Current location: Playa del Carmen, Mexico |
Hello,
Mexico is making it difficult for me to eat... After promising myself that I would start to cook more (thanks to this Instagram account), I went to the supermarket yesterday to do some proper shopping. I spent 45 minutes roaming up and down every aisle. In the end, I walked out with almond milk, bananas, avocados, green peppers, mushrooms, a new sponge and deodorant. Not quite a chef's dream assortment of ingredients. It all has to do with labels. Mexico's new food warning label law requires any packaged food to have warning labels if it contains excessive salt, calories, sugar and/or fat. The labels are very visible black octagons on the front of the package. For me, the system worked so well that I didn't want to buy anything that had a label and so I came away with almost nothing. I don't eat a lot of packaged stuff anyway but you'd be surprised. I'd guess that 90% of the items in the supermarket had at least one warning and the majority had multiple warnings. In one sense, I made some healthy choices. In another sense, I still don't have much food in my apartment. I'm not sure who the real winner is here. It's probably salads. --- The Mexican state of Quintana Roo, which is home to Playa del Carmen, has changed from orange to yellow alert for Covid-19. That's a step in a positive direction. However, it's also an odd coincidence that it happens at the exact same time that the popular spring break tourist season begins here. That's a lot of tourism dollars at stake and I'm pretty sure that had something to do with the change. ---
Matcha, Matcha, Matcha [Short thoughts about being a cat dad to Matcha, my kitten that we rescued in Bali last year] I was bummed that Matcha quickly got bored of the tunnel I set up for her, which was just a long empty box. But alas, I now got her a 3-way tube tunnel with a peek hole and bells and she loves it. What was I thinking with a normal tunnel? Destination: Playa del Carmen, Mexico Now that I've been here for 6 months this time around, I thought I'd share some more thoughts about this town. I'm also getting a lot of questions lately so hopefully this might help. To me, the town of Playa del Carmen is an excellent, tropical place to spend some time. And while many visitors point out a lack of 'Mexican culture' here, all based on their preconceptions, there actually is culture here. Sure, you won't find grand plazas, imposing cathedrals, pastel colored homes or colonial style buildings. Playa del Carmen is Caribbean Mexico, a different style. What keeps me coming back? Excellent weather, it's a fully walkable town, relatively affordable, beautiful beaches, laid-back atmosphere, wonderful diversity of people/restaurants/cafes/events and plenty of options for side excursions.
My life here in PDC Obviously, with Covid, it hasn't been quite as full of an experience as normal. So the below is a combination of my life now and my life when I used to live here several years ago.- Working at cafes: Naturally, I need to work and I personally like to work from cafes. Luckily, there are many suitable cafes here where you can sit with your laptop, eat great food and spend a few hours getting stuff done. My current favorites are: Basic Foodie, Ojo de Agua and Marley Coffee (opened by Bob Marley's son, Rohan).
- Socializing: With endless Facebook groups, Whatsapp groups, trivia nights, weekly dinners, yoga sessions, standup paddle boarding, gyms, bars, salsa classes, volunteering with animals and on and on, it's quite easy to meet people and find a community here, whatever your interests.
- Beaches: The white sand beaches in town are certainly nothing to complain about, but I prefer quieter spots nearby. My two favorites would be the picturesque Punta Venado and the Mungata Beach Club. And the fluffy white sand of Tulum's public beach, which is an hour away, is about as spectacular as it gets.
- Trips out of town: From a day trip to Tulum, a weekend trip to the beautiful colonial town of Valladolid (my personal favorite), an excursion to the Sian Kaan biosphere reserve, an afternoon at some cenotes, a long weekend in the city of Merida, a day driving around the island of Cozumel, snorkeling or scuba diving, visiting Mayan ruins and much more...it's all very accessible.
Book Recommendations
Audible informed me that I have 3 weeks left to use my remaining audiobook credits. I like all genres, fiction and non-fiction, so.....do you happen to have any book recommendations for me? (Thank you in advance!) The Value of Markets
A reader of the newsletter, Stephanie Tolk, sent me an article she wrote. It resonated with how I approach travel so I wanted to share it here. Why You Should Make Market Visits a Stop on Any International Trip 4 Years at Sea
I've been following this insane story of five crew members who were stuck on an oil tanker off the coast of the UAE for 4 years. Their employer abandoned the ship and due to local laws, they weren't allowed to get off even though the ship was mere meters from the shore. I just found out the situation has finally been resolved and soon enough, the crew members will get paid and then return to their home countries. |
It might not be a typical bustling Mexican plaza but
this is the quiet main square of Playa del Carmen.
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