! Hola chica! ¡Mire!
I don’t wanna mirar.
Playa Del Carmen is a circus.
Walk in the main street and dodge restaurants, tours and hotels offers. Decline to hold the baby tiger or the little iguana for the picture. Walk straight, ignore people, because even a polite “no gracias” won’t be enough. I do not want to go to Chichen Itza or Tulum. I just want to go buy a bottle of water. I do not want to eat. It’s 3 p.m.
I think people took classes at the Silk Market in Beijing. They are just about as pushy.
Cozumel is very American but Playa del Carmen is apparently loved by Europeans—Italians, French, Spanish, Germans… all nationalities stroll the main street, more or less drunk and more or less tan. I wonder if tourists feel weird walking in a street full of gringos. I do.
Trust me, you do want to get away from the main street for all the reasons mentioned above.
There is the beach. A pretty nice one, all things considered. The water isn’t as clear as in Tulum and it’s pretty packed but it’s long, so there is room for everyone. I liked the stormy sky, it made the water even more blue. It added depth. We beach bummed for most of the day. Our last beach.
Playa Del Carmen is our last stop. It’s the end of the trip. Tomorrow, we will fly from Cancún, back home.
I have this theory that the last stop shouldn’t be too nice a place because otherwise, you regret leaving. I won’t be sad to leave Playa. It was nice… for a day.
A lot of people feel safer being surrounded by people looking like them, speaking their language and doing about the same thing as they do. I’ve realised recently that a lot of people travel but are not interested at all in discovering a new culture, they just want to go the the beach! I guess that’s why you see a lot of travel reviews complaining that the hotel staff doesn’t speak French and that the restaurant does not serve French food and so on …
Great analysis! I think you’re right and I can see French complaining like that 🙂
Did you get a Sombrero? 🙂
Nope! No way I can carry that 😆
I only spent a day in Playa del Carmen and wasn’t a fan of it either. It’s never my type of place when tourists outnumber locals. I like your strategy though to end your trip with a place that you know won’t be you favorite place – great idea!
A day was definitely enough for me! That said, flying to and from Cancun was the cheapest option so I’m not complaining.
[…] I hated it last time, probably because I was in a bad mood since it was the end of our trip. […]