BTS Of Living At A Yoga Resort In Tulum
I had the opportunity to do a live / work exchange at a yoga resort for 2 months during the summer of 2024.
Although it happened by accident, it worked out really well for the time. If this is something you’re interested in doing - there are a ton of opportunities like this in Tulum and similar destinations.
Pros of this experience:
Getting to live right on the beach, this was something I’d never done before and it was pretty incredible to start and end my day with beach walks. I love the sound of the ocean so it was also really therapeutic background noise while I worked, did yoga or journaled.
Being able to use the amenities at the resort like the bicycles, yoga shala, beach chairs, pool and hammocks.
Due to availability, they had to move me into a few different rooms so I was only in each room for about 2 weeks. Some people might think this is annoying but I enjoyed the change since each room was different and had it’s pros and cons. Some rooms were ocean facing, others in the garden, some had a huge bed, others had better showers.
Pros of this experience:
I met a lot of really cool guests that were staying at the hotel. A lot of times we’d end up chatting for awhile and they’d invite me to join their activities and meals, which was really sweet.
As part of my exchange, I was able to eat the daily breakfast of ginger tea, coffee, fruit, chia pudding and granola (at no extra cost) and then they’d usually give me one other meal later in the day like a salad, tofu, nachos, or smoothie.
Pros of this experience:
It was a very beautiful property so taking a lot of aesthetic photos for my social media accounts was really enjoyable.
They even let me have Peaches (my dog) so she was there too. The hotel was dog-friendly so there were usually at least 2-5 dogs with guests so she made lots of friends.
It was low season when I did this exchange, so the beach and hotel weren’t very busy, which made it a lot more enjoyable (high season brings a lotttt of tourists, loud parties, more litter, issues, etc).
Cons of this experience:
The hotel zone is pretty far away from town in Tulum, and even though they had bicycles at the hotel I could use - it’s a 5 mile ride along a pretty unsafe, busy road. Taxis can be anywhere from $30 to $75 each way depending on the time of day and season so I felt pretty isolated to the beach, which started to make each day seem the same.
The owner of the hotel was very intense. I have a lot of respect for her and what she’s created but our personalities clashed quite a bit.
Like I said, it was a live / work exchange and when I first started, I was primarily supposed to be capturing and creating content to give to the actual company that they hired for social media. I create content super quickly since I’ve been doing it for 15 years, so I could easily photograph and film multiple posts, edit and come up with captions in 2-4 hours per day. She wanted me to start tracking every single thing I did in 15 minute time blocks. The owner then started noticing “how much free time I had” and started asking for so much extra work. At first it was okay, I was helping with their website and menu. However, as time went on I was suddenly expected to put in 8-12 hour days and I didn’t feel like that was the original agreement.
It was a nice perk that I was able to enjoy the breakfast and get another meal however some days that meant that I’d get a “free” tea, small bowl of fruit, small cup of yogurt, and a small salad. That left me having to purchase any additional food or beverages on my own. If you haven’t been to Tulum, the beach hotel prices are insane. Smoothies are $16-$20, a cocktail $24-$30, a salad or light entree $25-$35 and an actual protein entree $40-$60. Unfortunately there’s no grocery stores at the beach (nor did I have a fridge / kitchenette in my room) so I could easily spend $50+ on food whether I ate there or another resort.
Overall:
I would still rate this an 8/10 experience. I had my frustrations with the owner’s attitude and how she treated me, but I never took it personal because she treated everyone that way. The beautiful property, living on the beach, getting to bring peaches with me, and friends I met made it well worth it!
