The reasonably priced Café Maya , centrally located in the middle of the resort and steps from the

In the dream, I'm lying facedown casino de paris dunes hotel on a broad, six-foot-long leaf while being drenched from above by a warm tropical rainstorm. The rushing water cascades off my back and pools briefly between my head and the crooks of my arms before seeping away beneath, tracing the veins of the leaf as it swirls away from me.
When I went to bed in Milwaukee last night, it was two degrees. Live long enough with that kind of cold and your body starts to guard itself against it. You develop a clench casino de paris dunes hotel you can feel deep in your core. As if your body is bracing in anticipation of inevitable blows.
And now, in this dream, under this baptismal flood of water, I feel myself finally letting go, releasing, and allowing myself to relax the knot in my chest that s been girding against the cold these long months. And all I feel is gratitude.
I really am lying facedown on a huge leaf under a torrent casino de paris dunes hotel of warm rain. But I m wonderfully awake. I've just arrived at the AAA Five Diamond  Fairmont Mayakoba  resort in Mexico's Riviera Maya, and I am gratefully submitting to the Cha Chac Rain Ritual treatment at the Willow casino de paris dunes hotel Stream Spa . The "leaf" beneath me is a monumental treatment table, hand-carved out of a single piece of mahogany into the shape of a broad leaf. The veins of the leaf are inverted, indented into the table rather than carved in a raised relief, and they serve as channels to drain the running water down and away from my body. A layer of cornmeal, oats and local clay has been gently applied to my body to pull out toxins, and this exfoliating poultice, along with my busy thoughts and physical tensions, washes off and away from me. Then I m gently rubbed with sage oil while my head fills with the scent of copal incense. It is, to say the very least, a nice welcome. Hell, it's a rebirth.
The 47-acre Fairmont Mayakoba, located 15 minutes north of Playa del Carmen, doesn t fit the classic mold for Riviera Maya hotels, starting with its relationship to the beach. casino de paris dunes hotel Rather than exclusively dedicating its attention to its mile of perfect Caribbean shore, the Fairmont instead celebrates the natural casino de paris dunes hotel beauty of its endless, casino de paris dunes hotel unadulterated stands of mangroves, teeming with wildlife, and the six miles of crystal-clear, cenote-fed canals that have earned it the nickname, casino de paris dunes hotel Venice of the Yucatan.
The Fairmont shares the 1,600-acre eco-friendly Mayakoba development with two other world-class resorts: The Rosewood Mayakoba and Banyan Tree Mayakoba. Mayakoba has won a raft of awards including recognition from The United Nations and The Rainforest Alliance, for its dedication to sustainability and ecologically responsible practices.
There are no cars here. All vehicles are parked at the road entrance, and guests are escorted around the grounds in electric carts or invited to make use of the many bicycles offered for complimentary use throughout the resort.
There are no towering high-rises here. The scale of the architecture does not aspire casino de paris dunes hotel to rise higher than the forest canopy with which it so sensitively integrates. As you walk or bike the meandering cobblestone walkways, or glide through casino de paris dunes hotel the canals via the charmingly nostalgic lanchas, the overwhelming impression is one of harmony. It s a nice feeling.
The three resorts encircle the renowned 18-hole El Camaleón golf course designed by Greg Norman that is home to the only PGA Tour event in all of Mexico: the Mayakoba Golf Classic. It s the only PGA tournament held outside of the US and Canada, and if you re an ardent golfer, it s a pilgrimage destination.
casino de paris dunes hotel Our son, Graeham, visited the Discovery Club on a pirate-themed day and happily constructed a treasure chest, made a cardboard cutlass and had a blast exploring a wood and rope labyrinth in the private and secure playground area while making new friends. Other days, the staff led the kids in making piñatas or origami. The staff was exceptionally friendly, alert and professional, and we felt totally at ease leaving our child in their care for a few hours. The best part is that the resort gives families three complimentary hours of kid care—per kid, per day—for children ages 4-12.
The aforementioned Willow Stream Spa clocks in at 20,000 square feet, with 20 treatment rooms, steam, casino de paris dunes hotel sauna, Swedish showers, multiple indoor and outdoor lounges, and heated rooftop casino de paris dunes hotel mineral pools that are really, really hard to leave, especially when the sun is setting over the tops of the trees and twilight brings a dreamy cast to the waterfalls and you shudder at the thought of returning home and start to think how it is perfectly rational to consider that maybe you should sell everything you own and move to the Yucatan and sorry, my mind wandered for a bit, where was I?
The Yucatan Penninsula is basically a huge, porous limestone shelf, all of which used to be at the bottom of the sea until an ancient seismic event lifted it out of the water to become part of the landmass of what is now Mexico. When the creators of Mayakoba cut the canals to create the channels that make up the resort, they salvaged the huge quantity of limestone, removed and repurposed it to face virtually every building in the resort, including the walls of our own bath and the interior and exterior walls of the spa. Lying back in Willow Stream Spa s rooftop mineral pool you can study the whorls of prehistoric plant fossils or the remnants of seashells casino de paris dunes hotel embedded in the expanses of white stone.
No visit here is complete without an experience of this serene casino de paris dunes hotel spa. Access is free if you have ordered a treatment. And here s a tip: sign up for the  Fairmont President s Club  on their website (it s free) and get discounted spa entry for a mere $20 per person per day, and access to the health club for free. Membership also entitles you to free WiFi and in-room internet access casino de paris dunes hotel (a savings of $20 a day) and much more.
Water is the living heart of the Fairmont Mayakoba. The soft, lulling rush of it is always present. From the moment you turn into the entrance casino de paris dunes hotel from the road to the crashing waves of the Caribbean sea at the resort s far end, you are treated to a soothing experience of water. Fountains are everywhere, gushing from the buildings themselves, casino de paris dunes hotel forming sculptural art with colored lights and splashing into tranquil pools seemingly around every corner. Five swimming pools guarantee that you are always mere steps away from a cooling dip. Our favorite was the 10,000 casino de paris dunes hotel square foot free-form pool complete with waterslide, children s play pool, and an infinity-edge pool just for grown-ups featuring peaceful views of the lagoon.
The Fairmont casino de paris dunes hotel is not an all-inclusive casino de paris dunes hotel resort, though you can opt for packages that give you that arrangement if you prefer. Dining options here are varied, and you can pick up anything from a deli sandwich to a four-star gourmet meal that will earn a bright spot in your memory book.
The reasonably priced  Café Maya , centrally located in the middle casino de paris dunes hotel of the resort and steps from the largest pool, serves deli-style sandwiches for here or to go, coffee drinks, wine and spirits, and also functions as a gift shop with all of the little necessities you might need but forgot to pack. And no matter where you might be at the resort, a nearby attendant is always happy to make a call to bring you anything you need. When we needed a pair of water wings for our son, someone crossed the resort with them in less than ten minutes and only added a very modest casino de paris dunes hotel charge to our room. Nice.
Close by is  La Laguna Restaurant Lounge , a warm, multileveled restaurant with high vaulted ceilings and an outdoor deck that juts out over the lagoon. It's a relaxing place to sit with a morning cup of coffee and watch the exotic local birds perched along the railings as they look longingly at your scone. La Laguna casino de paris dunes hotel serves a brunch that resists pat descriptions. Local traditional dishes? Check. Familiar American and European breakfast favorites for homesick travelers? Check. Eggs any way and with any ingredient you can name including some local curiosities that would yield a triple-word score in Scrabble? You better believe it. And there's more, with a dozen different types of fresh fruit smoothies and tropical juices, Spanish jamon iberico, dozens of cheeses, countless fruits, breads, interesting hearty dishes with chicken, beef, fish and really there was just no end to it. And it changed every day we visited.
The Fairmont is most known, however, casino de paris dunes hotel for its high-end fare, including not just one, but two AAA Four Diamond Restaurants: El Puerto in the main building overlooking the lagoon, and  Las Brisas , located right on the beach with sweeping panoramic views of the blue Caribbean. Both are grand spaces, with alfresco seating as well as elegant formal dining areas.
We had our most extraordinary meal at El Puerto , a three-course Mayan-themed dinner that drew on the best of the Yucatan to create a deliciously intriguing meal. Try the quail in Relleno Negro, casino de paris dunes hotel infused with Mexican spices and black chili paste with yucca, grated egg yolk and purslane. Also wonderful was the grouper fillet annato and the beef tenderloin marinated in dark beer served with a chocolate sauce, local squash, chayote, and corn dumplings stuffed with chicharrón in salsa verde. casino de paris dunes hotel And the perfect compliment to that meal was
While wine grapes have been cultivated in Mexico for centuries, Mexican wines have historically not been well-regarded, usually thought casino de paris dunes hotel of as cheap, one-dimensional quaff that you drank when you ran out of tequila. That's no longer the case. Mexican wines have come of age. I had been surprised by excellent Mexican wines visiting the capital Merida last year, and so I put myself in the hands of El Puerto's wine master who happily offered examples of why he was so proud of the new generation of Mexican wines. While no grapes casino de paris dunes hotel are sourced directly from the Yucatan—they just don't have the climate or the soil for it—the casino de paris dunes hotel wines made with grapes from the other seven grape-growing areas of the country casino de paris dunes hotel demand serious respect. Look for Monte Xanic Chenin Colomba