Last stop - Playa del Carmen

After our hectic few days visiting the modern and ancient sites of Mexico City, we headed for the second part of our trip - relaxing on the beach at Playa del Carmen. Playa is about an hour’s drive south of Cancun and is a smaller and slightly less rowdy version of that more well-known resort. Apparently it used to be quiet and un-touched, but development has really taken off so its now a pretty busy place.

The beaches and coastal scenery were beautiful but it did have a very touristy feel to it and we heard a lot more English than Spanish spoken while we were there. Unlike Veracruz, this is a real international holiday spot and at times we didn’t feel like we were really in Mexico. It’s almost like “theme-park” Mexico - all sparkly clean, smiley faces, cliched Mexican Hat Dance music and toned-down food. It’s like the Bali of Mexico.

It’s not to say we didn’t enjoy it. We went there primarily to meet up with my cousin and her husband which was fantastic. The condo we rented was amazing, and very cheap for what it was. We kept looking round making sure we were in the right place.

I love Guerita’s pose in this photo, like she’s the Lady of the Manor
And that’s little Chiq on the right crawling up to see what’s going on

The condo was across the road from the beach, which we could access through The Reef Club, one of those all-inclusive-I’ll-be-your-water-sports-coordinator-water-aerobics-in-the-pool-in-5-minutes type places (Do you know what I mean? Think Bali but with Americans instead of Aussies. At least the Americans weren’t all falling down drunk at 11am). Notwithstanding the Reef Club, the beach was picture postcard pretty - the bluest water with the whitest sand. The palm trees really do set them off too.

Apart from laze around on banana lounges all day we took a day trip to the Mayan ruins of Tulum, about 45 minutes south of Playa. We had considered trekking out to Chichen Itza until we realised it was 3 hours drive each way. A 6 hour road trip does not make for a relaxing holiday with 2 kids!

The Tulum ruins themselves are not the most spectacular but their setting is so beautiful. The main structure (El Castillo - The Castle) is perched on the cliff overlooking the Caribbean, looking out over the lush green complex, palm trees and small beach.

Of course, there were lots of people there but we got there early enough to miss the worst of the crowds (as we were leaving 14 tour buses were arriving!). It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for taking photos of blue skies, crystal clear water and green trees…

Plus there were quite a few of these fellows around to check out

The plan was to spend the last day of the holiday swimming, lazing and eating, but our plans were waylaid by Chiq’s daredevil antics. So much for a relaxing end to the holiday.

Now its back to reality. No more holidays for a while, which is almost a releif after all the gallivanting we’ve been doing. Unfortunately for my husband he was home for 2 days before having to go off to Toronto for a week and possibly to London next week. He is completely sick of planes and hotels.

As for me, I am just catching my breath and making the most of the peace and quiet before the next round of visitors start - my cousin and her husband are making their way up to us now, arriving Saturday for a few days and my parents arrive Monday for a 2 week stay. Our spare bedroom is really getting a work-out this year.