You Can Call Me Al: Vamos a la Playa (del Carmen)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Vamos a la Playa (del Carmen)

I have absolutely fantastic friends in Belmopan. Kevin and Beth, Margarita and Emile, Nigel and Jackie, Bryan and Janet - the list goes on and on. But the truth of the matter is that ever since Sam and Sharanya left last summer, I haven't really had any single friends. In all honesty, I had even resigned myself to this fact - with such a short time left, it didn't seem likely I would put in the effort to make new friends.

So, it came as something of a surprise when I went to Playa del Carmen with a group of single friends - none of whom I knew in 2011. I had forgotten how much fun it is to go out and eat in new restaurants, drink in real bars, and even go to packed clubs (which is not usually my thing).

We left Belize on Thursday night and drove to Chetumal. We got in time to get some dinner and watch a movie (Hunger Games - I enjoyed it) before going to bed. For some reason, the hotel we stayed at parked cars inside the lobby. We got to Playa on Friday afternoon and after some tacos for lunch hit the beach. The beach is a beautiful clear blue, with small to medium sized waves. (The island of Cozumel is across from Playa, presumably knocking the waves down). The beach stretched on for at least 1.5 miles. Playa doesn't really have the mega resorts that Cancun does, but was filled with "beach clubs" where you could rent beds or beach chairs for the day. An absolutely gorgeous beach.

Someone once said that Playa was less touristy than Cancun and I would have to strongly disagree. It was very touristy, but there were more Mexican tourists than American and European tourists. Instead of every American chain store and restaurant imaginable, there were local restaurants, stores, and hotels. But they were every bit as "touristy." For the record, touristy doesn't really bother me the way it does some people. Many times a place is "touristy" because it is awesome. I don't go to Cancun (or even Playa del Carmen) expecting an "authentic Mexican experience." I go there for the awesome beaches, the great nightlife, and the fantastic food. Sometimes that food is fantastic Mexican tacos, and sometimes it is Outback Steakhouse (which can be equally awesome).

After the beach, we hit up a Happy Hour at the restuarant/bar next to our hotel. We stayed there about 2 hours and 1 tequila shot longer than I expected. After a relatively quick shower and change, we headed out for the night. We hit up a couple of bars and then went to this bar in the club area which had a live band. I had a fantastic time there dancing with a group of Mexicans. As we left that bar around 1, I lost the rest of the group and headed back to the hotel. At around 230, Ethan and Kristin came back to the hotel. They knocked on the door for me to let them in, but I was sleeping to heavily to hear them. The front desk wouldn't give them a key because their names weren't on the room. Ethan left Kristin sleeping on a couch in the lobby and ran back to try to find Antonio (whose name was on the room). Somehow in the middle of several thousand people, he found Antonio and managed to get into the room.

Saturday was beach day. Our hotel had a deal with one of the beach clubs to let us get beach beds and umbrellas as long as we spent 200 pesos (US$17) on food and drinks. Best deal ever. We spent probably around 8 hours on the beach that day. I even managed to not get sub burnt. We took it pretty easy on Saturday night as several of us were SCUBA diving on Sunday and most of us were still feeling the effects from Friday night.

Sunday I went diving in the Mexican cenotes (Sey-no-tays). Cenotes are limestone caves just a few miles from the beach. Many of them have collapsed and are filled with freshwater. It is a really amazing dive - exploring a cave while underwater. The light in these caves is amazing. Visibility is over 300 feet and whenever you are near an entrance the light just filters in beautifully. Unfortunately, there is almost no animal life in these cenotes, so the dive is both amazing and boring. I am glad I did it, but I wouldn't do it again.

After a late lunch and a walk around town, I ended up at a beach bar drinking buckets of Corona with Ethan and Natalie. Natalie brought a deck of cards, so we started playing various card games - bullshit, shit head, Egyptian Rat Screw, and asshole (these games all have bad names). As the sun began to set, we made our way back to our hotel to meet the rest of the group. We had a few more beers and a few shots of tequila in the hotel room before going to dinner at Senor Frogs, which was a lot of fun. We ended the night drinking a beer on the beach, watching the full moon rise over the sea, and playing 'Truth or Dare.' (If you told 19 year old Al, that 30 year old Al would be playing Truth or Dare on the beach in Mexico, 19 year old Al would be very impressed).

I really had a great time with all of my new friends.