Playa del Carmen beach
Travel. Playa del Carmen is NOT what we expected – a total tourist trap. We thought, a small beach community with dirt roads. Sure, maybe a hundred years ago. People yelling buy this, buy that. High end stores – H & M, Sephora. 5A Avenue North (main drag) is like a giant shopping mall. So many drunk people. Masses swerving down the streets, drinks in-hand. Disrespecting culture. What a shit show. I’m so glad we did Mexico City first. We are not comfortable with this type of travel – all-inclusive resorts and drunken tourists. Spanish not required. I don’t know what to say, except done that.
We had a very long travel day. I didn’t think it’d take a whole day to get from Mexico City to Playa del Carmen, but there you have it. I was concerned about travel from the Cancun airport to Playa. Originally, I figured a hundred yankee dollars each way, but our friend said take the ADO bus. Holy Hanna, 270 pesos (20 bucks CDN) per person.
After we fought through the massive crowds down 5A Avenida Norte (Quinta Avenida), we finally found our hotel and dropped our bags. Let’s eat. We found a nice Mexican place on the strip (Porfirios) and had flutes, guacamole, roasted veggies (amazing), enchiladas and ribeye tacos with beers and margaritas. Not bad. Open air but overpriced (162 CDN) and very noisy. But man, I was so hungry, I would’ve eaten alligator tacos.
Back at the hotel, a very nice evening hanging out on the balcony sipping Mexican beer (I do love the beer) and wine (Mexican Chardonnay – who knew and not bad) with a warm breeze flowing down the street. Not a minus 14 snowstorm. I went across the street to buy beer at the 7-11, just because I could. Not great beer, but convenience store brews not permitted in my homeland.
The next day, we found the beach and walked through the waves. Beach not our scene, but the sand and salt felt nice. We went out for lunch at Lido’s – hummus, pita, rib eye tacos, salad, grilled shrimp with beers and palomas (115 CDN). I can eat tacos every day (in fact I did). Lunch on average, is about a hundred bucks for guacamole, tacos, enchiladas and beers and palomas. Kinda pricey.
We found some cool places (thanks to some friends) and Playa del Carmen is not the massive shit show I originally thought. Just get off the shit show (Quinta Avenida). Found some ruins. Found a great place to eat- El Pechugon Rosticerias – roasted chicken and potatoes (about 15 CDN). Safeway chicken this is not. Found a great food place – Chedraui (a tad expensive), but excellent groceries.
I also found a very good running route down the bike path (10th Ave) to the ruins and take the beach back. Plus, you could swim and kayak here as well. Our friend bought a bike, and he zips around town easily – many bike paths / lanes here, so very practical. So many activities to engage in. Would I come stay here for a month? Yes indeed. But no longer.
Overall Mexico was brilliant. However I do have concerns. The only people who live in Playa del Carmen are tourists or those who want to make money off tourists. Fine. CDMX is a different story. Many Mexicans would love to live in La Condesa, but they cannot afford it. I was never confronted by this atrocity, but it’s in the back of my mind. Still, I love the people, the food and the place and I’m so glad the United States is shut down. Hasta la vista yankee vacation.