Getting ready for Eco Glamour and the Green Expo Tulum!!!

These 2 events in Tulum are going to be amazing.  Eco Glamour is an event that celebrates the amazing talents

The first day, Thursday April 8 is all about Fashion. Blue Tulum is hosting a fashion shop and an after party. I believe that the doors open at 6:00 and the show starts at 7:00 and then there is a party afterwards. There will be some wonderful jewelry and clothing from through the Yucatan. Dutzi Designs and Casa Chiapas will both be there as will many others.




The 2nd day is all about Art! And what a great way to show off the wonderful artists then in several beach hotels. There is the ARTulum Route. You can get specific details at http://www.ecoglamourtulum.com/en/ a nice easy drive up and down the beach road. Great hotels with very nice lounges are the perfect place to grab a drink and a bite to eat and enjoy all of the beautiful artwork.



AHHAHAHA Day 3, this is going to be in full swing I imagine. This is the MUSIC day. Ana y Jose Beach Club will host this event. There is a Fresco ball exhibition at 12:00. I really am not sure what that is but I will be there! Then the rest of the day is filled with amazing music for wonderful Latin artists. This is going to be great.


At the same time there will be the Green Expo down at the Casa de Cultura. This is about 5 blocks towards to the beach directly behind the main plaza on the main Avenue. This expo will highlight many of the wonderful products and services here in the area that work to protect our beautiful Tulum.

Dutzi Event a Success

Well- The holidays are over and oh my god to I have some serious catching up to do. The first thing that I want to say is how wonderful the event for Dutzi Design went. We spent the day at the new In Spirit Store and had a great time bringing awareness to this great project. These bags made by women in the Yucatan are beautiful and it was a real treat spending this day supporting this cause. These bags are being sold at boutiques all over Paris and New York and most recently Mexico and Italy. It is great.


The whole day was spent focusing on the various talents of the women in the area with a highlight on the Dutzi Design project. We had a morning Yoga class, massages available, organic spa treatments available, card readings all the bags on display, authentic Yucatecan food for purchase. It was really great. In the evening we were treated to some wonderful AcroYoga which is truly great.


The whole day could not have been possible with out the wonderful assistance and talents of Jackie and the In Spirit store, Crystal and the card readings, Land and the wonderful food, and of Course Ariane Dutzi for having the inspiration and determination to continue the project.

I would also like to give a very special thanks to the Gerardo Miranda from Yes...I Do! for donating the chairs and tables. They were beautiful and really completed the look for our event. We look forward to working with you again when we do our wedding ceremony next year. To contact Gerardo Miranda for any event needs please contact us and we would be happy to pass the information along.

Another company we would really like to thank is Flors de Tulum. The fruiteria across the side street from HCBC has always been wonderful to me the whole time I have lived here. It is one of my all time favorite place to buy- well- anything they sell really. They were so kind to donate some produce so that we could offer our guests the amazing food and services that we did. Thank you so much.

If you ever need to buy any fruit or veggies in Tulum--- this is the place to do it.


I look forward to doing more work with all of the people that I got to share the day with. Oh yeah.. And thanks to my work... Yaaj- Ximbal to letting me off for the day so that I could do this event. :)

dutzi design - Empowering Women Event.

I am so excited to be organizing an event for dutzi design inc. This wonderful group of Mayan women make the most beautiful bags all by hand and from beautifully recycled burlap and white raffia. They are so beautiful and the proceeds go to keeping this workshop up and running and keeping food on the tables of those in the community.

We are having an event at In Spirit Store. A beautiful store on the south side of the beach road across from Casa Violeta. The event begins at 9:00 am with a roof top yoga class followed by fresh fruit breakfast. Here is the whole schedule:


9:00- yoga class on the roof overlooking the jungle canopy.
10:00-Fresh fruit breakfast and organic coffee
11:00- Special dutzi Presentation- special discounts at in Sprit for those that attend that presentation.
12:00-4:00- Special services from women in the community. Mayan food for sale, card reading, spa treatments and masks, massages, back flowers and a kids area.
4:00- Special dutzi Presentation- special discounts at in Sprit for those that attend that presentation.
5:00- Horderves and Happy Hour
6:30- Aztec Drumming performance
7:00- Fire Show.


This is going to be an amazing event to bring focus to the amazing work of Ariane Dutzi and her work with the women in her community. These women are learning about finanaces and are able to contribute to their communities. The bags that they make are being sold in boutiques in Paris and New York as well as other locations throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe.


In addition to learning about the dutzi design project, visitors can also help the women of the area by using the services that we will be providing during the event.

Please come by and show your support for this wonderful cause.

Russian Gypsy Card Readings from the Princess of the Runes, Crystal

Any one who has had the privilege of receiving clarity and serenity from a well delivered card reading knows that the services provided by these gifted people have the power to change lives. One such gifted spirit, the Princess of the Runes, is among us here in Tulum, Mexico.

Tulum Mexico has for years been a place that has nurtured the rarer talents of the world around. Having a deep history as a very magical place since the time of the ancient Maya, the energy around Tulum has drawn in beautiful people with truly tranquil minds and hearts.

Receiving a card reading from the acclaimed Princess of the Runes is a special treat for any visitor to the area. The Princess of the Runes also knows as Crystal was recently highlighted in an article in the New York Times, “36 hours in Tulum, Mexico.”


Crystal’s journey to find her gift began when she was just a young girl growing up in a loving family who encouraged her to dream, explore and love the world with an open mind. As she grew with a deep love of the universe and the belief that she would always be taking care of by her, Crystal’s destiny as a gifted reader began to root. After the death of a friend when she was a teenager she began to explore the healing power of crystals and began to gain further insight into her life.



After first discovering her gift with reading cards, Crystal began to delve deeper in to the understanding and meaning behind the 25 cards laid out in front of her. The cards, made up of 25 square cards each with 4 one half images. As the cards are placed before the reader the cards are adjusted to reveal any tiles that form 1 image from the 2 halves. As the images are decoded by the Princess of the Runes depending in the position in which they are laid, the cards begin to give insight and clarity to a wide array of questions.

Crystal expanded her skill and trained with the Rune Goddess before moving to Tulum with her husband, Tulum’s premier tattoo artist, and their young children to share her skill with the community here. Surrounded by the nature she loves so much, she lives in the lush jungles around Tulum and enjoys a peaceful and fulfilled life. Her light and gift is a wonderful experience and one that I am so happy I have gotten to experience.

Crystal is available for private readings and for parties and can also do readings over the phone. Her highly sought after skills are a treasure to witness. Ocho Tulum, one of Tulum's best beach hotels, has recently brought her in to do card readings for guests on Friday nights in their beautiful beach front restaurant giving guests the opportunity to get this amazing service for only customary 100-200 peso tip. That is quite the bargain for these rare readings.

In addition to her wonderful talents at a card reader, Crystal also sells the acclaimed Shankari jewelry. Seen all over Hollywood and beautiful boutiques and art galleries all over the world, each of these pieces is a true one of a kind work of art and is as priceless as they are amazing. She is also the authorized seller of the acclaimed Dutzi Design bags. These bags are 100% recycled and support a workshop of Mayan women here in the area. These amazing bags have been featured in several magazines and are being sold in boutiques in New York and Paris.

Dutzi Design Inc.***

Okay… this is a long one but it is worth every line

It is not very often that you hear about something that someone is doing and it just makes you smile from the inside. Well, the project of Dutzi Designs Inc. is one such story. !!!


The project is that of Ariane Dutzi. Ariane lives here in the Yucatan and has started a line, Dutzi Designs Inc., to help the communities of the Yucatan. As a former fashion editor from New York and Paris, she moved to Mexico where she is making an impact in the beautiful community that she is now a part of.


When the Swine Flu scare erupted in Mexico last April it created a mass exodus of tourists in the Yucatan and the communities of the area really suffered. As the “infodemic” spun out of control, a whole bunch of totally healthy people sat in the deserted towns of the Yucatan and then found themselves without people to sell their handiwork to. Ariane has since developed the Dutzi Design Rescue Bag. Complete with a label befitting of the project, a small outlined face of a pig, these bags are as eco-friendly green as they are well made and beautiful.


The whole project really is something special. As a way of helping the Mayan community that lives in the areas around Valladolid, about 70 women as well as some men make each and every bag. The project is not only a means for so many women to help provide for their families, but also helps preserve the beautiful culture of the indigenous Maya. With all of the proceeds from the sales of the bag going directly into the project, this community of women continues to be able to help sustain themselves especially in a time where so many of us here in the Yucatan are feeling the devastating consequences of the hype of the swine flu.


Here is a bit of history about how such a special project came to be. Ariane is an amazingly beautiful woman who after being born in Germany moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. After graduation Ariane got a job as a foreign correspondent for a German publication. Due to her location in Paris, fashion was the tallest order. During the reign of top supermodels and skyrocketing talent in the design world, Ariane had the privilege of interviewing and working with some of the most talented designers in the world. Having had studied history Ariane had an interest in fashion’s history and the artisans that made such wonderful pieces.


She told me a beautiful story about one example of stories that she loved to do. It was of the artisans who made the soles for Chanel shoes and Gucci shoes. It was only these very specific artisans that did the soles in a traditional way. The use of chemicals, if any at all, where minimal and the result was sole for a shoe fit for Hera herself. As I am sure anyone who owns a pair of Chanel shoes will attest to. She told me how the stories of these artisans, their craft and the devotion they give such a craft really intoxicated her. It intoxicated me just listening to it. After her move to Mexico, she found a similar passion for the artisans in her new home country. But more on that in a minute, I jump ahead of myself.



Ariane then came to Mexico for a vacation in the beautiful town of Cuernavaca just outside of Mexico City. Known as the “City of Eternal Spring” for its year long perfect weather, it was over… the love obsession had begun.


Ariane took this time in her life to figure out the passions that she wanted to follow. Not quiet sure which way she was going to take herself, she headed to Tulum. Working in the hotel industry, Ariane got to stretch her creativity and interest in design in to decorating and furniture design. She helped design, promote and staff not just one Coqui Coqui hotel… but 3, Tulum, Coba and Valladolid. After investing much energy and love into these projects Ariane once again went to New York for inspiration for her next path.


This next path turned out to be working with an old friend from the fashion industry to open a vintage discovery showroom. Not a store, but more an inspirational space for designers and artists to come and get inspired. Working with wonderful textures and colors and looking at things from the past in a new light is what sparked the fuse that lead the way for Ariane’s next direction. It was hear that she began to learn the skill of noticing 1 small detail or 1 texture and create a whole concept out of it.


Now back in Mexico, she began to make beautiful bags from vintage materials. Being very drawn to burlap, the bags began to take shape organically as she rediscovered the Mexico that she had left. The straps are all hand made by the indigenous Maya who have crafted such belts for generations. More and more Ariane needed help to craft the bags that had become so popular. At one point, Ariane had to make a choice. Was she going to commit 100% and dive fully into her project and trust in the Universe to take care of her or go back? Luckily for us all she chose to invest fully into the project.


As she needed more and more help she befriended and employed more and more Mayan women from her community. What blossomed out of this first year was a workshop in which women in the community began to learn about their finances and how to have some control over them.


The most important thing about the workshop as it developed was that these women were able to remain the women that were before with the duties that they had before. To celebrate all of the things that makes us all such remarkable women. We have the special gift of taking care of our families needs, being there for our families and wanting to be able to enjoy our families and Ariane did not want these women to give any of that up just so they could work as well.



I have not even started to tell you about the amazing bags themselves… these bags, made of vintage burlap or 100% recycled white raffia. They are absolutely beautiful and are not only made by hand with love and care but, probably because of that fact, are incredibly well made.


In addition to the “Rescue Bag” Ariane’s whole line of couture bags are being sold in stores and boutiques all over New York as well as in Paris, Santa Fe, Malibu, CA, Mexico and over the internet. One of the best ways to get your own Rescue Bag is to drive over and see the project for yourself. Valladolid is a beautiful town about an hour from Tulum and wonderfully worth a visit. What a fantastic souvenir of a trip to the Yucatan. Luckily you can also buy one online and have it sent to you. Check out the website with information about how to purchase your very own bag.


These bags are perfect for both men and women. I especially love the bike messenger bag for men. These bags reflect both a consciousness for the earth and an effort to protect and cherish it, but also for the wonderful communities of Mayan women in the Yucatan.


I am so excited to see that the very first couture Dutzi dress has just been made. I cannot wait to see as more and more clothing comes from these guys. The furniture designed by Dutzi Designs is stunning as well. I will be getting more info about the clothing and furniture and will post again. Stay tuned.

So…. Do you want to help… can you help… If yes… here are a few ways that you can…
• If you, or anyone you know, own a shop or a boutique and would like to carry Dutzi Designs in your store, you can get in touch with Ariane (or me if you want)
• You can order a bag online directly from the source.
• If you are vacationing in Mexico, you can arrange to see the project and the beautiful town of Valladolid and pick up the absolutely BEST souvenir in Mexico.
• You can simply donate to the project via their website
• If you are getting married and are looking for the perfect bridesmaid gifts, these stunning bags and clutches are the perfect reminder of a perfect Mexican wedding (and the Karma points!!!)
• If you are looking for the perfect auction item… imagine a beautiful Dutzi Design couture bag filled with stunning crafts, clothing and tokens of the beautiful Mayan culture. I would be happy to help you put something together (I am sure Ariane could help as well.) What a perfect way to help 2 causes at once.
• Tell everyone you know about the project because it is a really special one.