Meditative mornings begin with journal writing, followed by a three-mile beach walk. A healthy breakfast buffet of eggs, granola, yogurt and fresh fruit comes next. Weight training, body sculpting and daily yoga classes, along with a special activity (a bike excursion or dance class), round out the day's activities. Two massages and a Mayan clay skin treatment are also included in the package. The treatment, which locals say helps to remove toxins from the body, is done on the beach and entails slathering your body with a mix of clay, honey and olive oil. After 15 minutes, you cleanse your body in the sea. If nothing else, it makes your skin feel softer.

The vibe at Amansala is definitely less of a military-style boot camp and more like a healthy, no-stress escape—the ideal spot for setting—and achieving—goals. "We're a destination where people can renew themselves and focus on getting fit, both spiritually and physically," says co-owner Erica Gragg, a former New Yorker who started the resort with friend Melissa Perlman. The program is limited to 25, so expect lots of bonding among the small cadre of women (and some men) who attend.

The all-inclusive package covers all meals and accommodations. You'll find delicious, low-fat, high-protein dishes that incorporate local fish, lots of steamed vegetables and fresh fruit—ideal fare for shedding excess pounds. The rooms are spartan-but-stylish cabanas. By the end of the day, you'll be so pooped out by the activities, and relaxed from the surroundings, that you'll plop right into your mosquito-net-canopied bed without a care—and, hopefully, without a few pounds—each night.

Those three words invoke images of a drill instructor barking orders at a group of women clad only in their two pieces to drop In the sand and shell out endless sit ups. Before sunrise. In the pouring rain. But that image couldn't be further from the truth. Bikini Boot Camp is one of the many programs offered at Amansala (trans lation: "tranquil waters"). This solar-powered resort in Tulum. Mexico is all about massages. Mayan clay treatments, and yes. power exercise classes - but the kind that incorporate stretching, meditation, and yoga.

A typical day at Amansala offers enough structure to keep you busy, but not so much that you can't veg out with a book and enjoy the sand and surf. You can opt to attend every single class, or pick and choose as the mood strikes: power yoga if you're hard core, restorative if you're sore. Other activities include body sculpting, sea kayaking, bike rides, and tribal dancing. The food is chemical-free (think fresh catch of the day). Guests stay In huts that are built of native wood with stone floors and thatched palapa roofs; each has its own bathroom.

You're promised to leave feeling lighter and cleaner, both mentally and physically. The cost for Bikini Boot Camp is $1959 for six nights, including accommodations, classes, spa treatments, meals, and taxes.

Original: http://portovert.com/magazine/three/Bikini-Boot-Camp

The country's easternmost coast, an enviable stretch of powder punctuated by Mayan ruins and sheltering mangroves, is the anti-Cancun-for now

The Riviera Maya lies on the far edge of Quintana Roo, a state whose physical distance from the country's center makes it a world of its own, and whose Mayan influence has little in common with the estilo tipico of colonial Mexico. There's plenty of recent international influence, too, since it was vacationing Europeans who helped build up Playa del Carmen-although Americans, both as entrepreneurs and visitors, are catching on.

The Mayan mainstay ruins, Tulum and Coba, get hot and crowded by midday, so visit them early. Less popular is Muyil, which was once an active trading post. Its Castillo temple rises above a parklike setting half an hour south of Tulum, on Highway 307. Walk past the main temple to the kiosk for Amigos de Sian Ka'an, a nonprofit organization that helps administer the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve; the $4 entry fee will gain you access to a trail through lush, Jurassic-looking jungle. Climb the wooden tower for a commanding view of the biosphere, or continue walking to a chain of lagoons, hire a guided boat, and watch the colors and vegetation change as you move toward the saltwater Caribbean.

Cenotes are sinkholes that form when a cave collapses. No two are alike (some are spectacular, others dinky), and you'll see countless signs for them. The Cenote Azul, right off Highway 307, south of Puerto Aventuras, is 600 feet across, and you can rent goggles and a breathing tube to explore. Aktun Chen Natural Park has informative tours...