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There is a whimsical irony in everything that coexists in Riviera Maya, the destination known for its crystal clear seas whose day to day, however, is marked by the lack of water. The Yucatan Peninsula is a system of underground veins to which the trees of the surface try to reach by unfolding their roots in search of the liquid that sustains them and it is there, in that battle they wage in the depths of the limestone soil, where their well-known cenotes are formed. Just like the trees, the inhabitants of Riviera Maya today find in their Mayan roots the way to survive preserving what they are, and it is in the adventure of discovering them when one understands that it is worth crossing an ocean to know them.

Someone can go to Riviera Maya and become one more guiri of the thousands that flood it, photograph themselves on its paradisiacal beaches or under its toasted sunrises to upload the images to social networks as an influencer, but one can also go to Riviera Maya and discover it beyond prejudices and clichés. Or break them, even.

Where death is an institution, life prevails. The meat grills smoke from early in the morning. Craft stalls stitch the roads that link their cities. Rocío Dúrcal and Roberto Carlos rival the reggaeton of Shakira and Bad Bunny anywhere, because there is always music everywhere; There are also tacos and guacamole, and a restless effervescence that contrasts with the leisurely Caribbean rhythm. Here time is relative and everything is now. Right now it is the state in suspension of things: right now I arrive, right now I see you ... Right now that's what's happening; It is not living, but living, in gerund. The best things happen in gerund: eating, laughing, dancing, drinking... In Riviera Maya, the best things happen right now.

One can spend days and nights without leaving the hotel complexes that stand as small cities with all kinds of amenities and activities included, but one can also go out every day and travel its patchy roads until you reach corners that you would never have imagined. Places that are, after all, the real Riviera Maya.

Unknown Valladolid

Guanajuato, Morelia, Zacatecas... Valladolid is not on the traditional list of Mexican colonial cities, but it could. For its architecture, for its light, for its charm... Valladolid is "a beautiful thing that the news does not tell", as Álex Romero, a former teacher who now works as a guide, says. In the center, the Francisco Cantón Rosado Park makes a carpet to the Church of San Servacio, built with the remains of a Mayan pyramid that once occupied the park and the Spaniards dismantled when they arrived in the city. In the heart of the park, the fountain of La Mestiza is Valladolid's particular tribute to the Yucatecan woman and her traditional white dress with flowers. A few meters away are the Municipal Palace of Valladolid and the Municipal Bazaar, although to press the real Valladolid and its people is the market, a swarm of streets where tropical fruits and snacks are mixed without distinction.

On Sundays and save days, families gather around a Yucatecan barbecue: a feast of panuchos, cochinita pibil, lomitos and morcilla from Valladolid, poc chuc (delicious grilled and spiced pork fillets), cream of beans and stuffed cheese enlivened with tortilla chips and tortillas. But it doesn't have to be a party to try it. In the restaurant Las Campanas you do not need excuses to pay homage, nor to try their delicious, soft and treacherous margarita to the rhythm of Chavela Vargas. Let it be noted that we are in Mexico.

Sian Ka'an

You can't talk about Riviera Maya without talking about its sea and crystal clear waters, but Sian Ka'an is something else. Its translation would be something like the gates of heaven and faith that the visitor has the feeling of entering Eden as the boats approach this place. Biosphere Reserve, Sian Ka'an was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987 and is located about 140 kilometers from Cancun and 10 from Tulum.

The mangroves mark the path and, when crossing them, the traveler understands the true meaning of the green water and the turquoise blue. A unique watercolor in which dolphins, sea turtles or crocodiles appear in their peaceful freedom. But the spectacle is also below, in the bottoms where tropical fish, corals, rays and other marine species play with the curious who dare to snorkel.

In the heart of Sian Ka'an lives, stealthily, Punta Allen, a fishing village of no more than 600 inhabitants that seems from another dimension. Its port, saving the distances, looks like a small Venice of boats that used to go out in search of fishing and now transport, above all, tourists. They only have six hours of electricity a day and sandy streets on which they have painted lines like speed bumps, "as if the huge puddles of sand and mud were not enough to make the cars brake," says Armando, the driver of one of the boats. Also the simple and unpretentious cuisine of Fisherman, the small restaurant on the beach where, if the day gives it, you should not miss the grouper with mustard with rosemary. Or breaded chicken. Or the micheladas.

Cenotes

To speak of Riviera Maya is to speak of cenotes, the incredible eyes open on the earth that connect with the underground veins of water. The entire limestone platform that makes up Yucatan is a gruyer cheese populated by these freshwater wells. It is not known how many exist, it is estimated that between 6,000 and 7,000, but it is unknown how many are yet to come to light. No two are the same and although there are public cenotes, the best and most attractive are usually private. Operators such as Soltour offer the possibility of organizing visits to some of the most impressive in the region, such as those of the Xtun caves, an ecotourism complex in which the Xibalba and Imix cenotes connect, which translates as maternal womb.

There is a strange feeling when something is incredibly beautiful and fascinating, a sensation like unfathomable, and that is what arises when leaving the interior of that maternal womb dotted with stalagmites, stalactites, undercurrents and even a bat. It seems fleeting the route, partly on foot, partly by swimming, which leads to discover the interior of this cave that ends with a new festival of tacos and homemade food prepared on site.

Chichen Itza and Tulum

Pyramid in the Mayan city of Chichén Iztá.EL MUNDO

Tourism is today the raison d'être of Riviera Maya, but it would be frivolous to ignore its past, among other things, because that past emanates in each of its corners. The Mayan civilization has left in this corner of Mexico a particular way of understanding the world, life and nature, often plagued by contradictions, such as the one that has occupied them lately and has placed at the center of the controversy the famous Mayan train.

Oblivious to the controversy are some of his best-known constructions. Chichen Itza is, of all, the most popular and since 2007, one of the Seven Wonders of the world. Maybe that's why he deserves a getaway, but he doesn't lack arguments; the main one, the Castle or Pyramid of Kukulcán that presides over the complex and is full of curiosities and mysteries. Years ago it was possible to climb its dozens of steps, but today the visitor will have to settle for putting into practice the ritual of the three claps or looking at one of its sides to distinguish the perfect snake that descends from the top to the ground. It is a solar calendar totally aligned with the cardinal points, an architectural jewel surrounded by other constructions such as the Ball Court, the Group of the Thousand Columns (although in reality there are 584) or the Observatory.

Hotel Bahia Principe Grand Tulum, in Tulum.

A trip to the past of Riviera Maya must also pass, inevitably, by the archaeological ruins of Tulum. It is today one of the best known cities in the region, the destination for those looking for a more bohemian atmosphere and different from the busy Cancun or Playa del Carmen. Its white sand beaches and transparent waters have made it famous and there they are (when the sargassum allows it). In one of its corners is the Hotel Bahia Principe Grand Tulum, which more than a hotel complex is a small city within another. From this point it takes no more than 20 minutes to reach the well-known ruins. Its remains still standing maintain the majesty of the strategic and commercial city that it once was, with the temple -here called castle- guarding the horizon.

However, this complex dedicated to the ancient Mayan gods also hides corners for the most earthly pleasures. The best fish tacos in the area are cooked in a small place dotted with old fans that suffocate the heat from the ceiling. His name is Frosty's and Luis, his chef, responds strangely when asked about his secret in the kitchen. "It's grouper seasoned with garlic and you just have to run it through the grill just long enough for it to be juicy," he says, as if it were easy.

'Gastro'

Fish is, without a doubt, one of the great discoveries of Mexican gastronomy, at least in its mainstream version. Let's agree that tacos al pastor and cochinita pibil are two of the usual, but in Riviera Maya it is more than necessary to dare with grouper, sea bass, octopus and fish in all its versions. No artifice. Sometimes with a particular mixture of sweet and acid that makes it almost addictive, as with shrimp soup.

But if it comes to breaking clichés, here is the biggest of all: the Mexican is more mezcal than tequila. They say it and their popular saying: "For everything good, mezcal; for all the bad, mezcal." In the country there are almost 400 types of agave, but only one is made tequila: blue agave. That's the key. Mezcal is natural and organic, "well, if taken in moderation," they say. Perhaps it is that purity, that existence without artifice, that connects the Mexican with the particular liquor of the worm in the bottle.

That's not to say they don't drink tequila; They do it and a lot. Whenever he plays, especially on important occasions. "Good tequila doesn't need lemon, salt or ice. Those who ask for it want to hide their shortcomings," they warn the unwary Spaniards.

Holbox

Holbox is already, as the cheesy would say, the place to be of Riviera Maya, and it will be more in a short time. With these expectations, it is difficult to know which of its two realities will end up imposing: whether the Americanized version, in which hotels and private beaches delight visitors (now mainly Americans and Canadians), or the Mexican version, which remains despite tourism.

At the moment, both coexist giving rise to an exotic mixture. The main square, in front of the City Hall and the church, concentrates the bustle from early in the morning. The souvenir stalls, Casa Barbara, the Choni boutique, the Super Carmencita... Travelers and locals mingle in its earthy streets. The motorcycles with three people on board try, with difficulty, to maintain the balance between the puddles of water that pierce the road, although the real adventure is to drive the golf carts with which everyone moves through the municipality. From the center to the beaches -again crystal clear- and from the beaches to the center. Businesses and houses are shoddy, like Mexicans, and on the wall of one of them a graffiti reminds women who in the area have been victims of sexist violence: "We are the cry of those who no longer have a voice."

Located in the place where the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea meet, it is possible that the meaning of the concept paradise comes from this point. Holbox is as exciting and enjoyable as the road to get there: Kantunilkín, Chiquilá, San Ángel, Solferino, Isla Pasión, Isla Mosquito and its strange horseshoe crabs, which are not crabs but descendants of dinosaurs. And so on. Constant surprise and musicality.

Puerto Morelos

The best definition of Puerto Morelos is offered by Jesus, the young clerk of a grocery store. "If you want to party, Playa del Carmen, but if you want tranquility and relaxation, Puerto Morelos." And that is Puerto Morelos: tranquility, an alternative destination that seeks to value Mexican culture and get away from the Americanadas that predominate in other places in the area. Three years ago, The Fives chain opened The Fives Oceanfront here, one of its boutique hotels that bases its proposal on wellness and sustainability. Soltour also offers the possibility of enjoying the Riviera Maya and all its getaways from this corner. In the chain they boast of being the only ones in the country to host the restaurants of Ro Marley, the signature of the son of the legendary Bob Marley that bases its menu on a natural and proximity cuisine.

PRACTICAL GUIDE

ARRIVE. Soltour offers departures in July and August of 7 nights with flight, transfers, 5-star hotel with all inclusive and insurance from 995 euros. Excursions can be added at the travel agency.

SLEEP. Hotel Bahia Principe Grand Tulum: on the beach and suitable for all audiences. The Fives Oceanfront: boutique hotel in Puerto Morelos. Suites, infinity pool and exclusive beach.

EAT. Love: Italian with Mexican reminiscences at The Fives Oceanfront hotel. Not to be missed is its broccoli cream and pasta. The Bells: Restaurant of typical Mexican food in Valladolid. Ask for the Yucatecan barbecue.

MORE INFO. On the website of Tourism of Mexico visitmexico.com

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