Dirty and Delicious Women on a Crash Diet

Women stand meditating on Tullum Beach smeared in honey and covered in sand! Is this was draws them or is it something else?

IT is hard to know who recited the first 'Om!' or unfurled the first yoga mat upon Mexico's Tulum beach but many claim this honour.

Tulum, on the southern edge of Mexico’s Riviera Maya and a healthy distance from the bunkerlike developments there, is a hot spot for yoga tourists.

Don’t be afraid if you don’t know your downward dog from your dolphin: it’s more of a yoga aesthetic that prevails here, a mood and a look that draws misty-eyed boomer professionals, heavy on the fashion and publishing industries, with fond memories of youthful forays to Thailand for Ko Samui’s full moon festival or maybe just those who wish they’d hit that Lonely Planet trail when their knees could still take it.

You might call Tulum “Ko Samui-lite”, a strip of beach and jungle peppered with stylish haute-bohemian huts that are off the grid and just a few hours by plane from New York or Los Angeles.

Instead of hallucinogens to bend your mind, there is stunning (and pricey) cuisine that reflects the eclectic tastes of the expats, from Italy, France, Germany and the two coasts of the United States who have settled here.