My Mexican Boyfriends

One of my favourite aspects of Playa Del Carmen is my Mexican boyfriends! I have sooo many. 

Let me describe to you our conversations…

Mexican: Hola Chica! 

Me: Hola 

Mexican: you want to buy something for your boyfriend? 

Me: . 

Mexican: oh you don’t have a boyfriend? Well, I will be your boyfriend. 

Me: .

Mexican: your Mexican lovvveerrrrr. Available 24/7. Mexican giggalo just for you seƱorita! 

Me: still walking away 

Mexican: oh yes, wait till I show you my Mexican (still not sure what this word is but you can imagine) …

Me:… Can barely hear them anymore 

Mexican: okay I’ll just wait here for you chicaaaaa! Ooohhhh.

You get the drift, it goes on and on with varying lines. Not just one or two guys, but most of them as you walk down the street. And while they’re trying to be sleezy, they’re just not. They just love talking smack. 

Nikita’s fave was when we were called Charlie’s Angels. 

Often the Mexicans mistake Lauren and I for Mexicans and start talking Spanish to us until they realise we aren’t responding at all. 

It’s a fun game, I need to learn Spanish so I can beat them at it, although, I don’t think it would be quite the same… 

  

Playa Del Carmen – holiday tips

While I loved our five days in Playa Del Carmen, there are a few things I’d do differently next time. Here’s my list:

  • Use ADO for airport transfers. Cheap, comfortable and reliable.
  • Stay at a hotel with a pool. Because of the seaweed issue we couldn’t lie on the beach and it would have been nice to lie poolside and relax a bit.
  • Find a map of Playa Del Carmen! We struggled to find a map and as a result there was a lot we didn’t see or explore.
  • Don’t use Easy Tours unless you are willing to wait for long periods of time and have an average experience. We did the rest of our tours on our own and it was great.
  • I would hire a jeep in Cozumel and explore. This is one that I really wish I had done. The island is small enough to drive around in a day with a number of stops. Cabs will try rip you off left, right and centre.
  • I’d love to have gone fishing. Only tours I could find were chartered and very expensive.
  • Eat more off the beaten path. It’s cheaper, the food is more traditional and the locals love having the gringos to visit.
  • Learn more Spanish! 

  

Playa Del Carmen, Day 5

A very short day in Mexico – I didn’t want to leave! 

Slept in a little then got all our luggage ready. I was flying to Vancouver at 4pm and the girls were heading to Cancun for a night, then LA for a night before they fly back. 

We went for a walk to check the shuttles to the airport and as it turned out we had a lot less time than we thought. We grabbed a fish burrito (very unlike our westernised burrito – it was just a crumbed fish, a little lettuce and tomato in a wrap with chipotle sauce) and headed to the bus station. Transfers direct to Cancun airport cost $12USD – not bad. 

Nikita and Lauren came for the ride to the airport as they were checking in to their hotel in Cancun. We said our goodbyes and went our seperate ways after an awesome 2 weeks together. Later I found out the lucky girls got to see turtles hatch! 

I had lost my immigration form so had to pay $30USD to get through the airport. I’m 

Flew to Phoenix first, I have never seen so many people running through an airport! It was crazy. I nearly missed my flight, so I was one of those people running too. 

My flight was delayed however so I did make it after all and got into Vancouver hit before midnight. 

Flew through customs and bag check, took the skytrain to Yaletown and met up with my good friend Amanda who I am staying with while I’m in Vancouver. 

We walked Keenu (their beautiful husky dog) home and caught up over red wine until 3am. So good to be back!

   
   

Playa Del Carmen, Day 4

I loved Cozumel so much that I decided to go back! I found a $20USD snorkel tour, jumped on the ferry and found the pier. I had an hour to kill till the trip so went for a wander around some art galleries and outside the tourist areas. When I’m alone everyone thinks I am Spanish so I just rolled with it. Haha. 

Grabbed some of the best fish tacos to eat takeaway on the boat – they were so fresh and delicious. 

On the boat, of course, everyone spoke Spanish. I was put on a Spanish speaking tour. It was quite funny, I think I got the gist of what was being said. We went to three reefs, the first one was sh*t – no reefs around, the second was actually on a little reef and had lots of pretty, colourful,tropical fish. The third was a deep snorkel, it was really cool, could see all the schools of fish and two HUGE fishes slowly crawling around the bottom. I haven’t done many like that and I loved it. 

I shared some beers with my Spanish amigos on the way back to shore, the water is crystal clear and beautiful. 

I took the 4pm ferry back and got some shopping done. Lots of gifts for friends and family and colleagues. I kept walking and found a whole new area we hadn’t even explored yet. Shops, malls, food, markets – heaps to see. 

Starving, I sat down for some ceviche (yeap, again) and cerveza (beer) at a small restaurant down a side street. It was great but I started feeling quite motion sick from the snorkelling earlier. I think the beer kicked it in. They made me a fresh salsa right on my table with a grinder. Tomato, cilantro and onion with a little chilli. It was freaking delightful. I’m going to try it when I get back. 

I walked back and met the girls who had been sunbathing all day at a beach club and had a fun trip back in a VW with a local. We went for dinner but the place chosen was terrible service and they said the food was average. I stuck with my beer. 

Lauren and I went for churros afterwards, filled with chocolate hazelnut bueno and sorbet – yum. We people watched on the street for a while and fed our faces. So much sugar though, I couldn’t sleep for ages!! 

An ‘early’ night at 1am for our last night in Mexico. 

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   

Playa Del Carmen, Day 3

We we’re originally booked on an adventure tour but after the screw around the day before, we were more than happy to let the $10 deposit go to waste. 

We accidentally slept until 11am as it was anyway! We decided on checking out some cenotes (beautiful Mexican fresh water wells, some open, some in caves) and attempted to find a tour. It was all too much work so in the end we found some that were reasonably close, grabbed a local shuttle for 20peso and headed out on our own. 

The Kantanchi Ecopark was awesome. We paid $29USD for as long as we liked in four cenotes. The grounds were well manicured, it was like strolling through a maintained jungle. Just beautiful. Throw in some random pens of chickens and horses and a manual rail road and you’re starting to get the picture. 

The first cenotes was the best. #4 on the map, it is a huge open cave, crystal clear water and stallictites hanging from above. There are a few small fish in the fresh, cool water but it’s mainly just a huge, empty pool. Turquoise water, light shining through – absolutely beautiful. 

The next cenote was and open one, beautiful clear water again, same as the next two. We spent a few hours there, until the water was too cool for us to enjoy longer. 

We managed to hail the local shuttle bus back to Playa Del Carmen but got off a few streets too soon. It wasn’t all bad, we got to check out some more of the local area and found an awesome place for ‘lunch’ called Wichoos. The waitress was the best ever, I so enjoyed her wit. She spoke Spanish to us even though she knew we didn’t understand and I felt that she genuinely enjoyed us being there. They took pictures for their Facebook page of us swinging on our swings, which is where we ate lunch. Low and behold, I had ceviche!!! I still can’t get enough of it. I also had a fish taco and a few beers, great food and really enjoyed the company. Definitely check it out if you’re visiting. 

I also found a great spot to do some shopping. A blanket, hammock and some gifts later I was on my way. 

We changed and took our new friend from the hostel for some beers on the water. There was love music and a chill vibe, definitely a tourist spot. We shared the guacamole. 

About 11pm I was hungry so we wandered a few streets over and found a cheap taco bar. Four fish tacos and a shrimp taco later (two margaritas and some tequila too) I was happy as can be! 

We marched on down to the club strip we found the night before and were taken into a club at the very end with an open bar. They had great music and we danced and danced until 2am. 

I am thinking I might learn Spanish. I really enjoy hearing it and attempting to understand! 

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
 

Playa Del Carmen, Day 2

With our tour booked for Tulum with Easy Tours we were up early & ready to roll. 

What a f#%k around. It took about 2 hours to get to Tulum which should be a 30min trip. We were dropping and picking up people for different tours, swapping guides, stopping for a mandatory ten min stop. 

Everyone on our shuttle was really irratated by the time we got there. Our guide, Roberto, spoke Spanish, English and German. We walked to the ruins, he gave us some quick history and then left us to free time. It was too long and we ended up walking back of our own accord. On the way we passed a couple from our shuttle who had been on an extra hour than we had, hoping in a cab. They didn’t want to deal with that madness on the way back. And neither did we. We asked to be taken back an hour and a half before we were supposed to and to our surprise, they obliged. We had free time at the beach but for the last few months Playa Del Carmen has been plagued with a lot of seaweed. It is impacting their tourism industry. 

We had lunch at a wonderful place on the beachfront. I had a beautifully presented ceviche (there’s a surprise) and a beer. Lots of beer drinking in Mexico. 

Since we had so much of the day left after cutting our tour short we headed over to Cozumel. A return ticket wil cost you $17USD on the ferry. 

We were surprised at how big Cozumel was when we arrived. There’s markets and shops and, wait for it, no seaweed! 

After walking for 20mins we grabbed a can to SkyTree, a newish beach club around the island. $15USD got us our snorkel set, a drink (hello piƱa colada), a tequila tasting and (should we have made it earlier) a 5 minute massage. 

We grabbed sun loungers and went straight out to snorkel. There isn’t much reef straight out there but it is still very pretty and a few tropical fish meandering about. 

We fell asleep on the sun loungers and were woken when it closed, they had already ordered a cab back to the ferry for us. Wonderful place – I highly recommend visiting. 

After being ripped off by the cab back to the ferry we got back to Playa Del Carmen, found a restaurant and had some cocktails. I had shrimp tacos but they weren’t very good. 

On the way home we passed by a strip next to where we were staying towards the beach and found a bunch of clubs. The guys were fighting over themselves to get us in there, free rounds of cocktails and table service. We tried out three before retiring for the night. 

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

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