February 16, 2011: Playa del Carmen

The city of Playa del Carmen is part of the fabulous “Riviera Maya”, also known as the Mayan Riviera. The “Riviera” is a thriving tourism district which follows coastal Highway 307 parallel to the Caribbean coastline of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The Riviera is located along the eastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula, and it is incredibly beautiful. The district historically started at Playa del Carmen and ended at the village of Tulum. Today, the towns of Puerto Morelos and Cancun (north of Playa) and the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto (south of Tulum) are also being promoted as part of the Riviera Maya tourist corridor.

The Riviera Maya was originally called the “Cancun - Tulum corridor”. In 1999 it was renamed as the “Riviera Maya”. The Riviera Maya is famous for its large scale all-inclusive resorts and a historical tourism base of smaller boutique hotels as well as the many fine-dining restaurants available along Highway 307 and on or near the beaches. Luxury travel entities have been instrumental in increasing luxury villa rentals and yacht charters in the area. However, these only represent a small fraction of the total tourism accommodation available. Government development plans include establishing a number of medium sized (i.e., approximately 200,000 inhabitants) cities within the Riviera Maya with initial planning spanning 20 years. Target areas for urbanization include the towns and villages of: Puerto Morelos (technically outside the Riviera Maya), Puerto Aventuras, Akumal, Chemuyil, and Tulum.

A major attraction throughout the Riviera Maya are coastal and reef aquatic activities dependent on the coastal water and the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (also known as the Belize Barrier Reef) which begins near Cancun and continues along the whole length of the Riviera Maya continuing southward all along the coast of Belize to Guatemala. This barrier reef system is the second longest in the world. Activities at the most visited locations include Jet Skiing, snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming in cenotes, swimming with dolphins, zip-lining, horseback riding, sailing, and guided jungle tours. Archeology is also a big tourist draw in the area, including the popular archeological sites operated by the Instituto Nacional de Archeologica such as Tulum on the coast, and Chichen Itza and Coba located a short distance inland. The self-named ecoparks of Xcaret and Xel-Ha also include some smaller archeological ruins as part of their attractions, but these natural water theme parks operated by private business consortia attract much larger crowds due to the diversity and range of activities provided, such as swimming with captive dolphins. The long and the short of it is... the Riviera Maya is paradise … and just a couple hours by air from the United States.

After a late afternoon walk along the beautiful beach that is the epicenter and very definition of Playa del Carmen, I jumped in the shower and then took a short siesta to get ready for the evening’s festivities. My young Scandinavian friends were meeting me next door at “their favorite mojito bar” – Siesta Fiesta – at 7:00 PM. They were right on time, and at such an early hour it was no problem getting “ringside seats” directly across from the band stand.

The Fabulous Siesta Fiesta Restaurant & Bar FAH on Fifth Avenue in Playa del Carmen

Tobias and Trygve told me that the place featured live music every night, so we would have a great view of the band when they started playing. We ordered some enchiladas and beer (“cerveza”) for starters and got started catching up on our respective “stories”. Tobias and Trygve told me they met when they were both working for the Thomas Cook Group. I had heard of this company before, but I had no idea how idea just how large, broad and diversified the company is. Thomas Cook Group plc has been in business over 170 years and currently has more than 22.5 million customers, 31,000 employees throughout 21 countries, and nearly 3,500 stores all operating under the founder's name. The company offers its guests a myriad of different vacation destinations and experiences, and my Scandinavian buddies had worked at some of the more exotic destinations in Europe including the Canary Islands. The first band took the stage at about 8:00 PM, and they were pretty decent. Two young ladies sitting next to us were shouting something about the band, so I turned to them and asked if they liked the music. They told me that they had heard this group and another group (that starts playing at 9:00 PM) the previous night, and that the second group is really good. The talk about the bands had cracked the ice a little bit, so we talked a little more about Playa del Carmen and I told them that we had just arrived by van this afternoon from Belize. “Can you believe Belize is only about four hours from here?” I asked them. “Really?” one of the gals remarked.  “Yes”, I told them. “And you can take a bus there for less than $20.00.” “Wow!” the dark-haired woman (whose name I found out a few minutes later is Megan)  remarked. Megan's eyes gleamed brightly as she smiled excitedly and said, “I can’t believe Belize is that close. I’m definitely going down there next time I come down”. I told Megan she looked like somebody famous and she said I was probably thinking of her resemblance to Meryl Streep. "Exactly", I said. "A younger, hotter version of the legendary film icon." For sure. The photo below will give you the general idea.

The Lovely Megan (Ontario, Canada)

“Hey”, why don’t you guys join us over here”, I suggested, as my silent partners kept glancing over at this crazy old timer holding court with the two lovely young ladies. I was not at all surprised that Tobias and Trygve were quiet and shy as Minnesota is the land of Scandinavians -- and I am 50% Scandinavian myself-- so I am very familiar with the phenomenon. Eventually, the women moved their chairs next to ours and we made it a five some. Now the entire table could take part in the conversation, and we had a great time talking about the band and our respective trips. The girls, Megan and Jenn, were both from Ontario, Canada, and they were very cool—and attractive. Megan is a social worker and had recently broken up with her boyfriend. Jenn is a nurse. Jenn said later that she thought Tobias was “super cute”. She had told Megan that her nickname for Tobias was “Hot Swedish Love”.

Jenn the Nurse from Ontario

Unfortunately, shortly after the introductory material Tobias disappeared and Jenn got impatient and went off looking for someone who would pay attention to her. Tobias told us later that he was talking to his girlfriend back in Sweden on his cell phone. I was giving Megan bad relationship advice (who better than someone who had failed repeatedly over his career at this?) and our Norwegian pal Trygve was getting more and more intoxicated. At some point during the evening Trygve complimented me on my superb “wing man” skills and mentioned that he really liked Megan. I made the big mistake of failing to tell him that – in that case—he needed to tell Megan this rather than me. I probably forgot because I was also (a little) intoxicated and I also thought Megan was the bomb. 

We all bid our farewells at about midnight, and after hearing that Megan and Jenn had to check out of their hotel in the morning -- but did not depart until late afternoon I told them they could stash their luggage in my hotel room in the morning. I suggested we all meet at the Starbucks across the street from Siesta Fiesta at 9:30 AM if they wanted to do this. And that was that (but I DID get Megan’s e-mail and Facebook details so we have been keeping in touch since our February encounter).  I still think Megan is the bomb.