Playa/Tulum trip report Jan. 9 - 18...

[felony]

I won't bore you with minute details of Airlines, etc. I'll do my best to remember stuff (didn't write anything down). :o

Anyway, our Flight arrived in Cancun around 5PM to what had been a very rainy day (torrential rains according to those who were there before us). We got through Immigration and Customs with no problems and exited the airport to the sound of hundreds of birds in the trees. Went right to find the ADO bus to Playa and as we got to it, they closed the doors and said it was full :(. The next bus would be an hour. I didn't want to wait an hour, I just wanted to be there. I noticed another couple who were also distressed at the possibility of waiting and I approached them to see if they wanted to share a taxi to Playa instead. A deal was struck and we found a driver to take us to our hotels in Playa for $62 total. The driver didn't know his way around Playa that well, but with my handy Cando maps from Mapchick, I could tell him exactly how to find both of our hotels.

We arrived at Playa Maya, checked into our room and quickly set out to get out Playa Deal card at Posada Freud and have our first Margarita. We sat at the bar, ordered up and met a young couple from Alabama who were in Playa for a wedding. We shared drinks with them, then they joined us for dinner at Carboncitos. Yummmm...

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Delicious and we got a discount with our Playa Deal Card. Then we headed back to Posada Freud for more Margaritas and wandered the Avenida Quinta to find our way around .

Had a few more drinks at the Tequila Barrel and called it a night around 1 AM :eek:.

[felony]

Day 2...Woke up and had free breakfast at Playa Maya on the beach. Decided to walk the beach to check out the sights.
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Playa Maya Hotel.

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Then after walking the beach, we grabbed a few lounge chairs in front of Playa Maya and absorbed some Carribean sun for a while. WE then got hungry and headed out to find a hole in the wall place mentioned frequently on the Playainfo site called Los Burritos Del Gordo. We had a wonderful and cheap lunch there of Arrachera Tacos and beer for about $5 total for 2 people.

Went back to soak up more sun, nap on the beach, then showered and got ready to out for the night. We wandered around a bit then settled on La Parilla for dinner. Had some delicious Mayan Fish baked in foil (can't remember what dh had). They do a lot of tableside cooking there and it was fun to watch them prepare the food. The Mariachis made the rounds and we really enjoyed this evening, but headed in early as we would be up early the next morning to catch the Fat Cat for a day snorkeling catamaran trip.

[felony]

Day 3... Awoke to rain, but it only lasted about 15 minutes. Headed to Java Joes for coffee and a pastry on our walk to the Porto Real to catch the van to Puerto Aventuras for our trip.

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Avenida Quinta in the morning.

Met some other peeps fro the Playainfo board on the way to the Catamaran.
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It was VERY windy this day. When we got underway, the swells were huge. Many people were holding chum buckets and spent the whole day sea sick. We fared well, and enjoyed the free rum punch, cuba libres, fresh fruit and awesome guacamole as we traveld to a reef toe snorkel and then a secluded beach. Even with the wicked wind, it was a fun day.

We then showered and went to hunt down another famous hole in the wall, HC de Monterrey. Found it easily off Calle 1 Sur and enjoyed a wonder Arrachera Platter.
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The food was great and the prices awesome (about $5/person for a ton of steak, a grilled onion, half an avacado and tortillas, plus beer).

We then got ready to head to the Tequila Barrel for peep meet with other Playainfo members. It was fun to meet everyone (but all my pictures from this event were blurry). We headed to the Blue Parrot to do some dancing and headed in late again :D.

[felony]

Day 4...Last full day in Playa. We decided to head as far north as we could stand to walk on 5th Avenue, then head back along the beach. We were goingto do a Beach Bar crawl and have a margarita at every bar we came upon :p.

Here are some sites along the way..

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[felony]

Beach Bar crawl continued...

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Then back to the beach lounges at Playa Maya to recover.

That night we went to a lovely restaurant called Casa Mediterranea, but I somehow can't remember what I had, but I know it was good :o.

[felony]

Day 5...Off to Tulum...Woke up and had breakfast at Playa Maya then packed up our stuff. After a mix up coordinating getting a cab to the rental car place (dh got there without his driver's licence or credit card and I was left at the hotel...) we picked up our car and headed South for Tulum. Driving in Mexico is an adventure, but we made it and found our way down Boca Paila Rd. to find Posada Dos Ceibas...

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The room was clean as can be and very comfortable. We were still having very strong winds, but we headed further south down the secluded beach to see the sights.

We decided to head down to Nacho's for the Seafood platter ($30 for 2 people).
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It was most likely the best meal we had anywhere on our trip. The bummer was that with the wind, then the sideways rain, we had to gulp it down quickly as there was no escaping the weather on the small patio there.

We headed in after dinner and called it an evening in our candlelit room.

[felony]

Day 6... We decided to do the Tulum ruins this day (free admission on Sundays). Lots of locals and others had the same idea, but thatwas okay with me...

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We then headed into town to exchange money and shop a little.

[felony]

We then had a late lunch at Don Cafeto's (fabulous Ceviche and tacos, plus a margarita or 3 :D).
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We walkedthe beach South from there and headed to El Paraiso Beach club
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[felony]

Day 7...checking out of Dos Ceibas and checking into Copal. Although the rooms at Copal are not as nice as Dos Ceibas, I liked this place better. After being in Playa, Dos Ceibas was sooooooooo quiet and I'm a very social person. The people (other guests) were just not sociable and it was almost too quiet for me. Copal, had a different type of crowd (more Americans, guess). We met nice people there. I can't really remember what we did, when, but we checked out Mezzanine

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The view of the beach from Mezzanine. We had dinner at Zamas twice as they had great bands and acrobats entertaining the diners every night.

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At Zamas...and my drink the Coco Loco....
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We also had a wonderful meal at Posada Margherita one evening and it was as good as everyone mentioned.

[felony]

Last full day...We decided to take the rental car out and about to see some Cenotes. We decided to hit Gran Cenote earlyish to beat the crowds. We arrived at around 9 am and had the whole place to ourselves...http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w47/idebster/MexicoJan2007111.jpg

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I loved this place and it was soooooo nice to swim in fresh water after taking brackish showers for several days.

[SoKaliBeachBoy]

Putting pictures of Margy's, Chips and Salsa and Bikini's should be outlawed on this site as most of us are sitting here at home in the states.......:p

[felony]

We then decided to drive to Akumal after a lunch at El Pollo Bronco in Tulum Pueblo (yummy). WE spent the afternoon at Yal Ku Lagoon...

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It was nice, but I enjoyed Gran Cenote more.

Last morning had breakfast at Casa Bananas on the Jungle side of Boca Paila Rd...

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Had a great breakfast that consisted of a fried corn tortilla with black beans on it then a fried egg and cheese. It was delicious!

The next morning we checked out, drove to Playa, had lunch again at Carboncitos and took the bus back to the airport :(:(:(.

some final images...
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Any questions????:cool:

[Gale in KY]

Bravo Felony, looks like you had an amazing time. Glad to hear you enjoyed Copal. I did too, had no problems with it at all. I too liked having other guests to meet and talk to..if you wanted seclusion you could have it there as well, but part of the fun for me was sitting at the swing bar at the restaurant in the evenings and meeting people from all over the world. How is the beach at Copal these days? It changes so often..wondering how it was looking when you were there.

Dos Ceibas looks very nice. Another place that used to get alot of props in the web forums but of late hasn't been talked alot about. I love that candle wall..is that in their restaurant?

I always like to hear about Playa restaurants and hotels..would love to spend a couple days at Playa Maya.

I am also a Cocoloco lover..lol! Probably my favorite tropical drink.
Did you notice the exposure in the pic of you at Zamas? Looks like the guy sitting behind you is admiring you from a distance..lol!

Wonderful report!

[minniemex]

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Thanks for the report Felony - It just makes me so want to be there NOW!! You cracked me up with the beach crawl, marg at every bar - couldn't remember what you had to eat - sounds perfect to me!!

[felony]

Bravo Felony, looks like you had an amazing time. Glad to hear you enjoyed Copal. I did too, had no problems with it at all. I too liked having other guests to meet and talk to..if you wanted seclusion you could have it there as well, but part of the fun for me was sitting at the swing bar at the restaurant in the evenings and meeting people from all over the world. How is the beach at Copal these days? It changes so often..wondering how it was looking when you were there.

Dos Ceibas looks very nice. Another place that used to get alot of props in the web forums but of late hasn't been talked alot about. I love that candle wall..is that in their restaurant?

I always like to hear about Playa restaurants and hotels..would love to spend a couple days at Playa Maya.

I am also a Cocoloco lover..lol! Probably my favorite tropical drink.
Did you notice the exposure in the pic of you at Zamas? Looks like the guy sitting behind you is admiring you from a distance..lol!

Wonderful report!

The Beach at Copal was in pretty good shape. The candle wall is by the restaurant at Dos Ceibas..really just a sandy terrace area, but very beautiful. We only ate breakfast there one morning, it was pretty expensive and just okay.

I noticed that Zamas guy, too. too funny!:D

[firecop680]

I am sitting in 20 inches of snow, but my brain says that I am already in Tulum!!! Thanks for the boost!!! I'll be there soon.

[petecat]

Thanks Felony, the wait was worth it, it makes us feel a little closer now to our return!

[beachreader]

Thanks for the trip report, Felony, sounds like you had a great time. Did you enjoy moving around from place to place? I mean, did it make the trip feel longer or shorter, with all the moving around? I'm always torn between settling down for the whole trip in one place and getting to see other places. Just wondering how you found that part of things.

I had dinner at Dos Ceibas last year and it was actually one of my better dinners of the week. They do this very cool thing where they have a bonfire in a corner of the restaurant area. It has the same wall with candles as the restaurant, just off to the right of that picture and down about two feet. That's where the guests have their pre-dinner drinks as the kitchen is gearing up, and I met some really cool people that way.

Of course, if I were to have dinner everywhere I hope to down there, I'd have to stay for three weeks, so you have to make choices, right?

[minniemex]

Of course, if I were to have dinner everywhere I hope to down there, I'd have to stay for three weeks, so you have to make choices, right?

Yep, stay for 3 weeks - http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_1_107.gif

[felony]

Moving around was fine with me. I like staying in different places. We didn't plan it that way on purpose, though...we just kept extending the length of our stay as we were planning, so availability at just one place or the other was limited.

Do Ceibas didn't have any bonfires while we were there, I'm sure because of the wind...really windy!



Thanks for the trip report, Felony, sounds like you had a great time. Did you enjoy moving around from place to place? I mean, did it make the trip feel longer or shorter, with all the moving around? I'm always torn between settling down for the whole trip in one place and getting to see other places. Just wondering how you found that part of things.

I had dinner at Dos Ceibas last year and it was actually one of my better dinners of the week. They do this very cool thing where they have a bonfire in a corner of the restaurant area. It has the same wall with candles as the restaurant, just off to the right of that picture and down about two feet. That's where the guests have their pre-dinner drinks as the kitchen is gearing up, and I met some really cool people that way.

Of course, if I were to have dinner everywhere I hope to down there, I'd have to stay for three weeks, so you have to make choices, right?

[AdGuy]

Great job, felony. You really hit the great eateries between Carboncito's, HC de Monterrey, Nacho's, Posada Margarita, Don Cafetos, and Mezzanine. Thanks for sharing the great food and beach shots!!! http://www.33smiley.com/smiley5/everyday/44.gif


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