Happy campers at Bikini Boot Camp

As the day winds down at Amansala, dinner is served -- in three courses, which might include a lentil or tortilla soup, followed by chicken kebabs or fish tacos, and then a plate of fresh fruit, such as mango dressed with shredded coconut or a baked apple with cinnamon. (While cocktails are not a strong suit of the resort, you can have a good margarita, cerveza or glass of red wine.)

Evenings, there is tribal drumming, painting postcards, stretch and relaxation or meditation. While we were there, the turtles were in town to plant their eggs. One evening we took a moonlit turtle walk on the beach to spot one. Mother turtles cut a wide swath on the sand as they make their way up, up the beach to find a just-right spot for their eggs. We saw two turtles, one making her way back to the sea, another dug in and forcefully throwing back sand with her flippers to give her eggs safe refuge. Alison, a lawyer from Los Angeles, had a late-night visitor to room 10: A turtle came up to the entry to her terrace. (Turtle walks take place from April to September.)

PARADISE BOUND?
If the schedule at Amansala sounds full (or overfull), consider that in spite of so much activity, the days seem to pass very sloooowwwly. In a good way. Every day we did a lot – and some days I did less, hearing the call of my hammock over African dance class one afternoon – but there would still be hours in the afternoon to do quite a lot of nothing. That sort of languorous feeling is hard to come by – at best, it’s usually accompanied by feelings of guilt for sloth and/or gluttony. Suzanne says the planned program is precisely what she comes for. “As someone who has to make decisions all day for my job, I love the fact that someone else has decided what I’m doing for the day,” she enthuses. (Anyone who’s done the daily vacation dance of “What do you want to do today? Where do you want to eat tonight?” can appreciate the bliss of not having to decide anything. Especially when you can opt out of anything with no dirty looks or awkwardness.)

Excepting a particularly boisterous and stealthy population of mosquitoes (this is the jungle, after all), Amansala’s setting is simply idyllic. The ocean is right there – mere steps from your front door if you’re in room 9 or 10 – and you won’t find clearer aqua waters or silkier white sand. While there are no phones, TVs, Internet, hair dryers or air conditioning, luxury comes in other ways: namely soft cotton sheets and bedspreads, silk bed pillows and comfy hammocks.

The greatest luxury is, perhaps, the sense of true ease that pervades the place: No one wears shoes, there is no dressing for dinner, and large, beach-ready “mattresses” sit on the beach to encourage lazing around. You can’t go 10 feet without encountering some place to rest your bones. At night, candles are lighted in the rooms and throughout Amansala, their golden glow somewhat countered by the fluorescent light of the solar-powered lights. It’s early to bed for us all, most nights.

Best of all, there is quiet. (That is, when you get used to Mother Nature’s symphony, namely the pounding surf, often strong winds, frequently cacophonous birds and bothersome mosquitoes. It took me a couple of days to adjust, in truth, perhaps because I’ve never really had a lost-on-a-desert-island fantasy. ) But if you’ve ever had any variation on such a fantasy, Amansala largely satisfies. As Suzanne explains, “You can get margarita-fueled vacations. You can get simple beach living. You can get ashram-type healthy vacations. You can get five-star hotels. Amansala give me the best of all these things, in unpretentious yet beautiful surroundings. There’s an understanding of comfort, an emphasis on health without being punitive and people who share my values.”  If that’s not paradise, what is?

Bikini Boot Camp is $1842 for 6 nights, including accommodation, meals, two massages, 1 Mayan Clay Treatment, all fitness classes, excursions, activities, tax and service. A taxi from Cancun airport to Amansala is $125 and takes about 1-1 ½ hours. For more information, visit Amansala.com.

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