Thoughts on Playa del Carmen and Mexico

My girlfriend and I just got back from a week-long vacation in Playa del Carmen in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. This beach town is about 50 or 60 miles southwest of Cancun. After doing some research we chose to stay there because it's close to the airport and seemed to be not as touristy as Cancun.

It took as an hour to get through Mexican customs at Cancun airport, which seemed like a long time until you realize how long visitors--and in some cases US citizens--have to wait to get through American customs when entering the US. There were no drinking fountains at the airport--apparently tap water is not drinkable anywhere in Mexico?--so we got ripped off getting a small bottle of water for 35 pesos.

We took a public bus to Playa del Carmen for 80 pesos, which is a good deal. The buses are more comfortable than Greyhound buses in the US. On the way there we spoke to an American tourist who told us of a cheap hotel in the main tourist area (5th Ave.) of Playa called Maya-Bric. It turned out to be a very nice hotel and we only paid 550 pesos per night which is a good price for the high season.

Besides getting cheaply-priced tequila and water at Wal-Mart (see map; BTW, most customers there are Mexican), we spent the first couple of days on the beach, which is free unless you want to rent a chair with a towel, which runs between $2 and $5 for the day depending on where you go). We found a small (and cheap) Mexican place for breakfast on 10th Ave. and Calle 8 or 10 (unfortunately I forgot the name but it has a wooden patio and is across from Ipanema's Steakhouse and O'Barzinho). For dinner we went to Yaxche and Parilla. Both are tourist traps but have good food and are not overly expensive (probably $25 each with a couple of drinks).

On our third day we rented a car at Hertz ($65 for a Jeep) and set out for the ancient Mayan ruins of Coba (we read over the Internet that they were much better than the ones at Tulum). Our experience renting the car was horrible. Hertz has an office right on 5th Ave and Calle 10, but they don't bring the car there. Instead, you have to take a 20 peso taxi to another office where the cars are. Once there, it took as about an hour to get the car. The office is small and inefficient. One of the employees there was in a shouting match with a couple of customers over something... OK, we finally got the car and headed out for Coba. The highway (route 307) was moderately dangerous. Gotta watch the shifting lanes--often not marked--and huge speed bumps right in the middle of the highway. No kidding, but at least they're well marked. Coba was great, I highly recommend it. The literal high-point of the trip was a ~150-foot climb up a pyramid called Nohoch Mul.

On the way back we stopped at a Pemex (the monopolized Mexican gas stations) to get some gas. The attendants, seeing that we were foreigners, immediately pounced on us. After they tanked us, we gave the guy a 500-peso bill. He came back a minute later and said he couldn't take it because it was torn on the edge. I didn't believe him and told him so. There happened to be an American nearby who could translate (my Spanish was not good enough for this instance). After a couple of minutes of arguing he took the bill. This was the low point of our experience in Playa, but I wasn't surprised because I read about the Pemex problem in Mexico before our trip. Watch out for these mo-fos!

The rest of the time we were on the beach and at local Mexican bars and restaurants (Salamandria for cheap drinks, HC Monterrey for the best meat ever, Dr.Taco for the best tacos, and our breakfast place for great omelets). You won't find many tourists there, but that's what made it fun. We met some really nice and great-to-hang-out-with Mexicans there. We conversed in a mixture of Spanish and English. You only have to attempt to speak some Spanish and people will open up to you.

When I got back I was thinking shit, what am I doing here in Seattle with this bullshit weather, I should be having an easier life in Mexico. I would consider living in Playa del Carmen, but I'm afraid that I'd get bored too quickly. Maybe it's becoming too touristy. The never-ending harangue from the shopkeepers--asking you to check out their merchandise--gets tiresome. What else.... You're not supposed to flush any toilet paper down the toilets (we didn't follow the rule) and of course you gotta watch out for the Pemex guys. But overall, if you can get used to Mexican inefficiency, I think it's possible to have a much easier lifestyle there than in the States. No bullshit about when and where you can drink or smoke. No worries about some bullshit terrorist threats, wars, politics, mortgage or car payments. Of course the bottom line is you have to have money to live there or find a way to make a living. I haven't figured that out yet, but if I do, I just might move there.

VIVA MEXICO!