Playa del Carmen Trip Report
March 2003: Includes Xel Ha, Cozumel, bus, ferry and collectivo information.
PLAYA DEL CARMEN
FEBRUARY 26-MARCH 5
::Tuesday Night, February 25::
Ned called when I was at Target getting last-minute supplies. His message said, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then". Hmmm...we have not made any plan on where to meet at the Cancun airport, and we're flying in from different cities. I left a message for Ned telling him that he can just look for me at the airport and if his flight is late to meet me at Senor Frogs in Playa del Carmen. All I know, at this point, is that I am scheduled to arrive in Cancun at 11:00 AM on Champion Air (booked online via MLT Vacations last minute for $212.00, roundtrip, all taxes and fees included). Ned is scheduled to arrive at 12:30 on ATA. I sleep for about an hour and get up and finish packing. I head out to grab a taxi to the airport at 5:45 AM, Wednesday morning, the temp here a lovely -2 F. I had no problems checking in at the airport, the line was actually pretty short. I got a window seat on the plane. After take-off, I put on my headphones, although even though I had Neil Young cranked LOUD, I could hear some guy behind me snoring even more LOUDLY. He snored the entire four-hour flight, and I dozed on-and-off all the way until we began our descent into Cancun.
|CANCUN AIRPORT|
I arrived in Cancun at the Charter Terminal and breezed through Customs,
although the Immigrations Agent questioned my passport that got wet and
had some water spots on it. He stamped it and wrote "good for one trip".
*note-need to replace passport (dammit)*. I looked over the arrival
monitors and didn't see any flights for ATA out of Chicago. I got
information from somebody that ATA arrivals come into the Main Terminal.
It was 80 F., so I ditched into a bathroom and changed into a summer top
and skirt. Yee-Ha! Then I walked outside to catch the van marked "Asur"
that takes you in between the Cancun terminals.
I looked at the arrival monitors in the main terminal, and still,
there were no ATA flights arriving from Chicago listed. I decided Ned
MUST be on the Ryan International flight, so I headed over to find the
Riviera Bus stand to buy my ticket to Playa del Carmen. I went to the area where the passengers depart the Customs area in the Main Terminal and found the Riviera ticket stand, but nobody was working it. There were, however, other bus company personnel working the stands next to them and they told me
several times that there is no longer a bus to Playa with that bus
company. If anybody encounters this, do not listen to them. They are just going to try to sell you more expensive transport. I eventually DID find the Riviera Bus Stand in the Main Terminal near that large
bar/restaurant. The ticket costs $6.50 US each way. I DID eventually find
Ned, who DID fly in on Ryan, who DID purchase a $17.50 ticket from bad
bus people over in the customs area. We went and got Ned another bus
ticket, grabbed a beer at the airport and then went outside to wait for
the 1:45 PM bus to Playa del Carmen.
|OUR HOTELS|
While I do research
hotels online, I don't pre-book when I go to Playa. Last year
I stayed at
El Sol del Caribe on 5th Avenue (Playa's main pedestrian
street downtown), for $30.00 a night, double, low season. We walked
straight over there from the bus station but, unfortunately, they didn't
have any rooms with a balcony facing 5th Avenue available. They were
charging $40.00 a night for high season. We next walked over to Posada Freud whom I had emailed.
They showed us a cute room with two double beds, mini-fridge, TV and a
nice balcony that partially overlooked 5th Avenue. They were charging
$58.00 a night, so we decided to take it for two nights and look around a
bit more. We stayed in room number four. See? Cute!
Friday morning Ned got up early and went and looked at some hotels on
his own. He came back and told me that he found a couple of cheaper
rooms. I asked him if they were as cute as our room, and he told me that,
"yes, they are just as cute". Well...uh, no, but we did end up finding a
room we both agreed upon at Sergio's Hotel, right near the bus station.
Sergio's doesn't have a front-desk, and I cannot find any information
about them on the web. They run the liqour store on the street level
right beneath the hotel (how convenient!!). If you want to check out the
hotel, you just ask the cashier. We took a room up on the 2nd level that
was $40.00 a night, mini-fridge, cable TV, AC, and ceiling fan. The
balcony there wraps around the front, on 5th Avenue, and the side which
faces Second Street and Pez Vela Restaurant and Bar:
The most fantastic thing was it had a stunning Ocean...
Here's a tip, kids! When standing on your balcony be cautious about
leaning over the railing with a lit cigarette. You certainly wouldn't
want to drop one onto the vendor's Palapa roof down below and worry about
burning down his business. Not that we saw anybody *cough*Ned*cough* do
that!
Now, the room at Hotel Posada Freud was definitely more cute, and the maid
probably did a better job of cleaning it. At Sergio's, the maid was nice,
but I'll be honest and say that we never really saw her doing any actual
scrubbing. It wasn't a dirty-looking place, and I really enjoyed staying
there-and never even saw an ant in our room. If you are the type that is
a fanatic, though, it might not be acceptable to you. There is no
restaurant or bar, or anything at the hotel, although it's right on the
main street downtown, so everything is simply right outside your
door.
Our maid spoke less English than I do Spanish, which is very little.
One day I decided that I wanted an extra bar of soap, so I asked her for
"dos sopas". She gave me an odd look and a smile. Later, I came back to
the room and found two rolls of toilet paper on the bed (in addition to
the full roll in the bathroom). I chuckled. The next day at the beach, I
noticed a sign and told Ned that I just realized "sopa" means
soup.
I wonder if she thought I was being a smartass ordering two soups from
her.
|BEAUTIFUL DAYS|
There are plenty of coffee shops downtown Playa where you can pick up steaming
coffees, cappucinos, and freshly baked rolls and enjoy at an outdoor
table, the beach or your balcony. There are a lot of great breakfasts,
too. I had a mushroom and cheese omelet with potatoes, coffee and a
fresh-blended pineapple/lime juice at 100% Natural one morning that was
delicious.
We lazed away most days relaxing on the breathtaking beaches. While
the days were warm and filled with sunshine, the Caribbean breeze coming
in from the sea keeps you cool, even on the beach. There are plenty of
umbrellas the waiters will bring to you if you get too much sun, along
with an ice-cold frozen margarita or chilled cerveza with a fresh slice
of lime!
On the way back from the beach (just a half block from the hotel) we'd
stop in our liquor store and pick up a 6-pack of Superior, sit on our
balcony and have cold beers and watch the pedestrians along 5th Avenue
and the strolling musicians that stop along and play tableside. While we
got ready for the evening we would watch MTV Mexico on cable. You won't
believe what we saw on MTV in Mexico. Videos! Music videos...one after
another after another! I don't even remember seeing any rap music. They
do throw in a Britney/Justin/Christina one every now and then, but they
dig a lot of Dave Grohl y Amigos (ahem...Nirvana) and Foo Fighters,
Queens of the Stone Age, Robbie Williams, Coldplay, Oasis, Audioslave,
Chili Peppers, The Music, and Korn. I love MTV Latin America!
|ENCHANTED EVENINGS|
Ah, nightfall, and Playa del Carmen's 5th Avenue becomes bustling with the sounds of live
bands, the aroma of waiters preparing shrimp flambe tableside, and
colorful lights adorning the swaying Palms and flickering candles atop
all of the streetside, outdoor tables. It's so cool! A little dance music
at Senor Frogs, blues at Bourbon Street, acoustic folk at Captain Daves,
rock at Pez Vela, Mexican flute music at Karens and Ajua, strolling
Mariachis along the street, dancing on the beach at Blue Parrot. We also
just really loved the cool, funky atmosphere at Frida's Bar at Pancho's
Hotel. And, of course the Deseo Hotel's rooftop, poolside bar that is
strikingly modern.
Update: Frida's is no longer in business. October 2004.
I was a bit disappointed that there were no more bands at Tequila
Barrel. We never stopped in at the new Jazz bar, or the Mambo Cafe (I
didn't realize until later that they have live Latin bands). We did go to
the new Karoake bar, but we didn't get to see anybody famous! Two people
singing Captain and Tennille. Bah! (Robert Plant was in Playa very
recently and apparently sang Karoake there). Blue Parrot also put in some
indoor dance club next to the outdoor bar, but we didn't go into it.
Everywhere we eat and drink is open-air. I didn't even see any Happy Hour
bands at the Parrot, this year. We tended to stick to the smaller bar
with swings right next to it. They played better music, and you could
still see all the action over at the Parrot without being crowded
out.
Every kind of restaurant
you can imagine is in Playa. If you want the best, authentic Mexican
food, venture off of 5th Avenue. There are also many good Italian
Restaurants, and we ate at one of my favorites, DaGabi, which is just off
of 5th Avenue, and a bit overlooked. We sat at a little street-side table
and our waiter greeted us with freshly toasted garlic bread straight out
of the outdoor, brick oven and a small dish of marinated olives. We had
the most wonderful, lightly-breaded Calamari with garlic, a tasty shrimp
and squid pizza and I had a bananas flame with a rich, Mexican ice cream
for dessert. And, of course, cold beer!
Our last night in Playa del Carmen we had planned to have a really nice dinner
and had been trying to decide between the Mayan Lobster at Ajua and this
little French Bistro we found off of 5th Avenue I'm still so bummed out
that I wasn't feeling well my last evening (not from anything that had to
do with Playa) and my stomach was too upset for me to eat. We had been
planning that all week. Thankfully, me amigo was extremely empathetic and
accommodating. I did manage to have some tasty Pink Deaths at Bourbon
Street that night and Banana Daiquiris at La Parilla, though!
We browsed the souvenir shops every evening as we walked the downtown
street. One night we took a long stroll up Juarez Avenue, and found much
better prices. I really love shopping on Juarez and up in the other
streets of PLaya. As much as I love being on 5th Avenue, sometimes I
forget I'm even in Mexico. We looked in lots of stores and then we ran
across this little grocery store and found all these single-serving
bottles of various alcoholic beverages we had never seen. Hey,
no-brainer! Do we really need T-shirts and knick-knacks or some more
booze? They had some cans of Cuban cola that had booze in it (from what
we could tell).
We didn't buy that, but we did buy, and this was way cool, an "energy
drink" (it looked a can of Redbull) except it also contained liquor and
caffeine! And it tasted really good! I wish I would have brought some
back. So, our souvenir excursion amounted to buying 3 single-servings of
assorted adult beverages each, two limes, and one serrated butterknife.
We also did manage to score 15 souvenir shotglasses for Ned at Senior
Frogs without consuming any shots. It just took some persistance,
enduring odd looks from the waiters and a few pesos.
|XEL HA|
Sunday morning we caught the 9:20 AM bus from Playa del Carmen to Xel Ha. The bus costs $4.00
US dollars-one way. Xel Ha is a fairly large eco-park located about 45
miles south of Playa. The admission price on weekends is discounted,
$19.00 US. We opted not to do the all-inclusive which includes food and
beverages. We paid another 10 dollars, or so, to rent a locker and two
beach towels. The snorkel gear is included in the admission price, and
you can keep your snorkel when you leave.
We started by taking a walk over past the dolphins and then across the
floating bridge and hiking all around the immaculate walking trails. The
trails were fairly empty and saw very few people, but many iguanas,
colorful native birds and one, brave hermit crab. After our peaceful
walk, we got our snorkel gear and snorkeled around the clear lagoon for
couple of hours. We swam with hundreds of beautiful, exotic fish and
found some huge ones hiding out in between the large rocks. We spent a
lot of time floating along and observing them. I watched a gigantic
Parrot fish eating off the rocks for a while, then it swam off with a big
trail of...um, it wasn't pretty...behind. Nature!
Next we took the tram up to the top of the river and got inner-tubes
and floated down the pristine river, slowly-- relaxing in the sun. The
park never got crowded all day! The park closes at 5 PM, and at that time
we walked back up to the highway and waited for a Collectivo back to
Playa. The Collectivo's are white vans with green stripes that run along
the high-way all day long. They go by every few minutes. Many are full,
and they stop if they have openings. It took about 10 minutes for one to
stop for us, and the ride all the way back to Playa is only $2.00 US.
There are no designated stops or shelters in most places, you just stand
right on the shoulder of the highway and wait. The collectivo dropped us
off right in town, so we could just walk to our hotel from there.
|RUINS|
Monday morning Ned got up to take the 730 AM bus out to tour the ruins of
Tulum. The
bus fare is the same as Xel Ha, $4.00 US, and the ride takes about 45
minutes. Since I had already been to Tulum and Ned said he might spend a
lot of time looking at the ruins, I stayed behind and went to the beach
that day. Ned had a very relaxing bus ride to Tulum. So relaxing, in
fact, he fell asleep. For about 4 hours. He woke up at the Granddaddy of
ruin sites, Chichen
Itza! So, Ned got to go tour the ruins we had talked about, but
ruled out due to the long bus ride. He actually was back at the beach in
Playa by about 2:30 PM, and had bartered a cab ride back for $50.00. The
cab ride only took about two hours.
|COZUMEL|
"Fat Tuesday" afternoon we took the ferry over to Cozumel to check out the Carnaval
Festivities on the island. We didn't know too much about it, as there
wasn't any advertisement about it in Playa, even though it is a huge
event in Cozumel. We heard about it from a gentleman riding the
collectivo with us.
There were a lot of people walking around during the day, but the big
parade wasn't going to begin until 8:30 PM, and the last last ferry back
over to Playa leaves at 10:00 PM. We were just too afraid that if we tried to
get on the last ferry and it was full we might get stuck over in Cozumel.
This being our last night in the Mayan Riviera, we didn't want to risk
that. I got one of my festive Pina Colada drinks served in a real, whole
Pineapple and we walked around the streets a bit.
It doesn't take long before the shop vendors get on your nerves.
"Lady, I got the best deal in town. Practically free". We didn't walk
around too long, and stopped over at Fat Tuesday's for a beer and then
caught the ferry back over to Playa for our...
|LAST NIGHT|
We spent our last night just walking back around to some of our favorite
places in town. There were still many things that we had talked about
seeing and doing, and just didn't get around to it. I'm satifisfied with
what we saw and did, and the great thing about the town and area is that
there is always something new to see and do when you go back. As we sat
sipping our last drinks at La Parilla, I asked Ned if he had a good
vacation, and he assured me that he did. I did, too.
::Wednesday Morning, March 5::
My flight was scheduled to depart Cancun at 11:50 AM, and Ned's flight
scheduled to depart at 1:30 PM, so we took separate busses back to
Cancun. I got up early, at 6:30 AM, so I could take my time packing up
and have time to get morning coffee and take a morning stroll. I like to
walk around Playa early in the AM, and see the little town waking up.
There
are a few tourists, but mostly locals walking to start the workday, or
sweeping and washing the cobblestone streets in front of their shops. I
said goodbye to sleepy-head Ned, and reluctantly headed off to the bus
station. Back to the airport. Snow. Mittens and boots. Alarm clocks.
And, hey! Back to my little buddy, Frank, my cat whom I haven't seen
in a week! And, look! I still have pesos in my wallet! So, I'll have to
go back for some of those "energy drinks"!
*****************************
The Tulum and Chichen Itza pics were taken by J.Andrzej Wrotniak. I
really love his photos and the way he captures the beauty and
colorfulness of the area. Please check his site! www.wrotniak.net
