Member-only story
A Week in Middle-Class Mecca
They Must Revile Us There
Spring, 2022, and my daughter is turning 25. I booked us five days and four nights at an all-inclusive resort in the Southern tip of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, in an area known as Tulum. Little more than a decade ago, the road from Cancun into Tulum was little more than a rough two-lane passage. Today, highway 307 runs nearly the full length of the Yucatan, through the state of Quintana Roo.
Author Joan Didion found Quintana Roo to be so lovely that she gave that name to her daughter. The peninsula is an ecological wonder with lush jungles and a vast array of wildlife. Tulum, an hour or so south of Cancun, is home to nests of amazimg sea turtles that can lay up to 200 eggs each season. They are beautiful, protected species that produce as many offspring as they can each year, trying to repopulate their dangerously low numbers.
Dotting the coastline of the Yucatan are not just turtles, though. There are resorts. Dozens of them. All along the beautiful sandy beaches are all-inclusive hotels offering package deals to travelers from all across the globe. Not so long ago, there were just a handful of these, reserved for honeymooning couples seeking adults-only beach experiences or wealthier vacationers taking a rare exotic getaway. When those resorts prospered, others sprang up, offering family entertainment with a more…
