Kickstart Tulum – Residencia Gorila

I want to have jokingly, half seriously, and in a sarcastic ton say, “Tulum is so hot right now“— it totally is, everyone and their mom is talking about and visiting it. Which is or isn’t cool depending on how you look at it. For me, it’s cool.  If we travel, we travel in off season (tropical off season), so I’m okay with everyone exploring Tulum in the winter getaway months. What I personally love about Tulum is the eco-conscious awareness that goes on in most of it. Many (most) of the hotels and residencies are very aware and concerned about their surrounding environments. And as someone who lives on this earth, and enjoys travel, this is pretty important to me.

I fear that with more and more people visiting Tulum that it will become a second Cancun and everyone will be searching for that luxury getaway rather than than earth conscious vibe it’s been able to contain for so long— but I don’t know– just a fear. Luckily, I do feel that so many of the people living in Tulum still hold on very tightly to that eco-consious awareness and do want to spread it. It’s our jobs as individuals to be aware of what our footprint does to the earth— what putting in plumbing lines or electricity really looks like—or what tearing down palm trees to create scenic beach views can do to our land, our beaches, and to us. Hello, land erosion, and lack of safety from natural forces. We all want luxury, but at what cost? It’s important to understand that some beautiful places are more than just resort escapes— yes, they can be filled with beautiful images, but the magic is what comes from escaping the need for constant luxuries and enjoying the heat, the darkness, and whatever else (mostly) limited access and this earth can bring.


Next door to the jungle home we stayed in was a white building—- a building that Alex and I couldn’t figure out. Was it a hotel? An apartment? A bar? We weren’t sure. But we did spend our first evening as a married couple (!!) sipping tequila right within the entry way of it’s doors. Well it turns out, that right on the other side of the wall of our jungle home was Residencia Gorila— a place of amazing people wanting to create art and spread awareness of global and environmental projects.

The thing about Tulum that many people don’t realize when traveling there is that there is no land line— Tulum (the beach, not the town) really is a place of it’s own with little connection in and out. The nicer hotels and places with luxuries tend to have generators to keep electricity running (some of the time or all of the time depending on what you choose)— but then there are the places who really strive to be self sustainable, and Recidencia Gorila is one of them. Like anything else, long term gain can come from a higher priced investment. Being self sustainable can bring a large initial expense these days. Residencia Gorila is hoping with a bit of help from others, they can become more self sustainable— with solar panels, a solar fridge, etc, but they need a bit of help to begin that cause and are asking for help through a kickstarter campaign.

Tulum is growing, quickly. And we need more people creating while holding on to self sustainability—like the folks of the residency. I’m hoping they do reach their goal. I’m hoping they do continue creating art and spreading the word. We need more people to tell the earth’s story. We need to help protect what others are destroying. We need to hold on to the little mangroves, estuaries, clean oceans, and untouched (or lightly touched) lands that are still left in this world.

I never hit the publish button on one of my Tulum posts—- I skip written posts often, but it was a post of a local man I met in Punta Allen— with a story to tell about wanting to protect the earth and the work he was putting in to do it, even as a much older man. There were many, many good things about our honeymoon and our time together, but outside of us, we both agree, the most touching part our trip was being able to meet so many amazing people to tell their story about wanting to preserve their earthly space. If you’re interested in helping create a bit more sustainability, art, and earth awareness, think about donating a bit to these talented artists 🙂
I like them a lot, I hope you do too 🙂

Donate and help support residencia gorila HERE.




See our:
jungle-side Tulum experience HERE.
beach side Tulum experience HERE.
A honeymoon video HERE.
And the rest of our trip HERE.


Hope everyone had an amazing weekend 🙂 Ours was filled with very out of the norm for May in South Florida, beautiful weather— think low 80’s 😉 Happy new week!