Laid Back Playa del Carmen

Playa Del Carmen is an interesting mix of laidback and frenetic. The frenetic part is the downtown shopping restaurant core; and after dark that energy at least doubles. The laidback part is the energy of the people, even in the frenetic areas. There are lots of vendors hawking things, but many of them are not pushy, unlike other Mexican cities I have visited. It can have a big city feel, but more like San Diego rather than New York. One big energy difference here from Oaxaca where we just spent multiple months is the honking, or lack of it. Those who have been reading know that the incessant honking of car horns in Oaxaca was an irritant to me, as was the incessant speeding to get to the next stop light – even when it meant challenging pedestrians. Here you seldom here a car honk its horn. There is a lot less speeding and a lot fewer motorbikes trying to pass on shoulders, bike paths etc. The energy is, you guessed it, more laid back. Much safer to be a pedestrian here.

When we arrived here we figured after a couple days to get acclimated we would be doing a bit of sight seeing. Instead, we have settled into our mode of walking all over town, slow sight seeing the culture of Playa del Carmen. We are down to our last few days before returning to the US. We decided on another day of walking and absorbing today. We left our condo about 8:30, I think, today. We had coffee and hot chocolate at Marley Coffee. The owner is Rohan Marley, son of Bob Marley. The shop is an obvious ode to Bob and reggae. It has, as reported, wonderful coffee and hot chocolate. It has an inviting laidback feel.

From there we walked to Madrez Cafe where we had breakfast our first morning in town. and met Juan Saucedo the owner. His first restaurant was opened in Flagstaff Arizona and now he also has one in Elkhorn Wisconsin. He befriended us that prior morning gave us a business card and directed me to call him if I need help with anything while we were in Playa del Carmen. We haven’t need to call, but it was good to return to his restaurant today. We both ordered the same thing, something very out of character for us, waffles. There is a catch however, the yeasted waffle batter is fermented for a day and the product is a stretchy chewy very sourdough flavor bomb covered with an egg, avocado, spinach and drizzled with a smoky chipotle sauce. DELICIOUS!

A leisurely walk home returned us before noon. After a lay down (read nap) we hung out by the pool and I rooted through the jungle foliage between us and the bordering golf course looking for golf balls. I am up to seven balls now. We have been out to lunch a few times, street food mainly, but not to dinner. We decided, being in seafood heaven, we needed to have a seafood dinner out tonight. We picked a restaurant, Los Aguachiles, that is a 2 mile walk away from us. We could take taxis, but our theory is; we have time, walking is good for us, so just do it. Los Aguachiles was well worth the walk. Once again I wish I would have taken pictures of the food. We had an appetizer plate of 2 kinds of shrimp and two kinds of tuna artfully surrounded by thin slice cucumbers and red onion in a light sauce with a savory thin red chile sauce on the side. That could have been enough for the two of us, but as usual we could not resist trying the octopus. Tonight was the rare occasion where we were not disappointed that we ordered octopus. We ordered a ceviche of octopus that was piled incredibly high on a plate mixed with tomato and red onion with a mound of fishing line thin slices of fried onion on top. It was the perfect combination of lime and salt marinade, so fresh and tender that the octopus had a melt in the mouth texture. Might be number two on my list of octopus dinners, a list that includes about 80-90% failures (and more than a few returned meals).

That should have been it for the night, but research had showed me that Aldo’s Ice Cream has a sugar free dairy free option, Banana Date. So on the way back home we had cups of ice cream. We walked back on 5th Avenue which is the hub of tourist activity, and on Saturday it is even more frenetic than usual. We walked about 24 blocks on 5th before Sheila said enough and guided me up to 10th. From there we made our way home and here I sit writing. Two days to go and we are struggling with the choices of getting out exploring west of here, or just having two more days of care free “do whatever you fell like doing in the moment”.