After watching another beautiful sunrise at the beach outside my Coco Tulum cabana, I ate breakfast at the Playa Azul restaurant. It was delicious as usual. After that I walked back along the beach and found my tour guide, Blake, waiting to take me to the Gran Cenote.

We made our way along the Tulum Beach road past a little ‘pueblito’ of palapa shops selling t-shirts and local carvings and out through the Tulum jungle reserve in his dune buggy. After that we drove another 7 minutes north towards the Coba ruins through virgin jungle on a road which was barely a paved goat’s path a few years ago.

It’s only a little sign that warns the speeding drivers that they are about to pass one of the best cenote snorkeling spots in the Yucatan.

We entered the cenote park through a palapa-style entrance beside a sleepy guide. It was a beautiful short stroll along a pebbled garden walkway lined with local flowering shrubs. The Riviera Maya is rich with a wide variety of plants and flowers. There are an estimated 20 to 30 thousand different species of plants growing in Mexico, which is considered to be one of the most floristically diverse countries in the world.

We arrived at the top ledge looking into a breathtaking tropical sinkhole oasis. The Gran Cenote was formed over a period of thousands of years when rainwater wore away the limestone making its way back to the sea.

As we walked around the lip of the cenote I heard some scuba divers getting suited up on the island in the middle of the sinkhole, talking about exploring the tunnels snaking off from the main pool. There are hundreds of miles of divers ‘line’ in the Riviera Maya tunnels.
I have been in many cenotes before, but most were in out in the sunshine – this one was like entering the yawning mouth of a prehistoric rock creature … and right where the throat should start I took a deep breath and plunged downwards, not expecting the small cave above the water to suddenly expand into an arena the size of a small stadium, filled with stalagmites and stalactites.

The bubbles from the diving group swimming below me rose up and I watched the group enter one of the tunnels near the bottom. I have heard of divers finding completely blind fish in those tunnels that after millenniums of years in the dark have lost the ability to see.
I spent the next hour swimming around the island and I peered into more tunnel entrances with lots of colorful cenote fish swimming in and out of the rocks. All in all it was breathtaking.

On the dock after the swim, my tour guide Blake, who I now consider a good friend, told me that the Mayan name for Gran Cenote is ‘Sac Aktun’, which in english means ‘White cave’, possibly because the island was formed when the cave’s thin roof collapsed thousands of years ago letting in the sunlight.

I heard some young children snorkeling and I thought what a sacred and special place for parents to bring their children on holiday.
I closed my eyes and felt thanks that I had the opportunity to experience such wondrous beauty tucked away in the virgin jungles of Tulum.
Until next time…

For many this may seem just an expensive dream, but what if you can be on the beach, have both an intimate evening and a fun-filled party and even enjoy the warm weather, and all at a very affordable price? At Coco Tulum that is precisely what we offer. Our rustic but clean and comfortable cabañas are perfect for singles or couples. Our clean, communal bathrooms promote a sense of community and camaraderie. It is the perfect setting to allow you to join others or create your own perfect intimate world.

If you are feeling romantic on new Year’s Eve and want to be only with one special person, you can celebrate in one of our beachfront cabañas with a glass of wine, on the beautiful powdery white beach watching the waves softly roll in, or even better, in one of our tower rooms overlooking the beach and the ocean, where it feels like you have the whole world at your feet.

But if you wander just a few minutes walk in either direction, you will no doubt find a party that, in true Tulum tradition, is ready to welcome strangers with open arms.  You can stay a while and then continue your walk the beach until you reach to the next gathering, which is sure to not be very far away.

Either way, you will find yourself in one of the most beautiful places in the world. What better way to embark upon the journey of the year 2012.

So if you can, take the time this fall to come and visit Xcaret’s underground river and its spectacular night show. Or allow yourself to be astounded while snorkeling in the Xel Ha inlet, one of the largest natural aquariums in the world, or let your thoughts drift away as you are slowly float down Xel Ha’s lazy river, one of the few above ground rivers in the Yucatan Peninsula. Or alternately trek and swim through underground cavern in Rio Secreto. Or fly through the trees and over cenotes on zip lines in one of the many jungle adventure parks of the region, such as Xplor or Alltournative. There is an endless array of possibilities all along the coast from Cancun to Tulum.

And isn’t it a great idea to spend your money on adventure and entertainment rather than lodging? That’s why Coco Tulum is such a great option. Located close to all these attractions and on one of the most spectacular beaches in the world, it is nevertheless very affordable. Since our concern is to provide basic and reliable accommodation, our focus is above all on cleanliness and service. We are ready and eager to help you with your vacation, be it by organizing transportation, providing whatever information you may need of the region and what is has to offer, or simply by welcoming you back after a long and exciting day.

Come and visit!

This is Anna Fishkin, a photographer, artist and writer. She was born in Minsk, Belarus, and currently resides in México.

This week she has been taking new photographs for the web page of Coco Tulum Hotel that will be up in 10 days. We chose her to take the new pictures for the web page because we think she has a sensitive eye for Caribbean colors and the natural lines of the landscape here.

Her web page is www.everystring.com, where you can see more of her great work!

She is also one of the offical photographers for www.tulumweddingsandevents.com

The development and production of energy using renewable energy (solar, wind, geothermal are the most often cited) can help us to live sustainable lives.  It can also help us to lower our energy costs, which is useful in an unstable global economy.

An ecologically sustainable existence means not leaving a “carbon footprint” – keeping our environment in balance and not using more energy than the environment can sustain.

To effectively use both solar and wind power, one needs a set up in which you can harness the heat of the sun or the movement of the wind.  The most common ways are using solar panels, which are made up of photovoltaic cells, and windmills, which harness the wind currents to turn the turbine (the blades at the top of a windmill) to generate movement.  Both convert these resources into electricity, which can be stored in large batteries (kind of like car batteries) so that you can use that power even when it’s not sunny or windy.

Using the resources that are freely available creates the possibility of living in a completely sustainable manner, so that our manner of living does not cause harm to the Earth, energy costs don’t create a burden on our finances, and we can still live with the comforts that define our modern life.  Sustainable living doesn’t have to mean going without heat and electricity – we can still live lives of comfort without damaging the environment.

If everyone used renewable energy, we wouldn’t leave our grandchildren with the burden of our wasteful way of life.  As the danger of climate change becomes more of a threat, we can only hope that there will be more of a movement toward sustainability through the use of renewable energy, and that it is more freely available to anyone who wants to live a sustainable life.

www.cocotulum.com