joellybaby
24th June 2007, 04:31 PM
Here's part 1 (http://www.tulum.info/showthread.php?t=982) and part 2 (http://www.tulum.info/showthread.php?t=986)
Tulum trip report part 3
Saturday – to La Conchita
We awoke about 9.30 on Saturday morning, and I don’t know if Adam or I felt more relieved that I was pretty much back to feeling healthy again. We breakfasted on bananas and mangoes bought from San Francisco supermarket and still keeping fairly cool in our cooler. Mmmm mangoes. The ones in Mexico were so much more delicious and yellow than any mangoes I’ve had before. I love sticky juice dribbling down chins and sucking the stone in the middle to make quite sure to eat every last bit.
We packed up and waved goodbye to Hamaca Loca, hopping into a taxi and relocating north up the beach road to Cabanas La Conchita where we were to spend five more nights. This was our original Tulum accommodation booking, as I had been intending to spend 3 nights in Merida. Having fallen in love with the idea of Tulum through this forum though, and thinking about the fact that some serious relaxation was what we needed, we decided to cancel our booking there and spend those three nights in Tulum instead and book HL. It worked out pretty well for us to split between the two places as each offered something a bit different but both wonderful in their own way.
About Cabanas La Conchita
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/192/517339043_e0ee03736e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517339043)
Cabanas La Conchita - the entrance sign through the arch from the road
Cabanas La Conchita is towards the northern end of the beach road, some way south of the T junction. It is close to a lot of the other nice places, so is well stocked for places to eat. Azulik is just to the north; Zahra, Piedra Escondida, Luna Maya and Zamas are just south, and there’s plenty more places within walkable distance. There’s a very small convenience shop selling beer, water, soft drinks, various packets of food, basic supplies and quite a range of Cuban cigars. Very useful to save trekking into the pueblo if you run out of water or have a sudden urge for Oreos. There was no freezer there for ice cream though, which I found very upsetting :(. There are a couple of little local craft shops, selling lots of fabric, and a small branch of Mixik, selling Mexican artisan crafts. There was even a Neanderthal-like teenager sat all day every day at a booth offering snorkelling trips, snorkel hire and bicycle hire. So, quite a bit more life and stuff around than there was down at Hamaca Loca, and therefore rather easier for us non-car people. I’d still hesitate to call it ‘bustling’ though.
The beach by La Conchita is a small bay, with dramatic rocky outcrops on each side. It’s pretty private, shared by three small properties, so there were never more than a handful of people. It’s a very beautiful place to relax under the palms, watching the little boat go out with its cargo of snorkellers. Conchita’s beach loungers are wooden recliners and there is a stack of pads you can use so they are really comfy. The white sand was lovely, soft and cleaned regularly. I saw hotel staff come out and water some tiny plants that were growing there. So as a beach I couldn’t fault it. As a swimming spot though, the southern end of the beach was far preferable. Up here the sea floor has quite a few rough rocky patches, which can be painful if you get your feet down wrong or get washed up on them when body boarding. Because of the little bay, there is also quite a bit of loose seaweed floating in the water here. I got so much collected down the front of my bikini. Yuk! Not so pleasant a place to swim when compared to the beach further south.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/221/517314678_c41d0de134.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517314678)
A lovely spot to unwind
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/193/517339451_3799cbb0c0.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517339451)
Bay view north
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/201/517314536_83f1dfda90.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517314536)
Bay view south
La Conchita itself is a really charming place. You enter through a nice arch from the road and through a small garden by the reception hut, where we were given a friendly welcome, including a map of the area and some recommendations of where to go. Beyond there there are 8 cabanas – two traditional style round ones, and some double floored structures, which are arranged around three sides of a sandy rectangle facing the beach. One has two bedrooms. The nicest is probably number 1 as it faces the sea directly, but all the cabanas looked really nice. Ours was number 7, one of the round cabanas, on the right hand side and with a bright pink hammock hung in front. All the cabanas had nice smooth porch areas in front with hammocks, chairs and terracotta water basins to wash the sand off your feet.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/230/513029992_5a143c229d.jpg (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/230/513029992_5a143c229d.jpg)
Our cabana, including that wonderful hammock, which I hogged as much as I could
Inside the cabana was a huge space. It was a large round building with a palapa roof soaring up to a high point in the middle. Outside, the bottom edge of the palapa leaves came down low, shading the windows from the sun and keeping the room welcomingly cool and dim. The bed was lovely and large, with a small fan above the pillows, which we couldn’t get working. They’d probably have fixed it if we’d asked but we felt comfortable enough anyway. There was a wardrobe with a small safe fixed in it, a rustic wooden shelving unit, a chair and a cute little side table made from and old sewing machine base. Behind the bed was a wall with a door through to the small bathroom. There was a toilet, sink and large walk in shower – very pleasant and with hot water all day though it took a lot of fiddling with both faucets to get it the right temperature. The bathroom was simple but nice, the only drawback being that it was it was pretty dim in there.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/253/515638799_d74b0fa72e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/515638799)
Interior, Cabana 7
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/517339225_5d6c57502a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517339225)
Sign on the beach front wall
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/517314240_078db1f92d.jpg
Cabana 1 from the beach, and the lovely wall designs
The floors all around La Conchita, both inside and outside in the porch areas of the cabanas felt lovely underfoot – cool smooth glazed concrete in various warm earthy tones, with areas of pattern set in with round pebbles like a mosaic. The low wall facing the beach used the same technique to spell out the name and a picture of a mermaid. Conchita means mermaid, I believe. It’s been designed really well, using traditional materials and soft earthy colours and with nice design touches that fit perfectly with the natural, rustic atmosphere. It all feels very calm and comfortable.
They have a lovely breakfast room, which I shall describe once this report gets to the next morning, but since it only serves breakfast, right now we need to leave La Conchita in search of lunch.
... which will be coming up in part 4. Gosh, I wrote all this and we didn’t even get to lunchtime yet??
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/517339099_ca3e86fc32_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517339099)
Aaaand relax: two chairs looking out from the central sand area at LC. What a honeymoon shot this is!
Tulum trip report part 3
Saturday – to La Conchita
We awoke about 9.30 on Saturday morning, and I don’t know if Adam or I felt more relieved that I was pretty much back to feeling healthy again. We breakfasted on bananas and mangoes bought from San Francisco supermarket and still keeping fairly cool in our cooler. Mmmm mangoes. The ones in Mexico were so much more delicious and yellow than any mangoes I’ve had before. I love sticky juice dribbling down chins and sucking the stone in the middle to make quite sure to eat every last bit.
We packed up and waved goodbye to Hamaca Loca, hopping into a taxi and relocating north up the beach road to Cabanas La Conchita where we were to spend five more nights. This was our original Tulum accommodation booking, as I had been intending to spend 3 nights in Merida. Having fallen in love with the idea of Tulum through this forum though, and thinking about the fact that some serious relaxation was what we needed, we decided to cancel our booking there and spend those three nights in Tulum instead and book HL. It worked out pretty well for us to split between the two places as each offered something a bit different but both wonderful in their own way.
About Cabanas La Conchita
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/192/517339043_e0ee03736e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517339043)
Cabanas La Conchita - the entrance sign through the arch from the road
Cabanas La Conchita is towards the northern end of the beach road, some way south of the T junction. It is close to a lot of the other nice places, so is well stocked for places to eat. Azulik is just to the north; Zahra, Piedra Escondida, Luna Maya and Zamas are just south, and there’s plenty more places within walkable distance. There’s a very small convenience shop selling beer, water, soft drinks, various packets of food, basic supplies and quite a range of Cuban cigars. Very useful to save trekking into the pueblo if you run out of water or have a sudden urge for Oreos. There was no freezer there for ice cream though, which I found very upsetting :(. There are a couple of little local craft shops, selling lots of fabric, and a small branch of Mixik, selling Mexican artisan crafts. There was even a Neanderthal-like teenager sat all day every day at a booth offering snorkelling trips, snorkel hire and bicycle hire. So, quite a bit more life and stuff around than there was down at Hamaca Loca, and therefore rather easier for us non-car people. I’d still hesitate to call it ‘bustling’ though.
The beach by La Conchita is a small bay, with dramatic rocky outcrops on each side. It’s pretty private, shared by three small properties, so there were never more than a handful of people. It’s a very beautiful place to relax under the palms, watching the little boat go out with its cargo of snorkellers. Conchita’s beach loungers are wooden recliners and there is a stack of pads you can use so they are really comfy. The white sand was lovely, soft and cleaned regularly. I saw hotel staff come out and water some tiny plants that were growing there. So as a beach I couldn’t fault it. As a swimming spot though, the southern end of the beach was far preferable. Up here the sea floor has quite a few rough rocky patches, which can be painful if you get your feet down wrong or get washed up on them when body boarding. Because of the little bay, there is also quite a bit of loose seaweed floating in the water here. I got so much collected down the front of my bikini. Yuk! Not so pleasant a place to swim when compared to the beach further south.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/221/517314678_c41d0de134.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517314678)
A lovely spot to unwind
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/193/517339451_3799cbb0c0.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517339451)
Bay view north
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/201/517314536_83f1dfda90.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517314536)
Bay view south
La Conchita itself is a really charming place. You enter through a nice arch from the road and through a small garden by the reception hut, where we were given a friendly welcome, including a map of the area and some recommendations of where to go. Beyond there there are 8 cabanas – two traditional style round ones, and some double floored structures, which are arranged around three sides of a sandy rectangle facing the beach. One has two bedrooms. The nicest is probably number 1 as it faces the sea directly, but all the cabanas looked really nice. Ours was number 7, one of the round cabanas, on the right hand side and with a bright pink hammock hung in front. All the cabanas had nice smooth porch areas in front with hammocks, chairs and terracotta water basins to wash the sand off your feet.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/230/513029992_5a143c229d.jpg (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/230/513029992_5a143c229d.jpg)
Our cabana, including that wonderful hammock, which I hogged as much as I could
Inside the cabana was a huge space. It was a large round building with a palapa roof soaring up to a high point in the middle. Outside, the bottom edge of the palapa leaves came down low, shading the windows from the sun and keeping the room welcomingly cool and dim. The bed was lovely and large, with a small fan above the pillows, which we couldn’t get working. They’d probably have fixed it if we’d asked but we felt comfortable enough anyway. There was a wardrobe with a small safe fixed in it, a rustic wooden shelving unit, a chair and a cute little side table made from and old sewing machine base. Behind the bed was a wall with a door through to the small bathroom. There was a toilet, sink and large walk in shower – very pleasant and with hot water all day though it took a lot of fiddling with both faucets to get it the right temperature. The bathroom was simple but nice, the only drawback being that it was it was pretty dim in there.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/253/515638799_d74b0fa72e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/515638799)
Interior, Cabana 7
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/517339225_5d6c57502a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517339225)
Sign on the beach front wall
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/517314240_078db1f92d.jpg
Cabana 1 from the beach, and the lovely wall designs
The floors all around La Conchita, both inside and outside in the porch areas of the cabanas felt lovely underfoot – cool smooth glazed concrete in various warm earthy tones, with areas of pattern set in with round pebbles like a mosaic. The low wall facing the beach used the same technique to spell out the name and a picture of a mermaid. Conchita means mermaid, I believe. It’s been designed really well, using traditional materials and soft earthy colours and with nice design touches that fit perfectly with the natural, rustic atmosphere. It all feels very calm and comfortable.
They have a lovely breakfast room, which I shall describe once this report gets to the next morning, but since it only serves breakfast, right now we need to leave La Conchita in search of lunch.
... which will be coming up in part 4. Gosh, I wrote all this and we didn’t even get to lunchtime yet??
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/207/517339099_ca3e86fc32_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joellecleveland/517339099)
Aaaand relax: two chairs looking out from the central sand area at LC. What a honeymoon shot this is!