Hello to all

[TrishandIan]

First time posting here. Been a member of Locogringo for years, although I don't post often. I'm glad there is a board just for Tulum although part of me is bummed that it is so popular now that it warrants its own board. Oh well. I Absolutely LOVE Tulum. I was 15 and visiting the ruins during a trip to Cancun with my mom in the 80's, as we travelled down the dirt road that is now 307, I would catch a glimpse of these roads shooting off into the jungle and towards the beautiful blue water. I knew then that this was the place I wanted to be. It took about 15 years to finally get there and I can't stop coming back. My dh and I are not ones to be repeat visitors when travelling. There are so many places to see in the world but the one place we keep visiting is Tulum. We have just booked a trip for November. Cannot wait!
We've stayed at the following places, in order of our visits
Zamas
Ana Y Joses
Suenos de Tulum (so sad about this place, we loved it)
Azulik
Sol Caribe (in the biosphere near Punta Allen)
Cabanas Las Conchitas
and hopefully to be staying in Hamaca Loca in November. I'm still waiting to confirm my reservation. Besides lounging on the beach, reading books, drinking margheritas and beer, lounging on the beach, snorkelling, lounging on the beach and local trips (cenotes, Coba, Jungle Place, etc) we really love to eat out and find new local places in the area, especially in the pueblo and soak up the local culture. Other than that, I'm a (new- just 'retired' last year) stay at home mom to two awesome kids (4 and 11 months) and digging this new part of my life.
Adios!
:) Trish

[PhyllisB]

Welcome Trish!!!!! Glad to have another Suenos alum here... several of us stayed there and share your sadness. :(

Looking forward to hearing about all your trips and experiences!!!!! Would love to hear more on Sol Caribe sometime too. What did you think of it?

Phyllis

ps... Go Sox! :)

[TrishandIan]

Hi there, I think I recognize you from the Loco board.
We absolutely LOVED Sol Caribe. It is truly 'getting away from it all' We would go again but it is a bit out of our price range now that I'm not working anymore. The prices have gone up as well. I think our room was $95 a night in April in 06. Now its $140. It is actually a bit more luxurious than most of the places we've stayed at in Tulum. Has electricity, ceiling fan etc, nice huge room, Michael the host is great (never met his wife Diane). Great cook and wonderful location. We found that we liked going with just the room rate and not all-inclusive. It was so much $$ (around $160 a person, per night) and we didn't feel that we would eat and drink THAT much. So we ate some meals there and some in Punta Allan and had a cooler with snacks and beer and it worked out great. But if money was no object I would love to do the all-inclusive rate for a few days just for the convenience of getting beers from the cooler and drinks from the bar whenever we wanted and eating all meals and snacks there. It's nice to share your dinners with folks too. We met some great folks from all over, Spain, Argentina, Mexico (vacationers), Utah and London. Makes for great dinner conversation, especially after a couple of cocktails and lots of wine. I highly reccomend the place is you like to remove yourself from civilization. We stayed at La Conchita for a few days after Sol Caribe and i have to say it was hard to adjust to traffic and loud noises and sharing the beach with people after such glorious isolation. Plus, we just realized at that time that we needed to stay as far south as we could on the beach road. Its just too populated for our tastes.
Take care,
Trish

[graceland]

Hi Trish, I welcome you also! I am new to this forum myself, found it planning our Xmas '08 getaway.. I am so thrilled to hear about Sol Caribe, as we are ending our Tulum stay with two days there.
I have not read many postings on it but our dealings with Tina have been superb. She has a blackberry and immediately responds to any questions. I never have had to wait more than a day to hear from her which is so helpful when trying to plan a trip. She also was so helpful in my decision whether to do "inclusive" or daily...She advised daily for two nights and I appreciated her input not to spend the extra at this time.
I still have not heard from some of the Tulum lodgings I emailed over a month ago.
But La Luna (Rene) and the owners also emailed me straight away and so I am happily looking forward to a week there before driving to Sol Caribe.
Yea!
Have a happy time at Hamaca Loca; that was on my top five also.(Tortuga) but I really loved the idea of La Luna so I sold my car (no not really -but have thought about it just to travel!) to pay for the 9 days in Tulum and Punta Allen.
A scooter is all I really need anyway...:moped:
Happy Tulum Travels, Gracie

[TrishandIan]

Hi there,
That sounds great! You will love Sol Caribe.
Make sure you check out their guest book, some great stuff in there and don't forget to sign it yourself.
Have a fantastic time! If you have any other questions let me know. I think the only thing that was difficult, and I use the term loosely, was figuring out how much cash to bring. At the time there was not an ATM in Punta Allen (don't know if that is still true) and you have to pay cash to settle up your bill. There are no prices regarding food/drink so I just made sure we had lots of $$. I don't like travelling with large amounts of money on me but it was so mellow down there it wasn't likely that I would lose it. I don't remember what it ended up being but we did 3 breakfasts, 1 lunch and 2 dinners and several cocktails (his margheritas are HUGE and potent and try out his house cocktail as well, can't remember the name. Good stuff) and a few beers. We brought down beers in a cooler and bought ice and more beers in town at Punta Allen. There are a few little stores there but they don't have much. We almost ran out of sunblock and i finally found one bottle for an outrageous price while we were down there. Live and learn.

Trish

[graceland]

HI Trish, thanks for the info on the $$. I've read many postings on the amt to bring and if I bring too much (which I usually do as I don't want to worry) I just spend it at the airport before I leave! There is always a souvenir I need to bring the pet sitter and I really am not a vacation shopper; would rather be on the beach with my 'rita.:margarita:
Though it's many months away, it's been fun planning this. My DH has no idea what we are doing; he doesn't get involved- just trusts me, so I try to throw in something unexpected. He has no idea I added Punta Allen to the mix; he thinks we are doing a day trip. haha. Santa is being good to him next year.
On the drive back to Cancun to catch the afternoon flight home I decided to find an overnight in PDC.. just to wander about...we will have had plenty of beach time by then ...and maybe shake the sand out of my hair before flying five hours.
That time of year is difficult in getting only one night. I wonder if I could just take a chance?
If you have any thoughts, I'd appreciate them. I am so
happy to hear about Sol Caribe.
Thx, Gracie

[Lynnette]

Glad to see you here from a fellow Suenos aficianado!!

http://www.freefever.com/myspacegraphics/glitter/welcome.gif

[beachreader]

Hi, Trish, and welcome! I'm also really curious about Sol Caribe. How many units do they have? What's their beach/water like? I.e., do they have a lot of turtle grass in a calm bay, or is it more of an ocean beach with clear water and more wave action?

This is a funny question, but what's their beach furniture like? I'm on a rant against the molded fiberglass "chairs" many places have now.

Do you have pictures somewhere we can see?

Thanks!

[TrishandIan]

Hi Beachreader, I've been enjoying all of your posts and reams of research on the area!
Sol Caribe has about 4 units, I think, not many but like I said the rooms are nice and big. Huge bathrooms with giant showers that is all stone and tile and if I remember correctly, the water is not brackish. The rooms have lots of screened windows with shutters. Our room had two King beds and a big walk in closet. They have their own solar/generator and water source (maybe filtered). They are truly off the grid.

I will research how to post pics when I have a moment. Right now I'm contending with a puking 11 month old. Poor baby, hope I'm not next....

Anyway, the beach is gorgeous, very like Tulum, nice waves, nice and wide and sandy. They groom a wide swath which is nice because they are pretty isolated. One of the fishing lodges is about an hour south (by foot). So when they stop grooming it can be quite trash strewn at places. Pretty interesting to look at all that trash and see where it came from. Stuff from Haiti, Cuba etc. It's amazing how many people are out there with only one flip flop! Oh well, my attempt at humor in light of a sad situation.
There is a reef somewhat close to shore about a 30 minute walk south. Good snorkelling there. We also set up a boat trip/snorkel trip with a fisherman in Punta Allen. Michael can help you set that up as well.
They have some palapa type umbrellas (two I think) on the beach and some wooden beach chaises. I do remember that they weren't the most comfortable, could use a cushion I think but they weren't awful.
Michael has some dogs and a beautiful cat, media-noche who will climb on you while you drink at the bar. I've never seen her feet touch the ground. THose dogs are on to her! I know Locogringo has some pics (arial too) and information on the place. That is who we booked through.

Oh yeah, just remembered that michael had a little motorboat that he let us use, no charge. We went out with another couple who knew how to use it and snorkelled a bit. That was very cool. I honestly think I remember him saying that the boat washed ashore with one of the hurricanes and he doesn't know who it belonged to. It was a junky little thing but great fun to just head off shore to the reef.

[TnTWalter]

Hey Great Name!!!:eat-drink:

[beachreader]

Thanks for the info, sounds great. I do think they've gotten significantly more expensive, but I'll check them out next trip, since I promise myself that I'm getting down to Punta Allen. I'm almost sorry to hear about the cat who climbs on people. One of my girlfriends is seriously allergic. A cat who lives outdoors and stays put (like Luna or Xamach Dos' Miaou Miaou) is probably OK, but if she loves to be on people, that might be an issue for her. Maybe I'll just pump her up with drugs and drag her along. :)

[graceland]

BR, I've booked Sol Caribe after leaving La Luna Dec. 28, 2 nights - $140/nt high season. Not bad I thought, and they told me not to bother with the "all inclusive", an extra $160 a day for the 2 nights; they offer that, but do assume people want to try other places in the big city, Punta Allen. Of course she said if you thought you could each drink $80 worth a day, then go for it; drinks are included.:margarita: I did have to wait a moment with my decision on that one, but figured the last two days of ten, I may need to be "drying out" by then!
I will take tons of pics and if you dont make it 2008, you can go on your spring jaunt. :bus:
Gracie

[beachreader]

Excellent, thanks, Grace.

I heard from another couple who have spent many years visiting Sol Caribe that they raised their "all-inclusive" rates because they were hit a few times by folks who went a bit overboard, literally eating and drinking them out of house and home. Glad to hear they're realistic about most people's needs (and that they allow you to bring your own beer and such if you wish it).

[graceland]

Wonder why that does not surprise me! Has anyone seen the number of:margarita: pics included in reports. Cracks me up..
:eat-drink: G.
I learned from Gale to pack my clothes in my new cooler (on wheels,natch) I'll be purchasing and that is exactly what I'll be doing!
Is there an icon for a cooler?? place it Heeeerrre...
G.

[TrishandIan]

Regarding the cat, she's pretty mellow and lays about, moves pretty slow too. I don't think your friend would have a problem, she is usually hanging out at the restaurant/bar area and it is open to the outdoors. She'll only climb on you if you allow it. Like I said she moves pretty slow. I totally understand though, my mom is deathly allergic to animals. She gets into some pretty severe asthma attacks. Scary stuff, especially the way people carry animals with them everywhere.

[beachreader]

I learned from Gale to pack my clothes in my new cooler (on wheels,natch) I'll be purchasing and that is exactly what I'll be doing!



One thing I'd suggest, Grace, in case you haven't already thought of it, is to bring a sack of some sort to put your things in in case you have to move during the course of your stay. I mean, if you're using your suitcase as a cooler, you might not want to pitch all the ice, dry it out, pack it with clothes and all that. Keep the ice and bevvies intact and just shove your clothes into a different bag that you can either leave behind or pack easily.

I'm going to do something like that next trip, put all my winter clothes and extra reading material in different bags and leave them in the trunk of my car so I don't have to lug them across the sand to my room.

Just a thought.

[beachreader]

Thanks again, Trish, for the extra cat info. I think my friend would really like it down there, if only for a few days.