Livin' la vida "loca"...

Tam:

It's now a full week since we arrived here in Playa Del Carmen. Every day we start classes at 9am and finish at 2. The Spanish school is mostly full of young German backpackers who are also interested in learning some Spanish for travel or for university. Coxy and I live in a nice townhouse about 30 seconds away from the school, with 2 German ladies Karen and Sabine. We were somewhat disappointed to be classified as an "oldie" but its ended up to our advantage as we heard the ÿoung ones¨were partying out of control the week before and the school had to install a live in chaparone. Their "Casa Grande" is a gorgeous huge villa with rooms the size of our whole bottom floor and occupied by the ' young ones' 10 mins away- it's the party house.

Playa Del Carmen is a small beach town pretty much geared solely towards the tourists. When we arrived on the Sunday, the streets were empty, shops closed and we thought it seemed like a sleepy little town. Come Monday it was bustling with traffic and Mexican workers coming in to work in the shops, restaurants and many luxury hotels that line the beach.

Aaah the beach! I would have to say one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen in my life. White sand, calm green blue waters and a huge blue sky above. So much space to pick and choose a spot to sunbake or you can hire an umbrella and chair or in some cases beds. The days are usually hot hot hot. We have had some rain in the afternoon and we are lucky to had missed a hurricane forecast a couple of weeks ago (it passed through without hitting Playa). We have swum at the beach a couple of times after class but seem to miss most of the sun as we don't get to the beach until about 3. Doesn't matter seems we have taken to the siesta quite well! Or maybe it's jetlag?!

I loving learning Spanish- I can't say we are seeing the real Mexico yet as it's too commercial here but am loving the lessons and Mexican Spanish is quite different to the Spanish I am used to. For example don't confuse the word for jacket with the Spanish / South American Spanish as you could be mistaken for taking about an "act" right out of the movie " American Pie" rather than something to keep you warm. Coxy is loving it too and is picking it up so quickly. I definitely think we are getting our moneys worth. The teachers are so nice and patient and the school puts on a activities during the night. So this week we he have taken a little tour of the city, went a margherita party and I learned how to play poker at la Casa Grande. Last night was a big night, it was my teacher's Moises' birthday so we were invited to his party on top of the school terrace. The party started at 10.30 so Sabine, Coxy and I went to a local restaurant ( Mexican / French ) beforehand and I tried a well known Mexican dish, enchiladas con mole - it's a chocolate gravy sauce, sounds strange but it's made of cacao not sweet chocolate so the gravy goes well with chicken and rice.

The party too was fun, it was full of Moises' friends and students from the school. The poor guy too had to hit the pinata (for what seemed like forvever) that us students had bought as a present only to be disappointed that we had failed to fill it with anything! Bloody gringoes! We drank Sol cervezas and tequilla and chatted to others. At the end of the night instead of Hungry Jacks, we stopped off for tacos to go.

I have also managed to get in one run too, along the main shopping strip " Quinta Avenida" ( before the shops open of course) the mornings are cool so it's perfect for a run before a big day at school. The Mexicans too love their freshly squeezed juices, like when I was in Brasil, I usually have one juice a day, one of my favorites is the orange, lemon and beetroot juice.

The food here is superb but am learning that most of the dishes are slightly different versions of the taco. My favorite is still the humble fish taco with hot chilli sauce washed down with an ice cold Sol.

It`s now Sunday afternoon here and it´s steamy, the rain has just started bucketing down so will sit in the internet cafe for a while whilst I download my piccies.

We have just had a wonderful weekend. Saturday, PLaya on the sun. We set off in a local colectivo with a litre of fresh squeezed juice and some savoury pastries an hour out of Playa to the ruins by the sea - Tulum. The journey to the ruins was easy, fast and so comfortable. It was then a short walk (now in the searing heat) to the site. We quickly caked on the sunscreen and set off cameras in tow. We had been told to hurry up and get there before the crowds... and we made it just in time.

As you walk into the site, you are greeted with such greenery, much like and oasis with scattered palm trees and tropical plants. The ruins themselves are small and scattered also. The most impressive are the palaces and castles right by the cliffs on the ocean. We walked around )and sweated) as we admired the green blue of the sea against the grey of the ruins and blue of the clouds.. was really breathtaking. The iguanas too were out for a sunbake and werent at all disturbed by the many tourists piling in.

Just as the heat starting zapping all the enegy out of us, we gazed down below and saw a beautiful small beach where people were starting cool off. We had heard that there was another beach away from the ruins, so we went there.

What we found was a gorgeous strecth of white sand, almost deserted littered with huts and little camp sites. We walked a bit, swam a lot and then settled into a good few hours of sunbaking. After a while, we had a cerveza and I fell asleep under an umbrella overlooking the water and sights of palm trees, beach goes and pelicans flying overhead.

A tiny bit of rain came through just as I awoke, so we decided to call it a day. We bought some souvenirs of a pair of turquoise earrings (am missing my bling!) and Coxy a cool wooden necklace (which goes very nice with his tan).

Saturday night, we walked the famous Quinta Avenida, browsed more shops (I score more beautiful earrings .. made of pearl and coral) and dined on a huge burittos, finishing off with a Ben and Jerry´s icrecream.

Sunday is a chill day. A beautiful breakfast and lots of study done to stay out of the heat... and of course a siesta .. am loving the siestas!

Coxy:

Yep well I have come to a pretty obvious and common conclusion - why the heck have I waited so long to do this? Tam has summed it up but WOW this place is beautiful, built for tourism and the Americans, Playa is soooo relaxing and visually stunning. I am sporting a sun tan from the beach yesterday, the Mayan ruins were very interesting but the Tulum beach was something else - different to the beach at Playa it was less busy but equally beautiful with its white sand, brillant colours set against blue sky and white clouds. Beer on the beach, swimming in the mild water and generally doing nothing are all high on my current weekend agendas!

School is great, I cant believe how much I have picked up, the teachers are great and its kind of fun to study - crazy I know seeing as though I swore of study for good after the CA program but using your brain for half a day and rewarding yourself with sun, sand and beer in the afternoon...well its something I could get very used too!!

The buildings are so colorful here, vibrant reds and blues and just different to back home, not sure if I expected them to be the same but its just amazing to see the little things close up. Things like 3 blokes, who had just finished working for the day, riding in the back of a ute motoring down the freeway at 100km/hr yesterday - took me back to riding in the back of a ute as a kid before it was against the law.

There is this 1 street, the main street La Quinta Avenida, which goes for about 2 kms, so many shops and bars and restaurants you do not want for anything. Taco`s and burrito´s are plentiful and Sol is so cheap.

We went to dinner last night as Tam said and on the way home we came across an open air theatre where a local singer was performing, something just out of a movie or something!