After Tulum we continued to Playa del Carmen: mass tourism at its best!
You couldn't have gotten more shops, stalls, restaurants and bars on the nearly 300 meter long walk from the bus terminal to our accommodation. Nevertheless, we really enjoyed being in a more touristy area and especially being among people we can communicate well with. In the previous places, communication has been difficult due to our limited Spanish and the limited English skills of the locals.
We used the first day, as so often, for shopping. This time something particularly important was on the list: a beard trimmer. Roman had not shaved for 3 weeks and his facial hair desperately needed a trim. Fortunately, we quickly found one, because the razor from Germany is not designed for the power grid in Central and South America - which we unfortunately didn't know beforehand. Of course, snacks were also included in the shopping, more on that later!
On the second day, Sunday, we spent half of the day in the nearby café to plan the further route. The wifi in the hotel was very bad and we urgently needed to research a few things. In a few days, we will continue to Costa Rica.
On the third day in Playa del Carmen, we took the popular Colectivo to what will probably be the last cenote for now. After about 25 minutes drive, we reached Cenote Azul, which stands out for its crystal clear water like no other so far. Even though we have already visited several cenotes, each cenote is different again. While some actually look like large, water-filled craters, others are particularly deep, so that the water changes abruptly from light blue to deep black. Cenote Azul, on the other hand, is more like a swimming pond surrounded by lots of greenery. In the smaller water holes, the water was so shallow that you could comfortably sit in the water on one of the large stone slabs and enjoy a relaxing pedicure from the little fish. Surrounded by tropical plants and the most beautiful bird chirping. A few paths further on, however, was the complete contrast: the largest water hole of Cenote Azul was probably the local public swimming pool and additionally well visited by dozens of tourists. Besides small seating areas at the edge, which were used for snacks and short breaks, some brave ones (including Roman) jumped off the rock, which served as a natural diving platform, into the cold water. Others snorkeled or swam through the water, while some used the absolutely Instagram-worthy spot for photo shoots.
Following and at the same time the last day in Playa del Carmen, we started and ended comfortably. After strolling through the streets extensively, we got a pizza in the evening and ate it on the beach at sunset. After that, we had two free cocktails at the expense of the hotel in the neighboring bar and a farewell marquesita. The next morning we went on to Cancun for one more day or one more night, because the flight to Costa Rica departs relatively early in the morning from there. We spent most of the day in Cancun preparing for the entry - Corona doesn't exactly make it easier - and had Mexican food for dinner one last time. Our conclusion about Mexico: a trip here is absolutely worth it and we will definitely come back: ¡Hasta luego, México!
Now we are looking forward to an exciting two weeks in Costa Rica 🇨🇷 The most important thing at the end: snacks! Let's start with Mini Gansito in the orange packaging: failed! Unfortunately, it didn't taste good at all, so it ended up in the trash after 2 bites. An absolutely artificial taste combined with an unknown spice in the cake part. 0/10 points! Next up: Pingüinos. The hope when buying was to taste a similarity to Kinder Pingui. That was not the case. In the middle of the chocolate covered dough was a marshmallow-like filling. Overall okay, but not worth repeating: 4/10! Finally, the sandwich cookies with lime filling. Lime fillings seem to be a thing in Mexico, so there are actually several variations of them to buy. We opted for something simple and were not disappointed. Especially in the heat, the lime flavor is refreshing, and nothing smears at these temperatures. A solid 7/10! The last part of the snack category of our Mexico trip is dedicated to the last marquesita. After countless classics (Nutella with grated cheese), the last one had to be something very special. So Leonie chose a Marquesita con Nutella y Rocher y fresas (Nutella, Rocher, and strawberries). A highlight for every chocolate lover! And by the way, we have actually acquired our Spanish skills with a popular language learning app in the last weeks of our trip, so we can now order in Spanish, but we are still far away from having mutual conversations. Well then, the last marquesita was definitely the perfect ending to this wonderful Yucatán tour and couldn't have been more delicious: 11/10!
