in local crafts and to check our e-mail at the Internet Café next the modern supermarket dedicated to San Francisco de Assisi.  Late in the day we strolled on the soft white sands of Tulum beach, had a beer at one of the beach bars, and later dined at the Mezzanine Hotel’s elegantly casual Thai-themed dining room overlooking the Caribbean where the lively Friday evening party was revving into full gear with the buzz of conversation in half a dozen languages and accents.

The international flavor of the Riviera Maya is further defined by Sian Ka’an, the 1.3 million-acre Reserva de la Biosfera established in 1986 by the Mexican government and named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.  The reserve covers the coast below Tulum and offers protection to hundreds of species of local and migratory birds, fish, other animals and tropical plants. Sian Ka’an, which means “where the sky is born,” encompasses magnificent beaches and the barrier reef, as well as freshwater and coastal lagoons, mangrove swamps, and savannas.  The waters teem with fish of all kinds, and dedicated anglers have a pick of boats and guides for a day of fishing or can book longer stays in several lodges in the Reserva. We climbed up the sky-scraping, circular stairway, or mirador, at the visitors’ center for radiant views of the Caribbean on one side and the freshwater Bahia de la Ascencion on the other, and stopped for a cold cerveza at the café on the way down. Convinced that this undeveloped wilderness was no place to explore on our own, we made arrangements for a guided tour of the mysterious canals dug by the ancient Mayans later in the week.

Browsing in the guidebooks on the shelves in our casita, we targeted other adventures, cheered on by our hosts, who gave us the benefits of their experience. They know the best time of the year to see migrating birds and butterflies, the area’s out-of-the-way restaurants and shops and their best buys, the names of Spanish teachers if your wish is to brush up on your language skills, and the realities of buying real estate and moving to Mexico.   In fact, Mari has written a book on their experiences, Embarking on the Mariposa Trail.  We left the friendly butterflies behind and flew home with blissful memories and no appreciable further damage to my epidermis.

For a view of the bed and breakfast, see  www.laselvamariposa.com.  Go to www.amazon.com for more information on Mari Pintkowski’s book Embarking on the Mariposa Trail.    For more on the Mayan Riviera, see www.travelyucatan.com or www.locogringo.com, a favorite with local residents.

Photo Credits:   by the author