This is a review of Tierras del Sol, Tulum. It is thorough and may help someone thinking about staying at Tierras del Sol or assist you during your travels to the area.

I stayed 8 nights at Tierras del Sol from 19-27 December 2006. The daily rate was $180 US at the Christmas surcharged price. I stayed in the Alta Mar room. I had selected this property based on the reviews from previous visitors and the description of the beach. I was unpleasantly surprised at how different my experience was from the previous reviews. After 8 nights at Tierras del Sol I believe my comments may lend a different perspective on the property and welcome Carlos’ reply.

The Room

The open balcony provides a pleasant view looking down a path leading to the beach. This doesn’t make up for the lack of amenities including:

No hot water until I found someone to hook it up. It went out again in the middle of our stay and required finding Carlos again in order to fix. The water pressure was a little better than a drizzle and the water had to run about 3 minutes before becoming warm. Once warm, it soon become scalding hot and took several minutes for adjustments to decrease the water temp. The well water was very salty so your skin was always sticky. The best feeling was after swimming in cenotes. The basics were missing: soap dish (a chipped dish appeared on day 4), hand towel holder near sink, toilet paper holder (rolls kept falling from the back of the toilet onto the floor), hanging mirror, inside chairs to sit upon, absolute lack of any place to hang clothes (on day two I went to the beach and pulled a beach orchid vine, stripped it and rigged it up between two table posts), no place to hang wet bathing suits (the wind knocked items off the railing and the wooden lounge chairs had rusty nails that stained towels and clothing; again I had to find Carlos to request fishing line and rig it myself), there was no foot water bath near the door so all sand from the beach trailed into the room and bed (I had to find Carlos who supplied one the next day). The room came with a queen size bed (good mattress) but no mattress pad (you could feel the plastic labels under the sheets), the sheets were thin and stained. The pillow cases did not fit and the mildew stained pillows hung out over the edge. There were two small square backless wooden stools that we used to place our suitcases on instead of the floor, and a 5 ft by 1.5 ft plank wood table. The room was not spot cleaned before we arrived…there was lizard excrement on a pillow, the mosquito net was very dirty and dusty and the sheets had to be shaken.

The Maid Service

Ok, for this much each night I expect my sheets to be changed MORE than ONCE during a 9 day visit. On day 3 I killed a cockroach on the top corner of the bed. It left a juicy gut smear. I pulled off the sheets to the ½ way point and left a note in Spanish for the maids to change the sheets. That evening I notice the same 5 inch cockroach stain on the sheets! The next day I took all sheets and pillow cases off and left the note on top of the pile. They were changed. Towels were changed twice during the 9 day period. Toilet paper was not replenished one day (off to ask someone!) and hand towels not supplied the last two days (gave up on wasting vacation time asking for items by then). The two maids came to our room each day between 1 and 2 pm. It would take them about 45 minutes. This meant no after lunch siesta. Ideal would have been service in the morning when we were touring sites.

The Bugs

I lived in the Caribbean for 6 years and am able to handle a fair amount of tropical critters. We had five instances of cockroaches in our suitcases and several more on the floor at night. Twice, a large one crawled out of clothing after the person dressed! I found 3 roaches in the bed during the first few days (better after the sheets were changed-were they clean to begin with?). This was nothing compared to the 4 inch brown scorpion found crawling outside the mosquito net about 6 inches from a warm body. Carlos was called into the room and he tapped it into a martini shaker with an exclamation and a quick exit. I received neither a general apology or a free glass of wine at dinner but rather a stern comment from Carlos that it was nothing and we should forget about it (not talk to the other guests about the incident). As an added bonus we were bit by fleas during our stay and well into the return home. I had to wash all clothes and bedding and de-flea my house.

The Bill (all conversions are at the 10.5 rate given by Carlos. The bank gave 10.78)

When we arrived Carlos stated that they usually have dinner and you can tell them each day if you want dinner and can special order fish. All charges will be put on a room tab and paid at the end of the stay. There was a printed menu for breakfast and lunch. Later that evening I went to the restaurant/bar and asked the servers (one was Carlos’ wife) how much a dinner was. They said it was between 70-90P and a fish dinner was 130P. The next day I asked Carlos the price of the fish dinner and he said “130 Pesos”. This was in line with the other prices on the strip (two burritos or a chili rellenos with 2 side salads, chips and salsa at Maya Tulum is 85P). Of course, I expect to pay more for the convenience of not driving into town (takes about 20 minutes) where at Charlie’s an excellent fish dinner including side salad, roasted vegetables, 5 sauce choices, chips and salsa was 85P. We were shocked to receive the bill and find that our ‘dinners’ were really a la carte! The entrée was 100P/$9.52 for a bowl of packaged pasta with a ground beef red sauce, the antipasto plate was 55P/$5.23 (think wrapped sliced cheese, shredded carrots (?), lunch meat, 1 deviled egg, 2 slices of roma tomato and a leaf of iceburg). The fish dinner turned out to be 230P/$22 for very greasy salty boney fish, par boiled rice, 2 slices of fried potato and a side salad. Breakfast was not better. One small cup of coffee is 15P with refills charged at the same 15P. I suggest going to Maya Tulum for beautifully balanced food and free coffee and tea. Back at Tierras del Sol the ‘chicken dinner’ based on Carlos’ family recipe turned out to be one thigh piece in a salty sauce with a cup full of peas, carrots and diced potatoes next to it. The cost 120P/$11.50 PLUS a charge of 30P/$2.85 for the appetizer. This did not include a starch or a salad. As is. The 405P/$38 Christmas eve dinner/BBQ was another unannounced surprise. Again, no description of the dinner or cost was available without tracking down Carlos. It was helpful to ask for the written bill the day before so you have time to go over it and decide if you wanted to discuss these issues with Carlos. While I was there two other parties decided to just pay it all. Another party who left 2 days before us ate many three times as many meals and were charged the same total amount. In addition, Carlos used a 12P to a dollar exchange rate for them as opposed to 10.5P for my bill. As with all the guests we interacted with, Carlos was not there when they received their bill and checked out, only the non-english speaking staff.

The Customer Care

I have traveled internationally for years and have never experienced this lack of care. I have also been to Playa del Carmen and Tulum before and had great service. During this peak Christmas week when the clients are paying almost double the normal charge why schedule construction on site? For three days we had to listen to hammers during rest, siesta, lunch. I informed Carlos the day before that we would be checking out at 11am and would discuss the bill then. At 11am he was ‘in town’ and I was left with his wife who could only give excuses in English. Carlos did return after I called him on his cell phone. When discussing the food bill Carlos angrily told me it was my fault for asking anyone but him a question about prices. If that is the case then he needs to tell his guests upon arrival to only communicate with him. He said that he would tell me if I had asked how much the Christmas eve dinner would be. I suggested a chalk board with a daily dinner menu and price and he said he said it is my responsibility to find him. After 9 days of interactions he didn’t know my name. His wife used as her defense the difficulties of living in the jungle and the hard life they have. I have received kind, gracious service from losmans in Bali who had no electricity, running water or bug spray, so this excuse is empty.

On a more positive note

Visit both the Gran Cenote and Tulum ruins at 8am before the crowds. Both are magical. Bring a wet suit if you want to swim in comfort during the winter months when visiting cenotes early in the day. It’s worth being the first one in because the water is so clear. It was a pleasure to swim at the beach by the Tulum ruins and then head to Charlie’s for 35P huevos rancheros. Have fun!