Hola! We got back from six nights in Playa del Carmen, Mexico a few weeks ago. And I want to go back now. During my short time in the sun, I forgot how brutal the cold, dark, icy Wisconsin days can be.
We stayed at the
Hotel Aventura Mexicana, which is a smallish hotel two blocks from the beach and one-half block from Avenida Quinta (Fifth Avenue). It was close enough to the tourist district to explore, but far enough from the pulsating club music and the crowds. The courtyard was sheltered by palms and flowers, making it quiet and private, and the property boasted several fountains and pools. Gorgeous views could be had from the upper stories. We partook of their happy hour on several nights and finally swam in the pool on the last night. (Since the palms shielded it, the pool was
chillier in the evenings.)
Being two blocks from the beach was marvelous. The room included a pass to the Kool Beach Club, which meant we could use the chairs with umbrellas, order food and drinks from the circulating waiters, and use the onsite bathrooms and pools.
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| The first towel sculpture in the hotel room |
Our room was very clean (thank you, Cristina!), had a safe and a flatscreen TV, and boasted a pretty mosaic shower. The bath was loosely separated from the bedroom by a stucco dividing wall, but no door. That might bother some people, but we made it work. The friendly and helpful front desk staff upgraded us from two full beds to one king bed for no additional cost, and they helped us get our bearings.
The in-house restaurant, the Mayan Bistro, had little in the way of actual Mayan food, but their complimentary breakfast (instant coffee, tea, juice, toast, and sweet pastries) was sufficient, especially when eaten in the balmy open air.
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| Breakfast at Aventura |
January 11:
The first night, we had a late dinner at a small place on Quinta called 1847. A delicious plate of guacamole and smoked pork cutlet tacos, chips and guacamole, a mojito, and a beer were the perfect start to our vacation. We ate, watched the people strolling along the avenue, and basked in the humidity and warmth. During the meal, the young waiter was constantly running next door to woo a girl who worked at a nearby store. Very cute.
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| Smoked pork cutlet tacos at 1847 |
We were both kinda tuckered out from traveling, so we headed back to the hotel to get ready for bed.
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| At 1847 |
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| Elephant towel sculpture |
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| Entrance to hotel |
January 12:
We woke up without an alarm. (This was a vacation all about relaxing, taking it slow, and lounging at the beach, so that means no alarm clocks.) After breakfast, we walked to the beach to scope it out and were so enamored with the strikingly turquoise water and the soft, white sand that we ditched our plan for a walking tour to instead spend the day at the beach.
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| At Kool Beach |
This was my first real experience with swimming in the ocean. Several years ago, I was in San Juan, but the ocean was in a protected bay. These waves could be very powerful at times, especially when it was windy. I also forgot how buoyant you feel in the salt water. During a walk along the beach, we witnessed a Mayan wedding ceremony.
At the Kool Beach Club, we had a lunch of grilled grouper with vegetable risotto and tacos. The fish was simple, but incredibly fresh and crispy at the edges. Risotto seemed too heavy for the hot weather, but when it arrived, it was light, flecked with bits of carrots, zucchini, and broccoli, and in a small portion size--perfect fare for lounging in the sun, digging my feet in the sand, reading, and playing in the water.
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| Ceviche |
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| Vaca frita de res |
That evening, we had cena (dinner) at
La Bodeguita del Medio, a Cuban restaurant. I had the ceviche, which was served with avocado, cucumbers, chile manzano,
red onion, and cilantro and had a lovely pungent kick. J. had the vaca frita de res, which is a steak marinated in milk and cooked with onions and mojo (in Cuban cuisine, a sauce made with garlic, olive oil, and citrus juice, traditionally sour orange juice). The milk thing was kinda surprising, but then I remembered that in Indian food, yogurt is used to marinate chicken; I guess it's a similar principal. The dairy breaks down the fibers in the meat, making it tender. It was served with white rice and yummy black beans. We also had the requisite mojitos and beer.
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| La Bodeguita del Medio |
Our waiter was great. He noticed that we were tired and quiet from spending the day in the sun and then hunting for a restaurant in a foreign city, so he entertained us with some spatial game. They were challenging and made us laugh at ourselves. The band started (the six people crammed onto the tiny stage in the back of the photo) with a funky version of My Funny Valentine, one of my faves. And an older couple at a nearby table showed off their dancing skills for a few of the songs.
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| Xaman-Ha |
January 13:
We spent the morning doing bits of a walking tour from the invaluable guidebook (Joshua Eden Hinsdale's
Playa del Carmen, Tulum, and the Riviera Maya) friends loaned to us. (Thanks, C. + J.!) The Mayan ruins called Xaman-Ha ("Waters from the North") were the highlight for me. These shrines were (re-)discovered by Francisco de Montejo in 1528. (On a funny side note, Montejo is also a local beer from Merida that is served in many of Playa's restaurants. It's named for Francisco Montejo, and we had a few of them.) Mayan women would pray at these shrines before canoeing across the straits to Cozumel to worship Ixchel, the fertility goddess.
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| Near the pier to take the ferry to Cozumel |
We also saw the pier to take the ferry to Cozumel and a small chapel. The chapel wasn't old (built in 1964), but it was a nice respite from the heat of the day.
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| Cenote |
Another feature of the walking tour was a cenote. Cenotes are natural sinkholes that occur when limestone bedrock collapses and exposes groundwater. Archaeologists theorize that the Mayans used these fresh water pools for sacrificial rites. Believing that the cenotes were portals to the afterlife, the Mayans sometimes threw valuable objects into them as offerings to various gods and goddesses. Golden objects and human skeletons have been found in some of them. This one was pretty polluted from the development that had grown up around it.
That afternoon, we went to the beach and saw a few of our favorite beach characters again: First, there was the sun worshipper guy with the frosted blond hair who looked like an aging German pop star. He spent hours in the sun without aid of an umbrella or sunscreen and was consequently covered in moles. And then there was the dreadlocked stoner white grrrl with a massive camera. We surmised that she took photos for one of the beach clubs, so that explains the huge camera, but it was her walk that cracked us up. Beatific smile plastered on her face, she slowly shuffled through the sand and pooched her stomach out. We agreed that she walked like white stoner dreadlocked grrrls everywhere.
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| El Fogon |
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| Exterior of El Fogon |
That night, we had dinner at El Fogon on a section of 30th Avenue. J. had tacos al pastor and la torta al pastor, and I had the tacos with chorizo. It was a bit smokey because of the open-air kitchen, but the food was phenomenal and cheap, and the joint was filled with local people.
January 14:
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| At breakfast |
In the morning, we went for a walk and had brunch at a little joint on the way back. Afterward, we tried to go to the beach, but it was not to be. Just as we arrived, it started to rain, and the deluge continued for the next eight hours or so. At first, we waited it out with an espresso at Vera Lucia's, a cafe near the beach owned by Vera from Brazil and her Argentinian husband. Then, wanting to escape from our hotel room, we took refuge at Fe for a few beers.
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| Beers at Fe |
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| Rainy day |
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| Interior of Yaxche |
Donning our beach towels as umbrellas, we walked to the Mayan restaurant Yaxche for dinner. J. had the pavo en
relleno negro, which consists of turkey, chaya (a Mexican green similar to
spinach, but with more health benefits),
and a ground beef meatball stuffed with hard-boiled eggs in a blackened chile
sauce.
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| Exterior of Yaxche |
Traditionally, pavo en relleno negro was prepared by forming a ball of seasoned meat around the yolk of a boiled egg, stuffing the cavity of a turkey (pavo) with these meatballs, and then simmering the whole thing overnight in a broth of charred chiles (recado negro). The dish is very symbolic to the Mayans. The intensely dark sauce symbolizes death, and the egg yolks embedded within symbolize hope and new life.
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| Pavo en relleno negro |
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| Chaya-wrapped poached fish stuffed with vegetables |
I chose the fish stuffed with vegetables wrapped in chaya leaves and
poached in a white white and achiote (annatto) sauce. And we split a
bottle of Mexican tempranillo/cabernet. Afterward, we walked on the
nearly abandoned beach.
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| View from the hotel rooftop |
January 15
In the morning before breakfast, we walked up 80th Avenue nearly off of the little map in our guidebook. The tourist district drops off precipitously within a handful of blocks and transforms into a normal neighborhood. Sadly, judging from the pedestrian walkway paved into their neighborhood, it seems like the average people who live and work here will soon by displaced by development.
Afterward, we went to the beach for
probably our longest day at the beach.
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| Arrachera |
Dinner was at HC del Monterrey (aka Super Carnes). J. had the arrachera (Mexican flank steak), avocado, a smokey, and a roasted potato deliciously charred from being on the fire with what divinely creamy, unpasteurized sour cream. Everything came with freshly made corn tortillas, pico de gallo, and salsa verde. I had the grilled chicken with a whole grilled onion, and avocado. We ate our meat piled in the tortillas with all of our fixings, supplemented by a swig of Bohemia dark beer. It was yummy. I wasn't in the mood for a pile of steak, but I tried J.'s, and it was tender, juicy, and delicious.
That night, another hotel guest finally got in the pool. We put our feet in. It was chilly, but soothing after a long day walking at the beach.
January 16
We walked in the morning down 34th St. into the less touristy area and back on Constitution. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we took one last trip to the beach. Even though it was very windy, we played in the waves. J. ventured out farther than I did. He's more adept at jumping into the waves and swimming with them. I couldn't seem to get a handle on it and felt like my bikini was going to fall off, to boot. ;)
The night, we enjoyed happy hour by the pool, talked with some locals and other guests at the bar, and then went to the other El Fogon for dinner.
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| Happy hour by the pool |
