Put your yoga where your mouth is

Sitting in the plane en route to Cancun, my mind was filled with the travel stories of my past: bus chaos on the way to Croatia, wild dogs and dung beetles in the desert between India and Pakistan, flat tires in Mexico, food poisoning in Nepal, being stuck in the Dubai airport (and not allowed into the terminal) for an entire night…so many places with so many amazing stories. In fact, most trips worth talking about are ones that didn’t go as planned. Funny I should be thinking that…

I’m unsure how to share the abridged version of our trip to Tulum thus far, so perhaps chronologically ordered bullet points will be simplest:

Carrington and I arrive in Cancun on Tuesday morning at 10:15am—a day before the rest of the travelers—so we have time to get settled, check out the scene, and unwind before greeting the guests on Wednesday.

We pick up our Uber Rental Van (thank goodness we both drive a stick shift) and head south toward Tulum.

Recognizing that bad things happen in threes, we learned quickly the watch points for the Uber Van/driving in Mexico: 1-The brakes are mediocre at best. In other words, brake really, really early. Like, before you know you need to. 2- Watch out for tope, (“tow-pay”) which are giant, often unmarked speed bumps in the middle of highways. These, combined with the braking issue makes for a lot of fun. 3- Alert: there are NO lizard crossing signs in Mexico. And there should be.

The directions we had to Casa Magna Tulum were incorrect. After driving into the middle of nowhere we recognized this and turned around, eventually finding the right road. Little fault to us—the road is only signed headed NORTH.

We drive all the way to the end of the road the hotel is supposed to be on. No luck. We keep driving back and forth. The small cartoon map locates Casa Magna right **HERE** but we can’t find it. Eventually we stop at a gated crossing. The sign is covered over with a giant tarp. The gate is locked. There is an armed guard.

My limited Spanish reveals that no, we can’t come in. It’s closed. Nobody is there. We can’t stay.

Oh Heck, and other four-letter-words, or as Carrington put it, "Didn't see that coming..."

I find out where to locate Melissa (the proprietor, who is at another property) and we drive there.

Finding Melissa, we give her the, “Uh, hi we’re Jill and Carrington from blue lotus?” and get a surprised wasn’t-expecting-you-today followed by “there’s a little problem.”

Really.

We are taken to yet another property and given a room and a bizarre explanation of events.

In Mexico, possession is 100% of the law. That 1% difference is apparently a BIG deal. Something about Escobar’s drug dealing family still holding title to the land, and Melissa & co were (temporarily) thrown out?

Did I mention that Carrington and I were arriving a day early to unwind?

And thirteen people are arriving in less than 24 hours expecting a wonderful yoga retreat?

*breathing*

Back and forth, back and forth, and then a little more back and forth through the day and evening with Melissa. Apparently the 2nd boss has OK’d the retreat, but the 1st boss has to bless it. He is coming into town Tuesday night. He is totally unreachable. Something about 12 million dollars being paid to the new owner.

*Here, I begin to recognize my pre-conceived ideas about people with 12 million dollars to throw around, including they have cell phones.*

We will know something in the morning, and Melissa is 92%-99.9% sure that we’re a go and can get into Casa Magna in the morning. The percentage range shifted in the downward direction in the course of a three minute conversation.

*there is no sleep*

Carrington and I have a lovely walk on the beach in the morning. It is SO beautiful here. (Good to include, lest we forget our priorities.)

We meet Melissa at 9-ish, ready to hear the good news that all is well and we are in!

The $12-million-dollar-man-with-the-answers is still unavailable…or just needs to check his messages, or SOMETHING.

Carrington heads off to the airport to pick up the first arrivals, with NO IDEA what we are going to do with them.

I spend the morning sitting, breathing, watching the tide come in, staring over at Melissa, willing a decision in one order or another.

This continues until noon when I tell her we need a final decision now. I can’t have a group of people arriving for a beautiful retreat in a private and secluded paradise sitting in the Uber Van while we look for rooms.

We walk a few doors down to Suenos Tulum. They have been closed for two years completely renovating their villas. They are about to reopen.

Sold.

I call Carrington. One word for her: Suenos.

I get our things moved to Suenos, chat with the lovely owners, make room assignments and get things ready for the guests, who begin to arrive about 45 minutes later. They have NO idea what is happening. Except Caroline, who had a great “what is going on here” look.

We let everyone get settled into their rooms and then had a group meeting to tell the story.

That will happen two more times yet today, as the others arrive.

In case you are wondering, the accommodations are absolutely lovely. The beach is spectacular. The breeze is delicious. The company, amazing. We still have to sort out a new schedule (we have no yoga space here) and walk to another location for meals. Everything will be fine.

Don’t you just love the yoga!!

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

Stay tuned.