Allegro Playacar By Occidental Playa del Carmen

We made our way via ferry from the mainland over to Cozumel (about 30 minutes) found a hotel and hit the town for some window shopping and drinks. We happened to arrive on the day they were having an “Ironman” race on the island (their first). This is were they first swim 2 1/2 miles, bike 112 miles and then do a marathon of 26.2 miles! The winner made it in just over 8 ...

... convenient to eat and drink! Lunch time 2 for 1 cerveza's (beer). You can see from the pictures there is a lot of action all-day and night. See the last picture, which is a short video of some "Street Performer's" outside the restaurant we had dinner at last night (just click on the arrow in the middle of the frame).


The Playa del Carmen local community and government have attempted to retain Playa del Carmen's reputation and ...

Today, my husband and I arrived in Cancun international airport after 6 hour flight from Seattle. No hassle going through immigration and custom. However, before going out from the airport, we were greeted by "friendly" people that were selling timeshare. They told us if we were going to use public transportation, they are the only one who can help us with it. I think that's a lie. Since we rent a car ...

... Mexico, we got our passports and travel visas stamped, made it past the doctors and thermal cameras looking for flu sufferers, grabbed our bags, picked
the longest line in customs, and last but not least survived our bags being searched.
Once Greg and I exited the airport, We bought tickets for and boarded the ADO bus line which transported us from Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen Bus terminal for only 90 pesos each. On the bus ride Greg and I ...

... well every night, falling asleep quite quickly after all the daily activities, sun, and heat. John ended up taking advantage of where we were and went for 2 dives just off from where our resort was. I was glad he got to do that as I know how much he enjoys it, and it's important to do it as often as you can in order to keep your certification active. So while he did that, Sydney and I headed to the beach and just hung out ...

... until midnight and the locals not venturing out until at least 2am... There were some decent clubs on the beaches and most were open until 6am... I only managed that a couple of times!! Most evenings started off in a bar called La Hora Feliz (The Happy Hour) where Pilar was good friends with the owner, Erik, He was a cool guy from Playa and comfy little place that had free WiFi and cheap beer!! He also did a mean range of fruit based Mohito´s ...

... as we wore the same clothes we´d worn during our 24 hours of travel ... first stop were some shops to pick up the essentials - shorts and flip flops to replace the jeans and hiking boots. After several phonecalls and a some waiting around our bags finally arrived, much to our relief given we´d spent the previous month filling them with every backpacker gadget you can imagine .... much of which would have been ...

Jill and I were the first to wake.....and lucky we were to enjoy the beautiful first sunrise of our stay on Half Moon Bay. We had brought fresh ground coffee from home as finding it in the stores is a little tricky, but I suppose now you could just go into Starbucks and buy some. For me, that sort of takes away from ...

... trying to butcher their language for them. Okay. Time to watch Sheenagh's boyfriend's friend's band. Sheenagh being my brother's wife's sister. Can't we all just be friends? This update seems a little cryptic and scatterbrained. I'll do better on the next one. Which will likely be written from Tremblant, Québec, Canada next week. Or shortly there after. Hope y'all had a lovely Christmas or other holiday you may celebrate. ¡And happy New Year!