Highlights:

Our awesome apartment, 5th Avenue, Halloween, more beach, pool and sun time...

Our Adventure:

It was time to say goodbye to Cancun and we jumped on our transfer bus to Playa Del Carmen. Playa del Carmen or just "Playa", as it is also commonly referred to by locals, is a resort town on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. It's approximately 45 minutes south of Cancun on the Mayan Riviera, and offers a more relaxed atmosphere than Cancun which is engineered for lounging around and beach frolic. It sounded like our type of place and it was exactly what we were looking for. Hola Playa!

We arrived at our awesome complex, H-201, Flamingo Ave. (which runs parallel to the beach), between 38th and 40th Street, Playa Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico and decided to go and cool off in our pool downstairs where we spent a lazy afternoon before heading out to Playa's infamous 5th Avenue for a stroll and some dinner.

Leaving our apartment we walked through the shaded pathways of Playa and you feel as if you have been transported to a secluded tropical island of beautiful plants, colorful flowers, and tranquil waterfalls, yet we were only minutes away from the pleasantries of the famous 5th Avenue of Playa del Carmen which offered shopping, dining, and all the conveniences that you could want.

Our stroll down lively 5th Avenue took us past many shops, buskers, bars and restaurants with the highlight being Casa Tequila which is a shop that is purely dedicated to different types of tequila, something that we would have to sample over the next few days. We also spotted the Blue Parrot which is a beach club which we later discovered that Newsweek had included this happening beach club in its "Top Ten Bars in the World". After some exploration around the town we settled into an authentic Mexican meal complimented with some Mexican cerveza's at Aca Los Tacos. Tough life.

Check out the photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=340292&id=713415257&l=b883357c53

We woke up the next day and decided it was beach time. The white sands of Coco Beach, which is one of Playa del Carmen's finest stretches of sand was less than 100 steps away from our complex's beach gate. Unfortunately it was rather windy and putting up beach umbrellas was not going to happen, so after having a swim and braving the wind for a while on the white sands of Coco Beach we decided to head back to the complex's swimming pool. We settled into the sun loungers at the pool and dipped into our packed cooler box which contained some ice cold beers and V's now infamous tuna mayonnaise rolls. Again, tough life.

That night we headed out on the town armed with a recommendation from one of the locals we had met and we headed a few blocks back from 5th Avenue to a local restaurant called HC de Monterrey. HC de Monterrey's tag line was "el sabor de la buena carna" which means "the taste of good meat" and we tucked into another delicious and authentic Mexican meal accompanied with some red wine.

After dinner we wondered back down 5th Avenue and started off at Kitxen for some live and rather enthusiastic Mexican music complimented with some cocktails. Our pub crawl ended with some night caps (read Victoria beers and tequilas) at La Fe. Another great night out.

Check out the photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=340296&id=713415257&l=72324bf55a

The next day was Halloween and being South African and never really celebrating Halloween we were very excited to celebrate Halloween on this side of the world. Halloween as most people know, is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain ("summer's end", from sam meaning "summer" and fuin meaning "end") and the Christian holy day of All Saints (in honor of all the saints, known and unknown).

Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, ghost tours, bonfires, visiting haunted attractions, pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films and the tour team was keen to do as many of the above as possible.

The girls woke up and headed out to the shops to get all the goodies for our pre drinks at home and to pick up our costumes for the evening while Al and I tried to catch the Currie Cup Final and some English Premiership Football. The Blue Bulls became only the second South African team to secure a Super Rugby and Currie Cup double, when they held off a strong Free State Cheetahs comeback to win 36-24 at Loftus Versfeld. Liverpool got two red cards and lost 3 - 1 to Fulham and the might Manchester United beat Blackburn 2 - 0. Great day so far.

After the girls got back Georgie all made us go to our rooms so that she could prepare our apartment for the 'formal dinner' we would be having before heading out for the evening and what an amazing job she and the other girls did!

The theme for Halloween 2009 for the travelling crew was pirates, I think the girls mostly enjoyed the part of being able to put eye makeup on Al and me and Lara just loved the fact that she would be matching all of the girls!

Once everyone was dressed and ready to rock and roll the official unveiling of the apartment was had and the sheets were dropped and what was revealed was an absolutely amazing feast.

The apartment was completely transformed with an array of things from decorations (including ghosts and bats), jack o'lanterns, snacks, punch, jelly drinks, and tequila, tequila and more tequila (bear in mind a bottle of Jose Cuervo costs around GBP3.50). We started off with snacks and then decided to have our first fines meeting of tour where everyone got fined for the ridiculous things that they had said or done so far. Some of the tour group had more fines than others and I won't mention any names, Georgie.

After the fines meeting everyone was feeling quite merry and we headed out on 5th Avenue, everyone young and old was out and about and the kids were all trick or treating in the streets.

Check out the photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=340298&id=713415257&l=0a02fbb9cb

First stop for us was the Tequila Barrel where if you are a lady and you dance on the bar you get a free shot of tequila. You definitely could not scare the already tequila fuelled pirate girls who jumped straight up on the bar to claim their free shots of tequila.

After a few drinks there we had free entry into a new night club called Paradise where there was free drinks from 22h00 - 0h00 and we thought it would rude if we did not take advantage of their generosity.

After that we headed to that happening beach club, the Blue Parrot, which is voted in the "Top Ten Bars in the World". What an amazing beach club which is right on the beach and the waves literally crash on the side of the dance floor. We grabbed a table and some more drinks and sat back under the stars and watched the most amazing fire show. We then finished off Halloween by dancing the night away on the beach dance floor where Georgie made some new Finnish friends but again I will leave that story for Georgie to tell. The party finally ended well after 4AM and ended with the crew walking home in the pouring rain.

Check out the photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=340301&id=713415257&l=c84e33af0e

The next day was the Day of the Dead. The Day of the Dead (El Día de los Muertos or All Souls' Day) is a holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Latin Americans living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 1st and 2nd in connection with the Catholic holiday of All Saints' Day which occurs on November 1st and All Souls' Day which occurs on November 2nd.

Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.

The crew all woke up feeling a little bit tender after the celebrations of Halloween and the first part of the day was spent down at the pool followed by devouring Venetia's famous tuna salad and then movies on the couch. Once we had all finished feeling sorry for ourselves we decided to head into town and see the celebrations that would be happening for the Day of the Dead.

After much hype around the Day of the Dead to say we were slightly disappointed by the celebrations may be a bit of an understatement. Disappointed only due to the fact that we did not see any celebrations. Not one. Zero. Nada.

The lack of celebrations could not keep the crew's spirits down so we headed off for dinner at Don Mario which was off the bustling 5th Avenue and then wandered around the streets of Playa for one last time before heading back home for the night as our next adventure waited for us in the morning.

Check out the photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=340302&id=713415257&l=09210b4559

Adios Playa, hola Tulum.

Ciao,
Leise + Lara