Ahhhhhhh......Playa del Carmen

What can you say about a beach fabled for its beauty and serenity....I've been trying to get to this beach my whole life and finally made it yesterday. The water is bluer than the sky and clearer than glass with a long reef perfect for snorkeling only about 40 yards off shore. Although the beaches were a little crowded, the Caribbean Sea was wonderfully clean and smelled like a dream and was just completely satisfying

We took a drive down Hwy 307 toward Xel ha past Playa del Carmen and found many caves and cenotes to explore on another day. The ruins at Xel ha turned out to be quite commercialized as they have developed a huge ecological park around the site, which they promote as all inclusive at $75 USD a person...I'm not that in tune with the ecology....sorry Nana you and Al Gore can berate me when I get home......

Anyway with the mission failed at Xel ha we just decided to walk the streets of Playa del Carmen and have some really delicious Mexican food at this little sidewalk grill. Word of caution here...when a Mexican waiter tells you that the Habanero salsa for your fajitas is REALLY spicy, it is probably a good idea to take what he says to heart...I have yet to experience such suffering upon my palate. Hot sweat and a snotty nose are the immediate side effects but the worst to come hits in about 4 hours after the digestion process. Lemanz breathing works quite well in this situation for those of you that care to take part in this habanero adventure.

This is where the locals light a candle for Mary each night. The left over wax had a nice effect on the little grill we ate at

On the drive back from Xel ha Arden found a dolphin discovery facility where the biologists take the kids out one on one with the dolphins and let them interact. Once again Arden became like she was on the first day and was real excitable, the workers at the dolphin discovery had to scotch guard their carpets....The prices were actually reasonable and we have a spot reserved for tomorrow. There are also manatee and sea lions here that you can interact with.

Lots of activities here at the resort for the kids, treasure hunts, crafts and things, they even get to go out with the resident biologists and help with the sea turtles by releasing them into the ocean. For some reason the poaching of sea turtle eggs is very bad here and the biologists dig up the eggs and rebury them in some coral. When they begin hatching the kids get to take the baby turtles to the edge of the ocean and send them on their journey. Also, every night at the pool they show movies for the kids and they can just hang out in the water and enjoy.

We are now able to cook in the room and save us $100 USD a meal eating here at the resort or anywhere else for that matter. The food and drinks everywhere are quite expensive... so who can you turn to to save money...good ole' Sam Walton is always there when you need him. Wal Mart is only about 10 miles away and we went and loaded up on groceries and snack stuff, strangely the grocery prices are much cheaper in Mexico than in the US. Once we found out exactly what it was we were buying everything worked out well. They had fresh whole fish and squid some other unidentifiable animals laid out on ice.

Till next time