Mexico, we love you

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We started our journey on a very early morning at Gatwick airport. It was very sad to say goodbye to our families, and surreal to think we would not see them for such a long time. However, we were very excited to think that by the end of the day we would be in Mexico.

Our first flight was a little late, which meant that we walked from one plane to another for our connection in Madrid - no complaints from us. We had read a lot of bad reviews about the airline we were flying with, Air Europa, but we found they exceeded our expectations. We had free in-flight entertainment with loads of new films to choose from, and more importantly, on the 11 hour flight we had THREE meals. Wow.

After a really long day we finally arrived in Playa del Carmen, catching an overpriced (10 dollar each) ADO bus from Cancun Airport. Thanks HostelBookers. Our hostel Maria Sabina was literally on the corner of 5th Avenue, the main road in Playa. We were a little shocked to see the standard of accommodation we would very quickly have to get used to. The hostel was advertised as having really powerful air-con. Katie slept under the machine and not once was it turned on during our stay. There were no lockers and therefore the floor was a sea of clothes and shoes etc. But we did have a balcony looking onto the main street, and there was free unlimited wifi. We had already paid for the hostel online so we got used to the idea that we would be there for the next two nights. We quickly showered, and as we had gone back in time, we went out and re-lived the evening of 16th October, this time being slightly more fun than the first time around.

As Playa is a well known tourist resort we had feared from the outset that everything would be overpriced. We therefore set ourselves the task of finding the cheapest beer in town. We wandered the streets after being drawn into one bar (with swinging seats) for a quick pina colada. We found a cool bar on 5th just around the corner from our hostel. It was owned by a young American who had decided to move to Playa 2 years ago because he fell in love with the place. The beers were not that cheap (25 pesos each) but we liked the backpacker vibe. There was one guy there who we nicknamed Jesus- he had been on the road for a number of years and had dreads and a really long beard. He also had the most amazing tan.
The American guy decided to shut up shop around 12.30 as he declared to us he was too wasted to serve anymore drinks. Guess they drink on the job over here then. We got caught up talking to him for a while, and he invited Luke to go and play rugby with his local team later this week.

We moved onto another bar with a couple of guys from the rugby team. This time around we hit the jackpot, finding the Beer Bucket, where it was only (20 pesos -£1) for a beer. We may have bought a few too many beers, and were persuaded to go onto a few clubs with a New Zealander who had moved to Playa to be with his Mexican girlfriend. They would show us the best places to go. We walked down to 12th street which was the most amazing place for a night out. There were bars and clubs all open onto the road, with the club at the end of the street opening out onto the beach. We had a few drinks with some of the guys we came with, then ended up dancing until the early hours on a club balcony. On the walk home Katie discovered the most amazing pizza- roquefort and spinach. In her usual clumsy manner she dropped it on the floor before she could finish it.

The following morning we woke up early and decided to explore Playa. We walked to Walmart in search of food after discovering 'breakfast' at the hostel was cornflakes with no milk, and no eating utensils. Great. We found tacos (mini fajitas) at Walmart for 11 pesos each. This was more like it- just over 50p each for lunch. However, when we walked out into the streets we realised we had been ripped off, as tacos were selling for 7 pesos. Damn. This began our search for the cheapest tacos in Mexico.

We left Walmart and walked around town; we had decided straight away that we loved this place. It is nothing like we had imagined- it is not a big American tourist resort like Cancun. A large proportion of Playa seems to be occupied by backpackers, and there are hundreds of hostels around the place. This meant that most bars we went into, or even on the beach, people would over and chat to us, and we found it was a really friendly place. Obviously there are lots of nice hotels too (no high rises) and we have seen a fair few honeymooners, but we guess we have come a little out of season, and this is probably why we have seen this nice relaxed side of Playa.

We decided to have a mooch around town, looking for a new hostel to move to the following day. We were looking for Hostel Rio Playa, our second choice when we originally booked. It had a pool on the roof but we had been dissuaded by the reviews that claimed it was a party hostel. We asked around- which was extremely difficult as we were quickly coming to realise that Spanish is a necessity in Mexico, even in tourist resorts. No one had heard of the hostel. We had the address written down back at our hostel but we couldn't be bothered to walk back. We found Hostel Playa which had a really nice big common area, big lockers and a double bed. We decided we would stay here if our search for Rio Playa was fruitless.
We decided to go down to the beach as the sun was really beating down. The beach was absolutely beautiful and the sea was so warm and clear.

After spending the afternoon on the beach we decided to walk back out of town to see what taco prices were like. We eventually walked back as our search had proved pointless. We found a place on 10th where we could get 10 tacos for 55 pesos. Dinner for under £3 for both of us, Score. We ate here then wandered around the corner where Sol beer was being sold at 18 pesos- less than £1. However, in this bar we found we could get a bottle of Sol 940ml for 40 pesos which worked out better value. Well it would be rude not to.

Whilst sitting in this bar it started to rain pretty heavily. We decided to stay a little longer as a really friendly Mexican family had got chatting to us (in Spanish). This was proving a little awkward but the man continued ahead while the rest of his family laughed at him. He was extremely drunk and invited what seemed to be a stranger (and a youth) to come into the bar and drink with him. He was trying to set him up with one of his daughters. As we were staring out into the street we spotted a sign across the road; the Rio Playa. We had found it when we weren't looking. We were so excited that we ran across the road to have a look. This hostel was everything that Maria Sabina wasn't. It was so clean and the dorms were really spacious. There was a lovely kitchen and lots of bathrooms. Although it was slightly more expensive than the other hostels we had been looking at (130 pesos each per night), we decided we would check in tomorrow.

The following day we woke up around 7 as we had decided to visit the Tulum ruins. Before this we needed to check out of Maria Sabina and check into Rio Playa. By 9.30 we were riding in a collectivo to Tulum. Collectivos are a really efficient transport service they have all over Mexico. It is a minibus service like a taxi, where the driver picks people up off the side of the road, with no real designated stops. Here in Playa the service operates back and forth to Tulum stopping at various attractions including theme parks, cenotes and Akumal along the way.

We arrived at the Tulum ruins and a man in a ticket booth tried to rip us off. Quoting a price for one trip in Mexican pesos, then a cheaper price for another trip. We obviously chose the cheaper (better) trip which included a little ride out in a boat for photo opportunities and snorkeling, but we were trying to work out why it would be cheaper- we were looking for the scam. He wrote out our tokens and there it was; the price in USD. We were really annoyed with this man who obviously uses this trick all the time and by the looks of the people at the ruins (rich Americans from the Mayan Riviera resorts) probably all agree to pay anyway. Not us though we refused to pay 70USD which was a complete rip off as admission to the ruins was only 51 pesos each anyway.

We walked around the ruins but it was really hot and they were not that impressive. However, there was a gorgeous beach which could only be reached from the ruins site. We walked down to the beach and swam in the gorgeous sea, amazed by paradise. After leaving the ruins we walked to the beach in Tulum. It was a pretty long walk to another beautiful beach which had nothing to do but snorkeling, and we didn't have snorkels. We were pretty hungry so decided to walk back to get the collectivo into Playa. On the way back we were caught in a traffic jam, which we soon realised was caused by police checks. There were Mexican men standing around in army uniforms with guns, and hanging out the back of trucks. It was quite intimidating, but they didn't pull us over. We were told by an American guy on the collectivo that on the night buses this is a common occurrence, and it is likely Luke will be dragged off and questioned as he is a traveller in his 20s. Oh dear, well he better learn some Spanish then.

When we arrived back into Playa we went to Walmart. We bought a bottle of bacardi for 75 pesos and some pineapple and coconut juice to make pina coladas. We went to our favourite taco place again where they provided us with ´vasos´ to make our own drinks. Cool. After we went back to Rio Playa and relaxed on the roof terrace, and continued to drink. We met two girls (one Mexican who lives at Niagara Falls with her family, and one Argentinian). They had been at the hostel for 2 months and were working at some of the posh hotels in the area. We also met some Swedish guys who were to become our friends over the next few days.

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Comments

[Anjli]

hey guys, this a very detailed entry! lol. sounds amazing though, good to see your enjoying yourselves :D who wrote this, or did you write it together? lol at kate dropping the pizza typical :P xxx

[Kat]

awesome blog Kate Im loving keeping up with you while u are away. p.s. my mum wants to be facebook friends with you x