Wellness, food, and ruins
Mexico is nine times the size of Portugal and changes completely depending on which part you land in. Past the markets and the ruins there are places where very little happens, which is usually the point.
Tulum has the only Mayan ruin built right on the sea, on a cliff above the water. It stopped being a secret about fifteen years ago, so go early in the day. The coast either side of it is lined with yoga and wellness places, and eating gluten free is easy, because most of what you are handed starts as corn.
La Paz sits on the Sea of Cortez, which Cousteau called the aquarium of the world. It is a working town rather than a resort and it moves at its own pace. Spa treatments cost a fraction of what the same thing costs further south.
San Jose del Cabo is the quiet one. It shares the municipality of Los Cabos with Cabo San Lucas and is constantly confused with it, which is lucky for anybody who wants the version without the cruise ships. We have written it up on its own.
Corn is why eating gluten free here is easy
Corn does most of the work in Mexican cooking, and heirloom varieties grown for generations are still the backbone of it. Tortillas, tamales, tlayudas, memelas: naturally gluten free, not adapted to be. For anyone who normally spends a holiday negotiating with kitchens, Mexico is a rest.
Ask anyway, because wheat tortillas exist and are common in the north, and because a kitchen that uses both needs to know which one you need.
Oaxaca is our favorite region to eat in.
Drinks without alcohol
Mexico is known for tequila and mezcal, and it is just as good at the other thing. Agua fresca, tepache, horchata. Everyone drinks these, all day, regardless of what else is on the table.
Flora Farms in San Jose del Cabo takes this further than most: a cocktail list where almost everything can be made with or without alcohol, built from what is growing on the farm. The Farmarita uses heirloom carrot, and the Pelo de Perro is a Bloody Mary made with heirloom tomato water.
The ruins
Clap your hands at the base of the pyramid at Chichen Itza and the echo comes back sounding like a bird. Researchers think the Maya built the staircase to do that on purpose.
That is the thing about the ruins here. They were built by people solving problems you would not have thought to set yourself.
Temazcal
The temazcal is a low domed steam room that the Aztecs and Maya were using long before anybody called it wellness. Plenty of spas offer one now. It is hotter and more ceremonial than a sauna, and it is worth doing once with somebody who treats it as more than a spa treatment.
More than the postcard
There is the coast, where people go to stop. There is the food, which changes every few hundred miles. There is the history, most of which is still standing. And there is the Mexico that has nothing to do with spring break or all inclusive resorts, which is most of it.