TULUM, Mexico – I am sweating already, even though I conveniently skipped the early morning power walk on the beach. And we’re barely halfway through the 90-minute morning yoga class. Still on today’s schedule: A bike ride under the broiling midday sun, then a dance and movement workshop tucked in before dinner.
Good thing I’ve shown up on a relatively easy day at boot camp – Bikini Boot Camp. Just 20 minutes down the road from Freedom Paradise – the new resort that wants its clients to embrace the idea that big is beautiful – this program at the new resort Amansala has the opposite approach: Step away from that buffet line, then drop and give me 20.
The six-room resort was opened in July 2002 by two thirtyish New York fitness enthusiasts, Erica Gragg and Melissa Perlman, as a remote, eco-chic retreat. But the catchily named boot camp program, for those who want to exercise and diet their way into better swimsuit shape, has grabbed most of the attention, and at least 60 percent of the guests come just for that.
The idea came to Perlman a couple of years ago while she was researching spas for an unrelated website project. Most working women couldn’t afford the $3,000 to $5,000 a week that many spas charge, she realized.
And she didn’t find many spas that incorporated what she wanted: Tough exercise, a lean diet, pampering touches such as massages, and a holistic approach incorporating yoga, meditation and Pilates. Perlman then persuaded Gragg, a former public-relations consultant, to move with her to Tulum, two hours south of Cancn, choosing it because its beaches were beautiful and easy to reach, yet relatively undeveloped.
They leased a rundown resort – really just a collection of crude bungalows that didn’t even have running water – and began a $100,000 makeover. A palapa-roofed yoga hut and an open-air dining room and kitchen were added; bungalows were rebuilt, with private tiled bathrooms and brightly painted furniture and walls. To satisfy the type of sophisticated guests they sought, the women added touches such as high-thread-
count sheets, scented candles, plush pillows and billowy, romantic mosquito nets. (These are practical as well; rooms aren’t air-conditioned, and leaving windows open for the cooling sea breezes could bring in unwanted flying critters too.)
Each day of boot camp varies, and campers are free to skip any portion they want, but there are some constants. Every morning, there’s time for meditation and journaling (during my session, participants were encouraged to write about their fantasy lives, which revealed a surprising number of wannabe exotic dancers). Yoga and stretching classes are offered daily. There are also weight-training and body-sculpting classes that might include wind sprints and lunges on the beach, or bicep curls using coconuts as weights, or trendy Pilates moves.
Each day also includes at least one additional activity, such as a jungle hike, an ocean swim or snorkeling through a cenote (a cavernous swimming hole). In the downtime, there are beachside massages, lectures on fitness topics, and activities like the Mayan version of a sweat lodge, called a temezcal.
Food is fresh, healthy, and low-fat: lots of fresh fruit and juice, veggies, lean meat and fish, not many carbohydrates or fats. The food is good and the campers say they’ve been satisfied with the portions, but they also practically burst into cheers when a couple of chopped avocados appear at lunch, and there’s definite excitement when Perlman announces that dinner tonight will be lobster.
Because this isn’t just about deprivation and push-ups – the Bikini Book Camp name aside – the owners say the idea is to create some balance.
“We wanted to create a place where people could check out of the hustle and bustle of their everyday world and create a place where they could get some new perspective and concentrate on being fit and happy, on exercising not just their body but their mind and their spirit,” Perlman says.
And if that string bikini fits a little better at the end of the week? So much the better.
Patricia Rodriguez, former travel editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, is a freelance writer who lives in the Bahamas.
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If you go
Amansala is on the beach south of Tulum, Mexico, about a two-hour drive south of Cancun.
Rates: Bikini Boot Camp costs $1,575 per person for the six-day program and $1,075 for the four-day program. The fee covers accommodations, meals, all exercise classes and lectures, beachside massage, excursions such as bicycling, hiking to Mayan architectural sites, and snorkeling, and other programs, which might include a sweat lodge or a dance or drumming workshop.
Guests who do not participate in boot camp are welcome; room-only rates are $125-$165 per night. An optional meal plan is $100 per couple, per day.
Details: www.amansala.com.
