Eat It Like You Mean It At Carboncitos On 4th!!

 

Cheap eats and cold beer, what could be better?

A little over a year ago, a group of five friends from New York fell in love with Playa del Carmen.  When the opportunity presented itself to open a business here, they jumped on it and bought the Hotel Santa Barbara on Calle 4.  While busy working from the ground up to restore this little jewel to its original charm, they often dined at a little taco shop on 12th street that served amazing food, and thus discovered the chef-owner, Alejandro Azcue....

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Hurricane Emily: Her Bark Was Bigger Then Her Bite!

Well, Hurricane Emily came into the Riviera Maya with ferocity, but due to careful planning, and strong community efforts, loss was relatively minimal.

The hardest hit areas seem to have been just South of Playa del Carmen in Puerto Aventuras (check out the link below for more detailed info on PA), and although they suffered from property damages, thankfully no human casualties have been reported. Everyone is safe, the streets are getting cleaned up, and slowly over the next couple of weeks damages from Emily will start to fade. Below is our latest photo gallery from both before and after the storm hit in Playa del Carmen and the surrounding areas.

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ATV Explorer Jungle Tours - Playa del Carmen

 
Although the ATV Explorer Jungle Tour has been one of the longest running tours in the Playa del Carmen area (more than 10 years), long time friends, Eric Bon and Guus Dorgelo, both from Amsterdam, have been running the tour for the past four years.

 

And when you sign up for this unique tour and embark on this jungle adventure, it is guaranteed fun! The goal of the ATV Explorer Jungle Tour is to give visitors an overall impression of the Yucatan Peninsula., and they have succeeded in every way! From the Monkey Loop to the pristine cenote, tour goers get a smorgasbord of activities rolled up into one incredible experience. Their self proclaimed slogan “If you do only one tour….THIS IS IT!” is right on. So I thought I would check it out for myself……

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Tintos y Tapas Restaurant in Playa del Carmen

Dive Shop Turned Tapas and Wine Bar? Only in Playa del Carmen!

Known locally as Pepe Loco, Pepe Esteban came from Mexico City 11 years ago. All he knew was diving, and that is all he did, so it seemed appropriate that he open a dive shop. So Playa Dive Center came to fruition, but all good things come to an end to make way for better things, and Pepe decided to try his hand at the restaurant business.

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Magdalenas: Mother and Daughter Team Take Playa by Storm
Wendy and Robyn Day are the highly motivated mother/ daughter team behind Magdalena’s Grill House and Bar.

These two tenacious Canadian women are up to any challenge, and they have proved that in the success they have accomplished in less then a year. Originally from a small town called Red Deer, in the province of Alberta, Wendy and Robyn have always had a dream to go into business together. They knew that they would love to bring their combined efforts and background to own a restaurant somewhere in Mexico...

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An Exclusive Interview with the Chief of Tourist Police

By Kristin Hahn

The Tourist Police of Playa del Carmen pride themselves on their values and principles of: leadership, order, discipline, honesty, efficiency, and professionalism. They are in the process of getting ISO certified, and they are bringing a new image to their force.

 I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Comandante Urbano Garcia Santiago, the Commander and Chief of the Tourist Police, here in Playa del Carmen. I wanted to get an insiders point of view on the incredible growth and expansion of Playa del Carmen, as well as the Riviera Maya.

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Oh, The Pressure of the New Years Resolution!

We all seem to pressure ourselves into making some unrealisitic resolution for the New Year. Whether it is to lose 100 pounds or to never have another beer again, it seems like we may set ourselves up to fail. And then of course we feel GUILT!

So Playa Maya News decided to put a different spin on things as we enter into the new year of 2005. The Playa Maya News crew hit the streets and asked local community members what their goals were for the new year and what they were most grateful for and here are some of their answers......

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The lighter side of The tropics at Christmas

The lighter side of living in ……the tropics at Christmas!

By: Suzanne

Happy holidays! I really feel like Christmas now. The snow is gently falling......wait a minute.....that's Shawn and the kids throwing sand in the air.

Ha! Next they will be telling me that is Santa's yacht out there.....I know better - it can't be Santa he's busy at the north pole.

Anyway everybody knows Santa while in Mexico likes to swing from house to house through the palm trees. It drives the reindeer nuts.

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Discovering Quintana Roo

The following article, written in 2002 by Jeanine Lee Kitchel, former owner of Alma Libre Libros in Puerto Morelos, details how she became interested in travel to Quintana Roo.

Full Circle "The Lost World of Quintana Roo"

By: Jeanine Kitchel

MEXICO -- I first ventured to this region in the early 1980s, long before Cancun had earned a reputation as a must-see tourist resort and the region had been dubbed the Riviera Maya.

How did I "discover" Mexico's Quintana Roo?

While living near San Francisco, my home for 20 years, I happened onto a book at a garage sale titled "The Lost World of Quintana Roo"' by Frenchman Michel Peissel. Although the book was (and is) long out of print, the adventure it told of the author, then a 21-year old Harvard business graduate, who walked from northern Quintana Roo near Puerto Morelos to Belize in 1958 fascinated me and triggered a trip to the Mexican Yucatan.

 

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Cenotes: the Riviera Maya?s treasure; their past, present and future

By: Sam Meacham

Most residents of the Riviera Maya are familiar with cenotes; the enigmatic crystal clear pools of water that dot the Yucatan Peninsula’s landscape.

As their beauty is admired many questions are often asked about them:

How were they formed? .........How are they explored?

What can be found in the hidden depths of a Cenote? ...........What treasures can be found?

Is pollution affecting them? ......... The answers are very interesting ............

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Cenotes: the Riviera Maya?s treasure; their past, present and future

By: Sam Meacham

Most residents of the Riviera Maya are familiar with cenotes; the enigmatic crystal clear pools of water that dot the Yucatan Peninsula’s landscape.

As their beauty is admired many questions are often asked about them:

How were they formed? .........How are they explored?

What can be found in the hidden depths of a Cenote? ...........What treasures can be found?

Is pollution affecting them? ......... The answers are very interesting ............

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In the List of the Top Destinations in the World, Mexico Rocks!

By: Suzan Haskins

Yes, Mexico Rocks!

A few nights ago, I settled down with my new November issue of Condé Nast Traveler magazine that just arrived in the mail. It’s the 2004 Reader’s Choice Awards issue devoted to the top 100 Best in the World cities, resorts, islands, hotels and cruises, as selected by the magazine’s readers.

I wasn’t surprised to see that Mexico dominates the rankings in several categories ..........

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La Rana Cansada, local hotspot and world travelers destination

by Kristin Hahn

La Rana Cansada, meaning the tired frog, is famous not only in Playa del Carmen, but internationally as well.

Owners, Thed Petterson and Pia Ekasala, have created their own slice of heaven, and much to their delight it has become that for others as well. Both Thed and Pia are originally from Sweden, but like everyone here in Playa del Carmen, they have a fantastic story on how they came to be here.....

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