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Maria Consuelo Palapa came with her 7-year-old son, Omar, “first to help the church, and to teach the child my traditions” from the Mexican state of Puebla.

I retreated to one of the palapa huts and, after chasing off a large black tarantula that had somehow sneaked inside and taken up residence above my bed, I let the tropical drone of Calakmul carry me off to sleep.

Then, back at the hotel, I walked down a long wooden pier to one of the stilted palapa huts that sit on the lagoon and watched the sunset over the mangroves, looking toward the jungle beyond, where the jaguars would soon be making their nightly migrations.

After dinner, we headed to the base camp where the Jaguar Alliance undertakes its research, a cluster of palapa huts around a small lake within the reserve.

Enjoy lobsters, shrimp, freshly caught finfish and oysters under a seaside palapa with your feet in the sand.