One of my favourite lines when talking about a trip to America I took when I was seventeen was that I went to Mexico for lunch. It’s true, my mother and I were staying with family friends in La Jolla in Southern California and I was taken by their daughter and her boyfriend across the border to Tijuana. I remember the very visible signs of poverty, the rubbish, beggars, dirt, noise. Delicious guacamole. I didn’t even have my passport with me: I had to practice saying I was from the US in an American accent to pass back over the border with no issues, which I managed to get away with. How different things are today.

Having been so busy in Argentina and Peru, we decided to use the spare week we had before arriving into the US as a week to relax and recuperate, so instead of hitting up Mexico City or the major Mayan archaeological sites, we opted for a week in the holiday haven of Tulum. It’s basically an extension of the Caribbean (its shore meets the Caribbean Sea) but probably cheaper, a little bit rougher around the edges and a favourite of fashionistas. The sea is as sparklingly turquoise, the sand as white. Paradise?

It was a 6-hour flight from Lima to Cancun, with no time difference, but for some reason despite an early flight, it was dark before we arrived at our Air bnb apartment. We had booked a hire car for the week, so drove ourselves the 130 km down the coast from Cancun to Tulum on an open highway, sadly with no views of the sea. Finding our apartment was very hard, down potholed back streets – what was even more of a problem was getting out of the apartment complex back to our car as a resident had let us in and the key wouldn’t work! We eventually worked it out (there was another door round the other side of the building) and were pleased to find a spacious, tastefully decorated apartment with a plunge pool just outside.

Unfortunately, Tulum has grown in size dramatically in recent years with considerable building work – mostly happening directly outside our apartment. Luckily, we were there over a weekend and a Mexican holiday so were not disturbed too much, but there was dust everywhere.

Tulum has an odd layout, basically in four distinct parts which are only connected by car, and by a single road. Firstly, the main part of town (pueblo) set quite some distance from the coast, we were closest to this. Its Mayan walled city, now an important archaeological site, found on the coast to the north. Its zona hotelera is a strip of trendy hotels and eateries along the coast which run for several km leading eventually to its final section, perhaps the most rewarding, the biosphere reserve of Sian Ka’an (which translates as ‘where the sky begins’).

We spent time in all four areas. We soon worked out that the restaurants and bars in town nearer us were far cheaper, but you missed a sea view. The first night we went to a restaurant called ‘Farm to Table’ which had stood out on the first drive down the street and we were pleased to find it had a beautiful courtyard out the back. I was happy sipping a Turmeric Sour (it was going to be cocktails all the way in Mexico!!) while we ate a mix of lamb and shrimp tacos (tacos were also going to become our stable food!).

Just like we had Peruvian chef Alfredo advising us on establishments in Lima, we had chef friend Ivan giving us his tips of where to eat in Tulum. High up his list was Taqueria Honorio in town, an incredibly fast-moving and authentic taco place, only open until 3pm so we had lunch there, entertained by live music.

We also loved Burrito Amor up our end of the main drag, so much so we went there twice. Whatever time we drove past it was always busy. A simple, no frills place with delicious burritos – also importantly guaranteed gluten free coconut tacos (it’s a slightly grey area whether wheat or corn flour is used for tacos, so it is hard to be sure sometimes) that were to die for, especially with the pastor pork, yum.

MoJo are not major fans of vegan food so our meal at La Hoja Verde in town wasn’t our best, but probably good for us.

We only walked out to one restaurant from our apartment – everywhere else was too far – to La Consentida. It was quite average but had a local touristy feel, the night was made all the more memorable for it being Superbowl Sunday. We were routing for the San Francisco 49ers as we were going to be in San Francisco in a few days’ time, so were gutted when the Kansas City Chiefs clinched victory but J’Lo and Shakira’s incredible halftime show made our evening all the better.

I was pleased to find a fantastic yoga studio, Yoga Dicha where I enjoyed some Vinyassa, running to it from our apartment, visiting the supermarket on the way back.

We spent one morning at the Tulum ruins, struggling a lot with the humidity but enjoying the views and many iguanas.

The city was a major port in its heyday and one of the last cities to be inhabited by the Maya in the face of Spanish invasions during the 15^th century. Tulum can be translated as ‘wall’, which explains the sturdy fortifications and watchtowers along its steep cliffs and land entry points. The site was known as Zama by the Mayans – translated as ‘city of dawn’ as it faces the sunrise.

The three main buildings which remain partly intact (you do need quite a bit of imagination) are El Castillo (the castle), its walls impressively 7.5 metres high; the Temple of the Descending God with a sculpture familiar across Tulum of a winged god with a headdress; and the Temple of the Frescoes with some decoration still visible. Most tourists come here for the free beaches – we had realised after a few days there were two things that were difficult to find: free parking and free access to a beach. Once you accepted that you were fine.

We tried to get to the coast to enjoy sunset on our first day but failed miserably – watching it instead from Tom’s drone footage taken from a carpark across the road. We also failed to get in to the most talked about restaurant in town, Hartwood. Instead, we went to ARCA, another of Chef Ivan’s great recommendations, a very trendy spot where we ate scallops, octopus and pork and I enjoyed a cocktail called ‘Naked in the Desert’. Both restaurants were in the zona hotelera, but on the opposite side of the road to the sea. There were lots of intriguingly-designed entrances to fancy establishments.

Another day we took our chances with Posada Margherita, which had shabby chic looking décor, a pizza oven and most importantly a free parking space outside. It was a lucky break: finally, after five days, we were on the beach and what an incredible beach it was.

Jumping in and out of the waves we played beach games and sipped cool drinks with sand between our toes – bliss. The food rustic Italian. One shock we had was Joanna’s dinner being ruined by a pelican releasing his load flying above us!

The other big selling point of the area are the many ceynotes, or underwater sinkholes you can explore. After much research, we decided to visit two, Ceynote Calavera and Cenote Carwash.

The first was appealing as it had a ladder to reach the crystal-clear water (it was at least a 3-metre jump in otherwise – which actually three out of the four of us did enjoy) and a swing once you were down.

It was only later we learnt its alternative name is the temple of doom or skull ceynote – perhaps why it was sadly the place where Tom’s drone flew off totally on its own and was never seen again. The second was more of a large pond, so there was some underwater life to be seen but it wasn’t quite so dramatic.

We decided we preferred spending time at the beach and exploring the coastline – so took a drive along to Sian Ka’an. It’s a shame you can’t actually see the sea on one side or the mangroves on the other as you drive for what seems like hours. We didn’t make it has far as Punta Allen, the end of the road. Instead we stopped first at the UNESCO World Heritage information point to take a walk to see the mangroves, enjoying finding lots of iguanas in the jungle but declining a boat ride through the crocodile infested waters. Yet again, it felt impossible to find anywhere to stop and actually be on the beach – once we found a gap in the fence but there were a few nudists walking along so it didn’t feel a very appropriate spot for us! Going a little further we found Emily’s campsite. Chatting to ginger-dreadlocked Ana from Santa Cruz, California, we paid a minimal amount for leaving our car, beach access and some beaten-up sun loungers for the rest of the afternoon. Tom went for a run along the beach to see if there was anywhere else we were missing close by – there wasn’t – and we had a chilled out time nibbling on the sandwiches and snacks we had sensibly brought with us. The landscape was a bit more rugged out here, the sea had more seaweed and floating coconuts. Taking the advice of Ana and her Brazilian boyfriend Marcelo, we drove onto Punta Boca Paila (a rickety bridge) to look for crocodiles at sunset. We didn’t see any, but it was nice enough.

For our last day we decided to splash out and go to a beach club, picking La Zebra. We had slightly underestimated the wind that day – to sit too close to the sea meant sand in your eyes but we made the most of it and had a great time, toasting godfather Neil’s birthday with a Big Daddy cocktail, the girls finding swings and a friend to play with and ending up with our traditional tacos dinner.

I had an invigorating run along the sand, intrigued to find some familiar sculptures by artist friend Sunil Gawde, versions of pieces we had installed in Dubai in 2007.

We made the most of Tulum – which has perhaps been too successful a holiday destination for its own good.

Our flight out was in the evening, so after checking out of our apartment we decided to drive halfway back to Cancun and stop off at Puerto Morelos, a small fishing port.

It was lovely, much more the sort of place Tulum probably once was – laidback and beautiful – although not in layout as here the town was sensibly along the beach and harbour.

We had lunch at the lovely Lola & Moya, the owner serving juices to MoJo in Anna and Elsa glasses which went down well. After a wander through the many souvenir stalls, we had an ice cream and walk past the oddly crooked tower and onto the jetty, admiring for the last time Mexico’s startling turquoise sea.