Oh boy I just discovered that I never published this post from almost two years ago! Ah well better late than never.
Yesterday, we had a lazy morning and early afternoon lounging around the hotel. After multiple trips to the Hospitality Desk, and much discussing, we booked our day excursion to Tulum tomorrow. I am very much looking forward to the experience, and the zip line and cenotes that will give us a rush and round out our whirlwind Yucatan experience.
We took a taxi to the town of Playa del Carmen in the mid-afternoon. After visiting quite a few beach towns over the years in Thailand, Cambodia, and elsewhere, I was very impressed by Playa. The public beach is long and white, with lots of beach bars, locals, and white sand. You will never lack for a place to sit and enjoy a drink or a snack while along the beach. One block away from the beach, the tourist strip of 5th Avenue sparkles with upscale shops, local souvenir chains, coffee shops and restaurants, and it is LONG! Everything was lit up for Christmas and very festive. Despite the many Starbucks franchises, we enjoyed an afternoon espresso at a Coffee Stop operated by a British Ex-Pat who had married a Mexican woman. He even gave us some nice recommendations for dinner in the area. We walked along the Avenue, dodging street hawkers selling the gadget of the moment - which is some kind of waterproof case for your cell phone, and men dressed up in animal costumes like some kind of Mayan warriors. We made our way to a very friendly restaurant called Los Aguachiles and had some very nice tacos, and Alex enjoyed some banter with our server Sergio. I think that the fact that most of the patrons are locals, and that most of the staff don't speak English, is a good testament to the neighborhood. It is nice to walk through a tourist area where locals also go to enjoy shopping and food, and are not priced right out of their range.
We also stepped into the restaurant called Oh La La by George - which is the number one restaurant as decided by Trip Advisor. We were greeted by a friendly man who told us that they were fully booked until January 5th! But he took Alex's email address in case their was a change. He had a European accent, and detected Alex's accent. It turns out that he is also from Romania so that was a pretty neat little moment in the evening. Perhaps we will get to go there, perhaps not.
We walked back to the taxi shop, and went down to the beach near the terminal for the Ferry to Cozumel. There were plenty of tourists and locals there, just hanging out, even though the nightlife had clearly moved to 5th Avenue after the sun went down. There was a group of young men singing away and laughing and sort of dancing as one of them played very nicely on a guitar. It was very nice to see that kind of joy.
