May 17 to June 11
I have been to Playa a lot so I am going to keep this brief. It will be more like a photo tour than a usual blog post. I was here for three and a half weeks, two and a half by myself, my wife came down for the last week so I was in Playa for three and a half weeks.
It is hard for me to get bored in Playa even if I can’t scuba dive. Between the beach, 5th Avenue, the roof top pool and all the bars and restaurants, I can stay entertained for weeks.
Sargassum and The Weather
I went for a walk on the beach my first day in Playa and I was amazed that there was virtually no sargassum. I had a feeling it wouldn’t last and I was right. On my third day in Playa the wind started gusting from the east and didn’t relent for days. That pushed all the sargassum floating in the Caribbean sea onto the Playa beaches. The stacks were over five feet tall in places. They did an amazing job of cleaning it up. It only took two or three days to clear the beach north of Constituentes. South took a lot longer. I am glad I was staying north.
The weather was windy for the first couple of weeks, so much so that I couldn’t dive in Playa. The only dive I did before my wife came down was a Cozumel dive. She picked the correct week to be in Playa, the wind died down and we had almost perfect dive conditions for the four days we did.
It was rainy my first two weeks in Playa, the usual summer squalls. It would down pour for about twenty minutes and then blow over.
However, one night on the way back to my room the skies opened and it poured for over forty-five minutes. I ducked into the Baton Rouge Grill to wait for it to blow over. Luckily they had a good band. They did shots and played on.
My Hotels
The Shore
My first two and a half weeks were spent at The Shore. It is a newer condo on 1st Ave and calle 44. I had a studio so my room was a little small but it suited my needs. The roof top pool was just okay. I liked the pool area at La Resedencia better. The gym at The Shore was very nice. The location of the hotel was good. It was off 5th Ave so the neighborhood was quiet. One of the nicest things about the shore is there was a Mini Super across the street so I didn.t have to go far for water, beer, etc.
Miranda
We stayed at Miranda for the first time in 2019 and then the pandemic prevented us from returning. This is our favorite hotel in Playa. The location is perfect, on calle 38 so it’s close to a lot of good restaurants and one block from the beach. The gym is the best in hotel gym in Playa. The roof top pool is also the best at a hotel/condo in Playa.
When we were here in 2019 our condo was on Flamingo Ave but this year it was facing calle 38. Trujilos which is close to Miranda had a band in the evening on the weekend and the noise carried to our condo. The noise wasn’t terrible but it was annoying.
New Restaurants
The nice thing about scuba diving is we can ask our dive masters who live in Playa what their favorite restaurants are. One recommendation was Cameron Clandestino. It was definitely a restaurant for locals. Of course it had Mexican food that was really good and their courtyard was nice.
Our French dive master recommended Chez Papa. It is a French restaurant and they have a mussel and fries special on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was more mussels than we could eat.
Karen found Choux Choux on Trip Advisor. It is a French café near calle 20 and avenue 25. They have amazing lattes and croissants. It is funny how bad the service was. We were sat very quickly when we arrived but it took ten minutes for us to get our waiter’s attention so we could order and he was not happy to have to take our order. I was a little worried that we offended him somehow but while we were having breakfast a line of customers formed at the entrance and no one would seat them or even acknowledge that they were there. They didn’t seem to mind, they just waited patiently. We went back later in the week and the service was better.
We had breakfast at Pancho’s. It is located on calle 38 just off 5th Ave.
A frozen yogurt shop opened in Miranda called Zo’ Zen Frozen Yogurt but it wasn’t just any frozen yogurt, they serve CBD frozen yogurt.
Old Favorites
Trattoria del Centro has been a favorite for years. In years past you would need to make a reservation a day ahead of time but they expanded during the pandemic (go figure) so no reservations were required but it was still busy. We had great pasta and pizza.
Luma Traverna del Mar was our favorite restaurant in 2019. It was still good this year but prices seemed to have increased much more than the other restaurants in Playa. The restaurant was full in 2019 but only slightly busy this year so it seems other customers thought it might be a bit overpriced.
In January I found Inti Beach Bar. I had one of my most expensive meal in Playa there and all I had was two beers and shrimp tacos. The beach bar has a really good vibe and good food. Karen and I had ceviche that was so amazing that we went back later in the week.
We were starving one afternoon so we took a chance at a Mexican restaurant on 5th Ave called Ojitos Mio. It was a little over priced but the food was good.
We also went to the usual restaurants, Hios de la Tostada, Piola, CMC, Zenzi, Off the Vine, Renzos, and Chela De Playa.
La Bodeguita Del Medio is a cool Cuban restaurant/bar. I stopped in on the way back to my room several nights to listen to the band. The band was good but not nearly as good at the pre pandemic band that played there.
Au Cacao
This is my favorite place to hang out in Playa. One of my favorite things to do is get a latte, sit outside and write and people watch. I hit all three locations.
Diving
We had great diving with Blue Life. Thank you to all the dive masters Josh, Pierre, Paulina and Elliana.
Strange Things I Saw in Playa
One afternoon while I was relaxing on the Playacar beach I heard a noise and looked up. Skydivers started falling out of the sky, well parachuting not falling. Sorry, I had video problems to I had to piece together several short clips.
La Bikinieria struck me as a funny name
There are many businesses with signs that say Big Boobs get a free shot
I liked the covid testing center with a mannequin clad in PPE
La Resedencia had dung beetles statues outside
The Mexican version of Kentucky Fried Chicken- Mr Pollo Kentucky
I noticed a wheelchair accessible curb when I was walking to the Mega but when I got to the other end there was the normal foot high curb so I am not sure where the poor person is supposed to go.
The same day I saw the parachutists when I was on the beach I walked past a mermaid on the way back to my room.
I saw one of the street performers wearing stilts on a break at the convenience store.
So much sand has been washed away that the steps from this house on Playacar no longer reaches the sand
As hated as sargassum is, someone made a heart out of it
One night while I was out the power went out from 28th to CTM and from the beach as far as I could see going toward highway 307. I went back to my room and got my dive light and went back out. There was no reason to hang around in my room, no lights, TV and it was getting warmer by the minute. You could barely see your hand in front of your face because it was dark and people were riding their bikes and electric scooters down 5th Ave. I saw and was almost in several near misses. The power was back on at midnight.
While having dinner at Chez Celine one morning a black bird landed on the chair at my table and eyed my food. He sat there while I stuck my cell phone camera in his beak.
One of the coolest things I saw was a butterfly migration. I was at Au Cacao on Constituenties when thousands of Butterflies started swarming the intersection.
I went back to the roof top pool at The Shore and they had migrated that far north. I changed hotels later that day and there were some butterflies still flying around the balcony at Miranda.
Playa’s Cars
I own an old Boxster and have owned several 914s so I have Porsche radar. I have never seen three Porsches in Playa until this year.
Some businesses have signature cars to advertise their business
The Windham has a 1950 something Ford Woody. Freaky Tiki has a cool VW Bug Dune Buggy. Chela de Playa has a VW bus that converts to a bar. Be Playa has an old convertible VW that seems to need restoration.
Miranda has a Tesla charging station outside the entrance.
There are cars in Mexico that are not imported into the US
Not sure what this is but it is a cool little SUV.
I see tape is used to repair cars in Mexico just like the US.
Booting cars has become popular in Playa in the last several years and I saw a lot of booted vehicles this trip.
I saw more cars driving on 5th Ave than in all the years I have been coming here. For some reason the barriers that keep cars off 5th were moved so unsuspecting cars could drive down it.
I walked past this jeep every day for two and a half weeks, no license plate and a flat tire. I guess the owner is lucky it wasn’t towed.
I had a good trip even though the weather kept me from diving a lot of days. As usual we had great food and drinks. Our room at Miranda we very nice, we would stay there again.
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