Just Returned

[petecat]

Hi all, my wife and I just returned fom Tulum, we had 9 fantastic days, our arrival was on April 11th and we departed on April 20th. We stayed once again at Nueva Vida the place is fantastic and Gea the owner is great. Our Cabana #5 had a very large porch half ceramic tile floor and half wood type planking, 3 nice lounge chairs, hammock and a table with four chairs which we ate lunch from Tulum Pueblo at numerous times and enjoyed wine late in the day. The cabana itself was about 4 ft above ground level, 5 steps up to the porch than into the cabana, kind of like a log cabin tree house. Our bedroom had two very large beds some nice end tables and a very big wall unit to put clothing and towels, our bathroom was off to the back of the bedroom, down two steps to a vanity area and than thru a door to the bathroom which had a European style shower. The bedroom area had very nice mexican style ceramic floor and the batroom and vanity had very beautiful mosiac style tile walls and terrazo style tile flooring. The cabana was actually about 20 yards in to the jungle area just off the beach, plenty of cover from the trees and a very nice breeze that always kept the cabana cool, at night we actually needed to put a mexican blanket on our bed as it got quite cool. We did our usual walking of any where from 5 to 10 ten miles per day on the beach, after our third day of walking we were familiar to many and recieved many waves and big hellos and in the afternoons we were even invited by some to stop and have a beer. On one particular day we walked all the way to the end of the Biaan Kan penninsula, that is a long walk. We noticed a few changes from last year, Ana Y Jose has erected a few very large Villa type looking structures on their property, we were dissapointed here as they had the beach all lined with lounge chairs, very large crowd kind of stuffy looking types and those who looked more liked they belonged in Cancun, its kind of starting to ressemble sections of Orient beach St Martin (except they all wore alot of clothing and complete swimsuits), the addition just seemed to over the top and fancy for the area, everything else was still pretty much the same, we ate a few meals at La Banana restaurant just across the road from Nueva Vida, its actually their restaurant and it is very good, delicious fish dinners and mexican food and very comparable prices to Tulum Pueblo. We also ate at Zamas, our first time in four years, on Saturday night when they had a Mexican band it was a great time and excellent food and the waiters all had my wife up dancing, we also ate at Posada Margherita, always a wonderful experience, we had dinners in town at Charlies (new owners but still excellent), Don Cafeto, La Nave, and Ana Y Jose. We also ate at a Tai restaurant, if you turn left at the T where the police are and go down a ways its on yor right side very good dinner but the dinners were very large next time we will skip any appetizers the food here was excellent, over the next few days as I go thru some photos and my mind is refreshed I will recall the name and post it here. Also for you ladies who love to be topless it is not a problem at all, I do not think my wife ever wore a top any time her feet were planted in sand (except for Ana Y Jose restaurant which has a sand floor). Well thats it for now if I have anything else that comes to mind I will add a part two if needed.

[Gale in KY]

Sounds like you had a great time! Where is Nueva Vida? Do they have a website? It sounds beautiful. Looking forward to your pics.

[MikeW]

Sounds like you had a great time! Where is Nueva Vida? Do they have a website? It sounds beautiful. Looking forward to your pics.
What she said.

[barbj050]

thanks for the trip report...place sounds wonderfull....

[chunky]

Thanks for the trip report. Where is Nueva Vida located in relation to Ana y Jose, Posada Margherita and the biosphere? I'm assuming that you rented a car or did you walk the beach to all the places you visited for food and drink?

[petecat]

I am glad to hear veryone enjoyed my post. Nueva Vida is about 1 1/2 mile south of Ana Y Jose. We did have a rental car I booked it thru travelocity at Alamo, it was $168.00 for 8 days,with a little additional insurance it came to $201.00. small standard vehicle with A/C. At night if we went to dinner along the coast line we would walk along the beach I always bring a flashlight with new batteries, when we had dinner in Pueblo or at Mezzanine we drove the car, we also used the car to go into Playa a few times. Nueva Vida website is www.tulumnv.com.

[Gale in KY]

Thanks, Pete..way back when I first started thinking about going to Tulum, I came across their website. I remembered the "stone cottage" but, had never been able to find the website it was on..you solved that for me!

Did you eat at their restaurant?

I LOVE Charlie's! Really enjoyed the atmopshere, and the food was excellent. Is it different owners from when we were there in January?

[petecat]

Hi Gale, yes we ate numerous times at Nueva Vida's restaurant ( Le Bananna), their meals are excellent, their food is very fresh, good size portions particularly their shrimp dishes, they have a shrimp dish made in a hot sauce called Martinique shrimp, they are huge and all the food is delicious. the prices are similar to Tulum Pueblo especially for dinner. Even if someone is not staying there it is worth a stop for dinner. I was told by a waiter Charlie the founder of the restaurant left just after the Christmas Holidays. It was a little sad as everytime I stopped there in the past Charlie and I would talk about my Harleys and have a few drinks together. The service and food were still excellent, I had Taco soup with chicken, and a red snapper fillet dinner, my wife had a mexican steak, a sangria and I had two Negras (beer), the entire bill was $27.00!

[Gale in KY]

Thanks for the info Petecat..When we were there in January, we ate and drank at Charlie's all evening..the total bill for the two of us was like yours, only $24! The food was great, couldn't ask for better. We really enjoyed it.
We went here first after arriving, with not alot of peso's, hadn't been to the bank for exchange yet..and were really happy to see they actually took Visa!
One of the best Margarita's I had all week was at Charlies..when we returned in Feb., Charlie's was first on our list..and was just as good as the first time..our first meal upon arriving in Tulum will always be Charlies! I love their bottle walls..even took a picture of it so I can recreate it at home..lol..if everyone would be so kind to send me their colored wine bottles..lol! I am looking forward to trying Labananas as well, I love the beachfront open air restaurants, and this looks beautiful.

Post those pictures!

[dcap]

We spotted this place on a walk from Cabanas Tulum one not so sunny afternoon but very hot, It began to rain, no worries though we were dressed for, well less than swimming it is a C/O beach and we saw maybe 4 people the entire walk but we did have towels, anyway it went from rain to a downpour very quickly and we were at this place about that time and walked up to the Cabanas. A lady cleaning one of the rooms asked us if we wanted to stay for a while in room while the rain fell. It was a room she had not cleaned yet. We stayed there about 30 mins or so and it finally let up and we were on our way. It looked like such a nice place like Robinson Crusoe or something. Can't wait to get back for a couple of night stay. If you have any photos from your trip would love to see them.

[chunky]

Thanks Petecat. The place sounds great. A few more questions if you or anyone else has time to answer:

-is there a place nearby to get ice to keep drinks(beer) cold on the beach and for misc. items?

-are beach chairs available?

-will it be unbearably hot w/o air in June?

-are you going to post pictures?

[petecat]

Chunky in answer to your questions:

1.The ice truck comes by to their restaurant every day at around 9am, let the staff there know you want ice each day and they will have the iceman leave it.

2.Thay have wooden beach chairs, they are nice but we prefer lying on our beach towels that they change daily.

3. The cabanas are hidden somewhat in the trees and are shaded, it may be warm during the day but at night as the sun goes down there is always an amazing breeze off the ocean and keeps them cool and comfortable at night. Hey just sleep naked!

4. I do have many pictures to post(after my wife censors the beach ones, topless you know) I will not be able to do so until next week when my new scanner arrives.

[chunky]

I always do.

Thanks Petecat.