4. Mexico: Playa del Carmen

---

Sitting in Walmart scoffing a salad box (fearful Rob insisted we take a break from tacos after learning that Mexico is the one of the world’s fattest nations) I mulled over some of the changes I had seen since my last visit.

For one, the busiest aisle in the supermarket was the mobile phone counter. We were pleasantly surprised to see that nowadays nearly everyone here has a smartphone, from the school child at the bus stop, to the lady on the street selling sombreros.

Mexico is a huge nation. In fact, the country itself is eight times the size of the UK, with double the number of people. And there is significant wealth here, especially for those involved in the not-so-salubrious world of drugs, crime and corruption.

However, around 50% of people still live below the national poverty line. Without sounding like patronising onlookers, we agreed that smartphones and the internet must have really changed the lives of the poor. Once disconnected, they now have free access to people across the globe. The internet encourages inclusivity; everyone is equal on the internet. We instantly felt comfortable using our phones and other electronics in public without fear of being crass and inconsiderate.

It was only later on in our trip that we realised perhaps we were being slightly naïve; maybe the reason that so many people have phones here is because visitors are not careful enough!

If theft is rife in Mexico, it is no wonder. The economy seems to be in a bad way. We made friends with Luis, a guy who was working as a promoter at a nightclub. His mother had been a doctor, and father was a head of languages at a university in Guadalajara. He told us that the average wage for a doctor was approximately £10,000 a year, and that he could earn more working in a nightclub in a resort. This is a sad prospect for many, and lots of people we have met working in the tourist industry are degree educated with fluency in at least three languages (putting a lot of us English to shame).

Luis talked about the fears of many Mexicans with the upcoming US election. There is hope that if Trump is elected and gets his way with building a wall, that Mexico will suddenly gain a whole load of new allies. If by some ridiculous Brexit-style clanger Trump does get in, we hope this does happen and that the world rushes to their defence.

Despite the money brought to Mexico through American tourism, there is a still a clear general dislike for Americans. We were assured that the term “gringo” is only used to describe Americans, and not Europeans (although we are suspicious they just said this to be polite haha!). Still, we are correcting those who assume wrongly!

Walking around Playa del Carmen, I noticed that it has really developed since I last visited. The only big brands at that time were Starbucks and McDonald’s, and it was a pretty low-key resort overrun with backpackers. Playa now caters to the more exclusive tourist, with big shopping centres on 5^th Avenue and even two (!) separate stores of Victoria’s Secret and many other big shiny brands. It is a fully-fledged holiday resort now, and that is reflected in both the inflated prices and empty hostel beds. We both really love it as a typical holiday resort, but it feels a bit more like it could be anywhere in the world.

We managed to get a great deal in a local hotel (Sprachcaffe) due to “rainy season” after leaving a pretty tired hostel (Popol Vuh) for the same price (about £22 a night). We had a relaxing time meandering around the resort, choosing souvenirs to send home later, and chatting with anyone and everyone. We were reduced to eating in some dodgy backstreet eateries to stay in budget (probably our worst meals to date), although managed not to get sick! It was here that we discovered arrachera - a vacuum packed beef with an extremely strange texture.

We decided to move on after three nights however as we will be back to see Vandy (Mr and Mrs Brooks) and A Viv and U Wes in April 2017. Next stop, Chichen Itza.

---