Getting off the coach at Playa del Carmen, we took the directions to the hotel that we had been able to find on Matt´s phone the night before. After going down a few dodgy looking backstreets, we arrived at the Playa del Carmen hotel by H&A. It was a really nice but small hotel with a swimming pool in an open-roofed courtyard, but we didn´t get a chance to go in, as we had too many other exciting things to do! On arrival though, we had bigger fish to fry, as the toilet in our room would not flush after we had flushed it once, so much hilarity ensued as Matt tried to mime the problem to not just the maid, but also the elderly man who worked on reception. Neither of them really understood that there was a problem, so we had to deduce the solution ourselves - to pump the toilet flush button continuously until the cistern refilled. This was a bit of a relief, as I had visions of me having to fill the top of the toilet with water from a bucket while Matt sat on it! Anyway, crisis was averted, but enough about toilets... for now!

Playa del Carmen is so much nicer in my opinion that Cancun. It´s much more relaxed and has a much more laid-back atmosphere. (Although there are a lot of people trying to sell you drugs, but even they do it in a friendly way!) The main touristy area is called 5th Avenue, which has all the restaurants and bars, and runs parallel to the beach. The shop keepers try and hassle you into their stores, but it is done in a lot more friendly and less pushy way than in other places we have been, like Tunisia.

After strolling around a while on the first night in town, we decided to get dinner at a place called Casa Adela. I thought I would be adventurous and ordered a stone bowl with Mexican-style steak. It came in a massive stone bowl (obviously) with strips of steak, mixed Mexican sauces and vegetables, warm cloth`-wrapped corn tortillas and even grilled cactus which had a pretty distinctive flavour! It was the best meal I´ve had in ages, and was really romantic with live music. Matt had coconut shrimp and pasta and was equally impressed with his food!

The next couple of days were mainly spent relaxing and going to the beach. There was a funny incident where Matt thought he had had his wallet stolen when we got to the till in a shop, but it turned out he had just put it in another pocket of his bag - the checkout girl thought it was pretty funny!

Playa del Carmen beach is beautiful, it´s really clean and just what you imagine when you think of a tropical beach (like the background photo to this blog). The sand is completely white and the water is so blue, but really clear when you are swimming. The water is also the warmest sea I have ever been in, it´s like bath water (although Matt says it´s cold). On the first day on the beach, we went for a proper swim in the sea, and Matt did his classic holiday trick of dunking me under the water, even though I´m scared of jellyfish! Matt was also cracking up, as I got caught in the surf at the edge of the sea and was being bowled around in the water, and I couldn´t get up as I was laughing too much. Needless to say, he didn´t offer any assistance!

Matt went spear-fishing on Monday 5th, so I hired a sun lounger and parasol on the beach and spent some time working on my tan and reading my book, which I hadn´t even had time to open yet. I ate the picnic I had made and even fell asleep for an hour - a really relaxing afternoon. Matt returned from spear-fishing later that day a little worse for wear, as apparently it was physically demanding and exhausting with little reward (i.e. we did not have fish for dinner that night!) I was secretly pleased that I didn´t go with him - I had a much more strenuous afternoon!

Sorry about the essay - but I am trying to write as much when I get a chance! xxx