Tulum. We went there. We stayed at Holistika Tulum a jungle wellness retreat center just a few miles from the beaches of Tulum. The center included an organic restaurant, juice bar, a decadent pool, and tons of yoga + spiritual wellness classes offered in a jungle environment. What else could you ask for?!

Within 1.43 minutes of checking in we saw that there was a tantric couples yoga class – which Pidge just said as I am writing this recollecting on it that “O yea that sounded like it would be a sexy yoga class but then you just ended up acting like a gorilla.” And that is true. Well, one of the practices that the teacher offered was for us to be playful (imagine someone telling Pidge and I to try out being playful in our relationship – we met playing and play is a core way of being for us) and how this was a critical element of love (totally agree) because to play takes feeling safe and to feel safe enough in your relationship to each let your inner child out is what love liberates. Anyway, it was a great class.

Then we did a lot of things. When at Holistika Tulum why not utilize ALL the wellness retreat center amenities? We ate at the all vegan restaurant ‘tierra’, drank some juices at the juice bar, did a sweaty yoga class in our underwears (well I did), relaxed by the pool in hammocks, and even left the wellness retreat center for a bike ride to the beach which was beautiful – couple of corona’s, couple of tacos, couple of dips in the ocean you know (wouldn’t recommend biking though as there is no bike lane and lots of cars).

And then we ended up on a highway in an ATV…well okay here is the story – it was secretly, officially, low-key, under the radar… Pidge’s birthday!! And I thought – wow gotta make this special. Trip to tulum (check), yoga wellness retreat center (check), and a new experience! ATV riding!! I just looked up what ATV stands for and it stand for All Terrain Vehicle. So, it began like any ATV ride covering some of the basic terrains – driving super slow down the back roads of Tulum. Then we went towards the beach route on more of the main road (another terrain) to find a cenote and this one just so happened to have alligators. Apparently, we were told these alligators had a good track record for the past 30 years. Pidge and I were like nope.

So, we hopped back on our ATV and were on the way to another cenote when we got stuck in traffic. A quick look on the map and we realized we were pretty close to get to a group of cenotes called Tortuga’s (turtles). We made the first turn to get there and found ourselves on the main road of Tulum which then slowly turned into a highway!! Yup, chus on this little ATV on a highway. It was a few miles and with guard rails no exits and a speed limit that kept increasing, we had many thoughts of figuring out how to turn back, worrying what if we run out of gas, and then just trying to get there. It was a little terrifying even though all the cars were super respectful keeping their distance from us. We finally got there, recovered from the white knuckle ride at this amazing buffet lunch we couldn’t enjoy yet because of the recovery time needed from the stress of being on the highway in a little ATV and knowing we would most likely drive it back.

We then got to relax and enjoy these amazing cenote’s – jumping in crystal clear turquoise water, swimming through caves, and Pidge even jumped off a medium sized cliff into a cenote! We got back on our ATV and pretty quickly got it back to our retreat center to return it. No more ATV-ing on highways for these Ostriches! That night after a delicious dinner we went to a much needed rest oriented restorative yoga class in which Pidge seemed to almost fall asleep in immediately. And then woke up just for a second to transport a bug out of the yoga class and then back to sleep. As Pidge snored in deep rest pose I thought about how grateful I am for her birth, and to be her partner/fellow flyin ostricheseses, and for that day adventuring together and how I want to make sure next year’s birthday celebration has less highway driving 🙂

Then we went home.