Over winter break I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Playa del Carmen, Mexico on a little vacay with my family. It was so relaxing and so much fun to explore this coastal town. A couple summers ago I got to go to Cancun, which is about half an hour or so away from Playa del Carmen. Although that trip was a lot of fun and my siblings were able to join me on that trip, Playa del Carmen is definitely my favorite of the two trips. If anyone is considering going to Mexico during the summer, I would highly recommend reconsidering and going during the wintertime.
With the weather ranging from the low 80s to high 60s, it was definitely a nice change from the cold weather here at Purdue and the horrible humidity of the summer. The beaches are the most amazing beaches I have ever been to. The sand feels so soft and made the bottom of my feet feel baby skin smooth.
If you love seafood, I would definitely go to Playa Del Carmen. There’s so many amazing restaurants that are on the beach with insanely good fish. I usually got the garlic butter fish and shrimp which were so so so good. I’m still dreaming about how good the food was. But by the end of my trip I got a little bit sick of fish because it was so good that everywhere I went there was no way I couldn’t not get fish or some kind of seafood.
I also had the chance to visit a market and try some street food. MAJOR MAJOR TIP RIGHT HERE: DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT ISN’T COOKED!!! I highly highly, highly advise not to eat ice cream from street vendors or something that isn’t cooked in front of you. On my first trip to Cancun, my brother made this mistake and got sick from getting ice cream from a street vendor. It was really rough. He had to stay back at our hotel the next day and take medicine. But…I would definitely try the churros in Mexico, especially when it has hot yummy chocolate in the middle. No joke, it literally tastes like heaven.
My trip was filled with a bunch of new adventures, including climbing a pyramid! It was crazy. I’ve never climbed one before because most pyramids nowadays are unable to be climbed due to how much deterioration they have undergone through environmental reasons and how worn down they are from constantly having visitors. It was pretty scary because of how steep it is, so I wouldn’t recommend this for someone who has a fear of heights. On the way down, I had my butt to the steps and never let go of the rope. It was a bit terrifying to look down and see the decline as well as how high up I was. But being above all the trees and being able to see so far was amazing and definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity that I would do all over again.
Part of touring around includes going to the “theme” parks. There’s a couple of them including Xcaret and Xplore. I’ve been to both. Xplore was one where I had the opportunity to go ziplining and it was so much fun because we were so high up in the air, but I couldn’t go by myself because I was scared so I had my sister go with me. This past trip I went back to Xcaret which was awesome, I got to play with dolphins and it’s where I got this picture with the parrots.
Even though the theme parks are not like Disney World by any means, they’re still so much fun and I would highly recommend going. Overall, I would definitely go back to Play Del Carmen, Mexico and I highly recommend for everyone to go especially during the winter when it’s not too hot there.