Back to the Land

Increasingly, travelers are seeking destinations that consider their impact in thoughtful ways

- By Gisela Williams

Years before Rodrigo Juárez began construction on Boca de Agua, an ecoresort in Bacalar, Mexico, he enlisted a group of biologists to map out all the endangered flora on the property's 82 acres and funded the regeneration of five acres of mangroves. When he asked the award-winning architect Frida Escobedo to build with local chicozapote wood, she went a step further and designed raised tree-house-style villas so as to disturb the earth as little as possible. The resort is one of the most anticipated openings this year, not just because Bacalar is being heralded as the new Tulum or the property is so Instagrammable but also because it is a prime example of regenerative tourism.