Vegan Resort in Mexico | Our Stay at Palmaïa | Heather & Brighde

Link for the show notes

Today’s episode is a little different — and a lot of fun. I’m joined by my dear friend Heather, and we’re recapping our recent milestone birthday trip to Mexico, where we stayed at the stunning plant-based resort, Palmaïa, just south of Cancún in Playa del Carmen.

We talk about everything — the fully vegan restaurants, the spa experience that completely spoiled us, beach days with margaritas, spider monkeys in the jungle canopy, and yes… even the sargassum situation.

If you’ve ever wondered what a luxury, plant-forward, all-inclusive experience is really like — this episode is for you.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to The World Vegan Travel Podcast. I'm so thrilled to have Heather joining me in a very different podcast format for today's episode. We are going to be talking about our recent trip that we did to Mexico, specifically to Palmaïa and give our thoughts about this place. Thank you so much for joining me, Heather. 

Big fan. Love to be here. Thanks for having me. 

Oh, you are so sweet. Thank you so much. Alright. I have known about Palmaïa for a really long time. I think, I first initially interviewed a member of their team when the resort first opened. I want to say, it was like in 2019, maybe even as far back as that. And I've been wanting to go there forever, and we knew that we wanted to go somewhere to celebrate our big 'five O's', and we talked about doing a trip, and you really wanted to go to Mexico, and I was excited about [00:01:00] that. 

Yeah. Mexico City, I think, we talked about for a long time, and then on top of that, like Mexico City, and then let's pick one more little side trip on that. And there were a couple of options, but we kept coming back to Palmaïa. 

Yeah, I have to say, I think I certainly nudged in that direction because I was so thrilled. You've had been to Mexico quite a few times and you were interested in going back to Cabo. 

Yeah, I love it. There, I mean, it's an easier point of access from the West Coast where we are. Going over to Cancún is a little further. There's a few less options flight-wise, but, you know, a totally different scene. And I think, I've only been in that area one other time. So I was definitely on board. 

And you did express a little bit of concern about going to this part of Mexico because of the sargassum, I remember you saying. 

Yep. It's big, it's bad. I mean, the other time I went was [00:02:00] also January, and I think, that's supposed to be a lower time for it, but it's just a wall of seaweed in the water and it can smell bad. It was quite limiting to go in the ocean. And when you're on that side of Mexico, you want to be in the ocean. It's the calm blue turquoise waters and it's so beautiful. So, I know it's a big problem that is talked about over the past few years. So you never know, but we got pretty lucky. 

We did, we did. Well, I will touch on more about that because it is something to think about, I think, if you are considering going to that part of the world. But yes, we did have some sargassum, but we ended up deciding to go to Palmaïa, and as somebody in the travel industry, they gave us a good rate. It's not a cheap place, so it was a big decision deciding to go there. I felt that. 

Yeah, it was a special occasion, andthe discounted rate certainly helped. But yeah, it's a high-end place. I felt [00:03:00] it was all worth it. It was fabulous. 

Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I agree. So we stayed there like four nights in total. We planned on four nights, which maybe, is quite a lot, I don't know. After, I think, five nights in Mexico City, and I mean, maybe we should talk about where it is in relation to Mexico and in relation to the city. Would you like to share? I guess, it's south of Cancun in Playa del Carmen, so, you know, very accessible. It's very central, where a lot of the resorts are when you fly into Cancun, and then you get into your shuttle. So there's a ton of places. I think it's about an hour south of Cancun. The drive was easy enough, and then it was pretty special when we arrived there. It was, yeah, less like any resort you do arrive to because you kind of get dropped at a reception area, but then you get carted into the actual resort. [00:04:00] The reception area was not right at the hotel. 

I think that whole way you arrive thing is kind of interesting as somebody who spends a lot of times in hotels and trying to figure them out. It was interesting to me. But we later learn, because we did a site inspection of the hotel, that Palmaïa, you access it by going through another resort, and I think we'll touch on more on that a little bit later. But it turns out that, that other resort is this resort called Sandos, and I believe they have quite a few other resorts in Mexico and some in various parts of Europe. And they're all owned by this one family. The son of the family, he decided he wanted to make his own hotel, and previously, that part of where Palmaïan now is, was more of like an exclusive part of that Sandos resort. So I guess, the family agreed to let him have this part of the resort, and just [00:05:00] make it into his own thing. Which eventually became Palmaïa and for me, that explains a lot why, when you look at the building of the resort, it doesn't really match the product that they're offering. It really looks like a standard resort although it's been renovated to look beautiful and that's why you have to go through Sandos in order to get to the Palmaïa itself. That was a huge revelation when I figured out how that works. So would you mind sharing with our listeners what it was like when we arrived, and until we checked into the room? 

Yeah. Well, we got the nice drink on arrival, and they got us into, was it a golf cart or something like that. We were driving through Sandos which was very typical, kind of, resort. But then you enter. There was a different feeling once you entered the Palmaïa area, and you'd kind of drive along the backside, and you're in the jungle [00:06:00] canopy. All of the buildings are facing the ocean. So I think that everything has basically kind of an ocean type facing build. Which is a very nice thing at a resort because, you know, you often get the pool view or the road view or whatever. But I don't think you can go wrong there. And the guy was explaining, 'Oh, this is where we can do yoga sometimes, and here's the restaurants.' He was kind of taking us through everything, and then got us to our room, which was very special. When we were checking in, they said, 'Oh, yes, we have you in a 'swimup suite.' 

Yeah. 

And I was like, 'Is this what we booked, did they upgrade us?' Yeah. I thought they must have upgraded us because, I mean, we're World Vegan Travel. So this is a huge. That was my initial thought. We just kind of like went with it, and 'Oh man,' the opening that space, it was pretty exciting. Yeah. 

And it was funny because we had somebody meet us [00:07:00] at the, basically of the door of our room and his name was Esteban. 

Oh, yeah. 

And I had never experienced a welcome like this, and this kind of service. But basically, I guess, you would describe Esteban as the concierge or the guest? Not a butler, it's not to that level, I guess, but I don't know what you call them.  

I would say a concierge. It was our own, kind of, point of contact because the reception is not close. So you get in touch with Esteban or whoever you, I guess, you get assigned with. And he's, kind of, always at your service by WhatsApp. So that was kind of neat, actually. I really liked that part. 

I didn't mind having WhatsApp, like, yeah, you know, none of the messages that came through from him were like super, super time sensitive. So you, you know, you didn't feel like you had to check every notification at all, but that was how he communicated. Or how the communication about the events that were [00:08:00] happening the next day happened. We arranged our transfers, leaving the hotel at the end, and any questions that we had, it was, yeah, I think it was a good service and he was really nice. I felt like his responses were awesome. 

I really liked that side of things. I hadn't experienced anything like that before, in a hotel where you kind of just have your own person you can ask any questions to, and you can just type it into your phone instead of having to go into your room, and call reception, and which place am I calling for this question? This was just a text and he'd answer in a pretty good time, always. Always seemed really happy too. Yeah. He was happy we were bothering him. So that was great. 

Yeah. Yeah, he was really nice. And then we got into the room, and I would say, that the room was absolutely lovely. It was just like a conventional resort room, but, you know, very, very nice. There was a ton of stuff in the mini fridge. There was great coffee. [00:09:00] Facilities. I think that was something that was a little bit overwhelming because there was so much information to take in when we arrived at the hotel. I mean, all good things, like all fun, exciting things. And something we didn't touch on, was that we had homework to do before we got to the resort. We got an email about a week before arriving at the resort saying, 'Do you want a transfer from the airport to the hotel.' We decided against it because it was three times more expensive. And then we also had to choose the place where we wanted the first night's dinner. And then, also, we had to look at the digital guide, and we looked at the spa,as well. So all of that information is in the room as well. Can you remember any other nice touches of the room? 

I thought it was interesting because I've been to some all-inclusive places before, as I'm sure, like many listeners have. So just like in a typical all-inclusive resort, you would have your mini fridge [00:10:00] stocked, and it's got cokes and beers and everything else. Everything is so health-focused at Palmaïa, that you go in there and there's like kombuchas but there's no alcohol in the fridge or anything like that. But if you wanted it, you could call and ask. The go-to option at Palmaïa is health-forward. So, anything beyond that, you ask, you can ask for the tequila in your drink. It's kind of, everything you can have. No alcohol, alcohol free, but you can have it if you want. I thought that was actually, a pretty nice touch. 

Yeah. I mean, it forces them to be a little bit more creative and make a more unique experience, I think, for guests, for sure. It was really nice. And like, I remember, when we got into the room after Esteban , had shown us around. I think, Seb was watching our live location, and he said, 'Did you get the note from reception?' And I'm like, 'What note? No, we didn't get a note.' And then he was very upset that we hadn't gotten a note. So we messaged Esteban and said, 'Was there a note for us? We [00:11:00] didn't get it.' And it turns out there was a very nice message on the coffee table that we hadn't even got to, yet. And we found the answer as to why we got upgraded. And it was a gift from Seb. Yeah. And he also gifted us the most expensive massage of my entire life. 

Yeah. Wow. That was so generous because we looked at the spa, and we just couldn't justify. On top of what we were already spending there, you know, yeah. What it cost for a massage, but yeah, and that was a treat. 

I think, we worked out that it was more than 400 US dollars for a massage, which is a 90 minute massage, I think. 

Yeah, I think they were mostly 90 or up. Yeah. Like the treatments. Yeah, for the length. But still it was pricey. But that spa is the thing. 

Oh yeah. Tell listeners about that. 

I can't remember but is was the best resort spa or something.  

Reader-Choice Destination Spa. 

Oh, okay. That's what it was. 

Yeah. And it won. I don't know how it [00:12:00] won, but, it is very good. Maybe they have this big audience and they get votes or something. There's a lot of spas in the world, so that's quite an honor, I guess. 

Yeah. It was good, though. The treatment I had, that girl was excellent. Right? I got the, I think, it was a strong pressure type of thing. But yeah, normally I'm a little bit sensitive, but if they're in the right spot, it works. I would almost go and actually, spend the money. If I wanted to treat myself again, I have to do this again. 

Yeah. It was good. We didn't have the massage until like day three or something like that. There were some things that made this massage, kind of, unique. 

It's very traditional. Yeah. If you sit in a, in like a dome Yeah. And they put water on hot rocks or something and it steams and, yeah. Yeah, it's very traditional. 

But it was really cool, and unique, and fun. There was also a cenote in the spa grounds, as [00:13:00] well, that we got to swim in, albeit briefly. 

Just a beautiful setting. Yeah. Like it was outside, you know. All the rooms had their own individual spaces outside in that jungle setting. It was relaxing. Yeah, really nice. 

Really nice. So, thanks Seb for such a lovely gift and a lovely upgrade. It was very, very fun. So, after we checked in and we got our lovely gift and we planned when we were going to have that, we decided to go for lunch. And for me, I just desperately wanted to go, and I don't think you needed much convincing to one of the four or five eateries in the place. And that was Charly's Vegan Tacos. Would you explain Charly's Vegan Tacos because it's kind of a cool concept. 

Yeah. The place that was open all day and you could drop in any time, and it was like a taco truck. So just kind of the vibe of it. It was just off the beach and kind of a trailer or a bus looking thing. A [00:14:00] few tables around the cooler. You could go get whatever you wanted. 

From like coconut water and kombuchas, and all these kinds of things. 

Yeah. And just like a like a smaller menu, but just those kind of comfort foods and the corn. We were looking for corn, and it had the corn. But yeah, we were looking for the vegan, Mexican corn. 

Yeah. I have not been to Mexico before. Maybe this is standard, but it was kind of like rolled in this, what they call peanut soil. That was really good. The nachos were amazing. The tacos were really, really good. That was one of, I think, two fully vegan eateries in the place, I think. It was then when we were sitting there, we hadn't even walked onto the beach yet. While we were waiting and walked onto the beach, I think, it was about three o'clock by this point, and there was just huge, huge piles of  sargassum. 

Yeah. I had warned Brighde about the sargassum. And then you walked onto the beach and went, 'Heather, it's [00:15:00] full of sargassum. The seaweed, the wall of seaweed is there.' I'm like, 'Oh no.' So yeah, that was day one. 

That was day one. I guess, a tiny bit disappointing, but I will say, it became a lot better in the following days. 

Yeah, it was, the following days just kind of, it was gone. The resorts do clean it when it comes in. At certain points you can't clear it. Yeah. There's piles of it on the beach. This is at a different place I was at before. It was unusual that it was there at that time, and then it was gone the next day, so we didn't have any other problem with it. 

I remember being fascinated by this whole phenomenon because apparently, it's only like a recent thing in the past 15 years or something, and I believe the few factors at play. The river water coming out of, I think, the Mississippi, is filled with a lot of fertilizers and then that combined with changes in currents, that I don't necessarily think are [00:16:00] greenhouse global warming, caused, but definitely, there have been some changes, and this is what has caused this whole problem. And it's really hard for the resorts to deal with. And something we learned when we were Googling about this is, they can't just put this sargassum and use it as a natural fertilizer on like agricultural land, because apparently it's quite high in arsenic. In fact, it has to be like, fully contained. It can't be allowed to get into the groundwater. It's a real problem. I don't know how it's going to be solved, but it's really bad for these resorts and for the local communities to deal with. 

Yeah. And I think, the winter season is the better time to be there. And as the seasons heat up, that's when it gets more problematic. So, another thing to think of. 

Yeah. So there are four restaurants for dinner. There was Mar De Olivo, which is Mediterranean. There was Ume, which is Japanese Thai. [00:17:00] Lek, which is high-end Mexican, and Su Casa, which is open for dinner, which is Indian. And which one did we choose for the first night? 

Mediterranean. Yeah. We had been in Mexico City for the five days prior, and I thought best idea would be to end with Mexican food. Yeah. And you were interested in Mediterranean, so we went with that. Actually, I think that was my favorite restaurant that we went to. 

Oh, really? What were the highlights for you? The location was on a second floor, kind of thing, and just had beautiful, we sat outside. The views were beautiful. The food was good. I mean, it was the first night too. So, I think, seeing a big menu where you can have everything, is pretty exciting. It could be partly that too because the food was all so good everywhere, but you could have everything. 

Yeah. Yeah. They do have the option of putting some like non-vegan proteins on there, and on a couple of the restaurants there, are like a couple of [00:18:00] choices that are not vegan, but overall, like just the breadth of options is kind of amazing. 

Yeah. And gourmet. I mean, there's the other thing about this, all inclusive, there's no buffet. The restaurants are like something you would pay big bucks to go to and whatever city you're in, to enjoy the food. It's not typical all-inclusive food. It's good. It's really good. 

And each restaurant has their own mocktail slash cocktail menu, and they all are connected with the menu that's on offer. You can ask to have alcohol added to them. And that was fun, and we definitely did that. That was awesome. And I remember, we got like this dish that had like a vegan egg yolk on top. It was amazing. Really delicious. And, maybe we can talk about like how Breakfast works there because that's kind of interesting. They have two [00:19:00] places for breakfast. It's very, very grand considering it's basically like a counter cafe. Beautifully decorated. Very high ceilings. Gorgeous views of the beach and the water. Basically, there's a huge menu, and you just choose what you want, and they'll prepare it, like grab and go kind of stuff, like cakes and things. And then they give you a buzzer. I think you enjoyed some smoothies there? 

Yeah. It was the resort cafe, except this glass window of treats and squares, and everything else, and it's all plant-based. Like the menus were fun and the smoothies were there. It was a little bit further from our room. Yeah, so I think we ended up there just kind of the one time, and yeah, the space was big. They used the room for other things too, and they had like tarot cards, like different things out on the tables. 

Yeah. Really, really enjoyed it. But I will say, I preferred Su Casa for breakfast. 

It was right behind our room, [00:20:00] essentially. It was more of a meal. And again, so much fun stuff on the menus. 

 It really, felt really, resorty as well, because it was all open air, and you were basically on the beach. It just had such a lovely, relaxed vibe to it. They had beautiful waffles, so they had lots of Mexican options. Again, no buffets. They had these beautiful match of waffles. Oh, it was so good. It's so good. 

And yeah, so just the options were just endless. I think, that's why we wanted to go there, mostly because we wanted to try as much as we could. 

Yeah. Yeah. They obviously, trained the staff so well because you would arrive at the front, the maître d’ would welcome you and then just ask if you had any allergies. And you know, we always said, although I don't think we needed to, we would always say that we were vegan, and they didn't make a single mistake. The service was absolutely incredible, I thought. 

Yeah. [00:21:00] And I don't even think you could make a mistake because by default everything is vegan, plant-based. Just a nice relaxing, like, 'Oh, this is something I can enjoy and have access to everything.' 

Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. I love Su Casa. It was fabulous. And then there were a couple of other eateries that maybe, we should touch on. There was Ume, which was the Thai Japanese one. It was a beautiful restaurant. It was definitely more sophisticated, high-end. The lighting was beautiful. It was very dim, it was very romantic, I guess. This was my least favorite, I think, of the places. What did you think? 

Yeah. I'm trying to remember what we had there, but I'm not like a sushi person. So yeah, it wasn't my favorite, but beautiful space, again. The menu was fun and the drinks were fun. That was our third night, I think. 

I felt like they were offering Thai dishes. Oh, that's right. I remember feeling [00:22:00] very confused about utensils that they would give us for certain things. In Thai restaurants, they give you a fork and a spoon. Yet, they were serving a lot of things with chopsticks, and they gave us rice when I felt they shouldn't have given us rice for certain things. But otherwise, the food itself was really, really tasty. I really enjoyed it. 

Yeah. I think the Indian was maybe my second favorite. Like I really liked that. It was a fun menu. And that was back again at Su Casa. That's the breakfast place, and the setting is so nice and, just very comfortable. I really enjoyed that one. 

We ordered one thing that you can very rarely get vegan is gulab jamun, which is like an Indian dessert. We sent a message to Seb and he, all of a sudden, wished that he was with us. I don't think he was hugely interested in Palmaïa, but after our reports, I think he's definitely keen to go back. 

Oh yeah, he would love it. He would love it. 

I want to give a shout out to, I [00:23:00] think it's pronounced 'earhole', which is the bar. There, of course you can get all of the drinks in all of the places, but they do have a dedicated bar that's just this beautiful structure that's on the beach. You get all your regular drinks there but they also have lots of specials. The seating was absolutely gorgeous. In the evening, they have fire set up. The lighting is lovely. They also do have entertainment in the form of music after dinner from about eight o'clock onwards. 

And I mean, everything is a little bit sort of new agey, but I did really enjoy the music that they had. 

Yeah, it was a DJ playing the first night we went there. Yeah. And then her partner, I think, played violin, would come up once in a while and play along with what she was doing. 

So it was pretty cool and it definitely just fit the scene. Yeah. So it was great to just sit there and enjoy like a night cap before going to bed. 

Yeah, [00:24:00] absolutely. I would say, that we didn't do a huge amount during our days when we were not eating. We did enjoy the beach, which was lovely, especially after the sargassum stopped being an issue. I really loved the beach setup. What did you think of the beach setup for just lounging? 

Oh, it's exactly what I wanted. I mean, we would go for breakfast and then from there we would go pick our palapa. So not like a traditional palapa, but it was like, you'd pick where you were going to sit and there was all these shady places with like a bean bag. Which was kind of different. You'd be lounging on these big bean bag lounger things, and I thought, 'Oh, that's kind of weird if you're coming from the water, and you're wet and everything.' But, it was really comfortable. It would just form to your body, and we just pulled up right in front of the ocean and sat there all day until we needed to go to Charlie's taco truck or whatever, like it was just eat, [00:25:00] drink. You know, swim, repeat. Yeah. And that's all we wanted to do. I mean, we were at the resort to enjoy the resort, so that's what we did. And it was only four days. So yeah. 

I seem to remember that just behind us there was like a big cool box so that we could go and pick up drinks whenever we wanted to. 

And there was like extra towels there. And I don't think we even realized this until the last full day, but there was actually a bell on the piece of wood there that you could call for drinks and food, I guess. 

Yeah. But they would come around. Yeah. So we did like order margarita. Oh my gosh. The margaritas. We haven't talked about the margarita. So that was the best, being on the beach and getting the margarita. I also had the michelada, which I really liked that once in a while too. There's nothing better than just sitting, lounging in front of the beautiful beach and water, and just the perfect margarita or just a drink. 

Just, yeah. It feels so good. [00:26:00] It was good. And I also absolutely love that, and margaritas definitely, are now my absolutely favorite beverage. I will say, there is quite a bit of wildlife on the beach. Maybe, this is an interesting for everyone, but I was shocked when I realized there were brown pelicans everywhere. 

We even saw frigatebirds and there were a ton of other birds, but they were also, you are more familiar with the little mammals that we saw. 

Oh, was it coatis? Oh yeah. These little guys. Yeah, I've seen them in Costa Rica before and another part of Mexico, I think. They're like Mexico's raccoons. They were so cute. They're cute. They come out at night. 

And lots of iguanas. 

Oh yeah, there was some big ones. There was that cool one right on the statue when we first arrived. We never got a picture of it, but it was like the perfect photo. It was in the exact right spot. 

Also, I have to say that I didn't really participate in what they call the 'Architects of Life Program'. It's really not [00:27:00] my thing. But if you're not familiar with the Architects of Life, it is a very cool thing if you are into this because it is all included in the price of your hotel room. But basically, everyday, at about one or two o'clock, Esteban would send us the program for the following day, and you know, we could just join in. So I actually have a copy of what Wednesday's activities were, just to give you an idea, because I did not do any of them. So for example, for Wednesday at seven o'clock there was pranayama. 

So I guess, that's a meditation in the ocean tent, which was, I think you did yoga there one day. They had a pranayama at seven o'clock, then they had a flow yoga at eight o'clock on this particular day, and this was on the Mangrove deck. So just to give you a bit of context, there were, I would say there's probably about four or five spaces where these Architects of [00:28:00] Life programs could happen. So there was the flow yoga at eight o'clock, then at nine-thirty on this particular day, there was the Geometry of Power, 11 o'clock was the gong bath at the Mangrove deck, three-thirty, there was a water color painting class, five o'clock Grooves and Moves at the Ritual deck. In the evening there was the rituals of sound, which was seven o'clock, and then at eight-thirty the Canita of Life, I guess, some sort of band or music or entertainment or something like that. So, yeah. That's a lot of activities if you are into that kind of thing. That's incredible value. 

Yeah. I tried to take advantage once in a while and it was like really nice. The settings, the different spaces you would go to, in those jungle settings, all kind of outside. 

I think there are some inside ones too, if the weather turns kind of bad but,nice way to start the day. The teacher was hilarious, I [00:29:00] thought, almost like a movie character. Oh, really? Like a yoga teacher in a movie. Just, I just loved it. He seemed like a bit of a character and I think he also taught grooves and moves sometimes, so, but yeah. 

Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you are into that kind of thing then that's, that's incredible value. I mean, just like when you can think about a yoga class is often $25 or something, and then you could go to yoga once or twice a day and all of these other things. I mean, it's, it's really, it's really good. 

So as well as all of that, there are actually some other places that we haven't even yet talked about that you could go and spend time in. 

There was one sort of hidden in like, the vegetation on the beach, there was next to Charlie's Vegan Tacos, there was a hot spa bath, and then like a ice bath or something? 

Yeah, like a cold plunge. Yeah. I would've liked to do that. We felt so limited in our time. It was [00:30:00] hard to do it all, but that was kind of a neat surprise that you just stumble onto. Yeah, and there was the gym was small, but really, really good. I didn't use it, but I did poke my head in and it looked excellent. 

Yeah. Top notch. 

And there were like bikes. 

Oh yeah. To get around. That was fun. The bikes, you could just borrow it. They had little stations. The length of the resort was fairly long, but the path is wide and nice. And you could, you know, just grab a bike, take it back to your room, park it there. Yeah, it was kind of fun. 

I've just remembered one animal that we did not mention that we actually went out on a mission. Yes. To get. 

Estevan actually texted us a cute little message one day. He sent a little picture of a spider monkey sitting at the bar. I don't think it was something he captured that day or anything, but it was at some point in the resort. The spider monkey was at the bar, and he said, 'Is there anything I can do for you today?' And I said, 'I want to meet that spider monkey.' And then he laughed and said, 'Well, they usually hang out like around these areas at [00:31:00] this time.' So we were keeping our eyes out and then we hadn't seen any monkeys, and it was our departure day. We woke up and decided let's go for a walk in the morning. We'll go to the cafe and just see if we can see anything. 

And so we went out on a mission, and we found them, and it was raining that day. They were all up on the canopy above. That was so cool there. There was at least one baby and there was multiple spider monkeys, and they were right, kind of, where he said they hang out and yeah. So that was great. 

Really, really lovely. Yeah. So, Heather, something that really surprised us was just like the vibe of the place and how quiet it was. What did you think? 

Yeah, like sometimes you go to a resort and you have to be down at the pool by 8:00 AM, and put your towel down, and then you're just saving your spot. And then everybody's complaining because there's nowhere to sit, and everybody's hogging seats and that kind of a thing. Well, there was nobody [00:32:00] there. We asked, and they said they were at about 30% occupancy that week and they actually don't ever go to a hundred percent occupancy. 

Yeah. They don't want that crowded feeling. So, I mean, there would be higher times of the year that there would be a little bit more crowds, and you'd have to maybe, think more about your reservations, but really, like the restaurants, there was always plenty of seating. 

There was always places on the beach. It was very relaxed. 

Yeah, it was funny because they were really keen for us to make sure that we chose our dinner reservations. Like, they really wanted the rest of our dinner reservations as soon as we arrived, which I think is a little strange, but maybe it really helps them plan. Maybe, because we eat dinner earlier than everyone else. There was not a lot of people around at all. 

Yeah. I think you have to make those reservations or they'll book up. But I don't think that was a problem the week we were there. So it would've been maybe, nice to have a little bit more [00:33:00] flexibility or not having had that thing booked. Yeah, because sometimes we were, you know, rushing because we had more earlier reservations made. 

Yes, that's true. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. It felt like we were given the only times left. It was a little bit strange, but, you know, whatever. So we did actually go and have a little look at Sandos next door because we'd had a conversation with the lady that gave us the hotel inspection tour. And she explained the setup, and that it was owned by the family, and what Palmaïa had been before it was Palmaïa, et cetera. And we decided to go for a walk into Sandos because apparently Palmaïa guests can go and use the facilities and eat at Sandos. 

I can't imagine many people ever would, but we did go for a bit of a walk, and it was quite a different vibe, wasn't it? 

Yeah. And they can't come to Palmaïa. Correct. It was like, there's a different level there, and you did really feel it once you [00:34:00] walked out of the resort. It just felt like, 'Ooh, this is not the vibe we've been enjoying for the last few days.' We were so spoiled. Just much more crowded. Yeah, the beach wasn't as clean. No crowded beach, like lounge chairs everywhere. All close together. Yeah. Just different, just a different feel. I mean, it was right there, but it felt like we were in another world. So, it made us feel pretty lucky about where we were spending our time. 

Yeah, it really was nice. And apparently, like, in the past year or so, they've changed the policy of Palmaïa to be open to everybody, but now I think only kids over the age of four are allowed to go to Palmaïa. Because before we went to Palmaïa, I was looking online and looking at some YouTube videos, and I remember seeing this vegan family with very young children there. 

I don't have a problem with lots of kids in resorts at [00:35:00] all, but that's something to know about, that now, it's only four years old and over. I don't know why they made that decision in their policy. But yeah, there are no super young kids. 

Yeah. I mean, four year olds can stir up a big fuss too. That's true. I've had two. 

And there is lots of stuff for kids. Like there's special pool areas for kids. Oh yeah. I think there's lots of activities for kids as well. So something I was a little bit concerned about going to Palmaïa. It wasn't going to stop me going at all, but that it was going to be a very much a new agey crowd full of young yoga people. But looking around at the guests, it wasn't just that. There was certainly an element of those young, beautiful people, but there was certainly older people, and you know, normal people as well. So, I don't think you need to feel like you're that part of the crowd to go there. 

There were groups of [00:36:00] friends there that looked like celebrating things. There was a couple that I was like, oh, that's like a 'white lotus' kind of, couple. They were Canadian too. We didn't interact with too many people either. I guess, because of it being a lower season time of year. It was quiet and lots of space around us. 

Yeah, yeah. For sure. For sure. So I guess, the question is, do you think it was worth it, Heather, do you think it was worth that flight to go from Vancouver to Cancun. The flight back was a bit of a nightmare from Cancun to Vancouver. It felt very, very long. 

I think, it is longer going back and then you just want to be home. But yeah, it was worth it. I would go back. Me too. If you want to make that an annual trip, it would be a great side quest. You're traveling and then a nice relaxing end to it or something like that.  

Yeah, absolutely. I would go back in a flash. I really, really enjoyed it. I had such a fun time with you on that trip. It was so [00:37:00] cool to go on a trip with a girlfriend to a new, for me, country to celebrate this special milestone. I think, we did an amazing job of traveling together. It was fun. 

Yeah, it really was. It was a huge highlight of my year. Yeah. I would love to do that anytime again. It was so enjoyable. Such good food. Mexico for food, is just incredible. We kind of realized too, like as Canadians, you go to Mexico a lot for going to a resort area, but you don't really venture outside. There's so many quaint towns and cities and places in the mountains, like there is a lot to explore there, and I would love to see more of it. 

 Agreed. Yeah, I feel like Mexico is going to be a country that I'll just keep coming back to. Maybe we can go back for our 60th, Heather, and 51st and 52nd, and, [00:38:00] yeah. So Heather, thank you so much for driving up to Squamish to record this podcast interview. 

I'm so grateful, and thank you again for traveling with me for this trip. That was so much fun. 

I will be your traveling buddy, anytime. You do it well. 

So do you. So do you. 

Thanks Brighde. 

Thank you.