Relaxing in Playa del Carmen

Pool and cooking time

We are over halfway through our chillout time in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico and we have both loved the place and enjoyed not rushing around. Despite not doing too much the time is flying and we will soon be quarter of the way through our trip. The weather has been great, around 30C with only the odd spot of rain. It is just the start of their season so not that busy.

Our Airbnb was budget to midrange for the town but has it's own pool and deck area, as well a slightly bigger shared pool. We also have an stove hob so have been able to cook meals. We've enjoyed this and hit a nice mix of eating in and going out.

The meals out we've had have all been nice and pretty reasonably as well. I was expecting it to be more expensive but a meal for two with 2 or 3 drinks each has been about £45 and a little more when cocktails have been added. I must admit to getting a taste for mezcal and tequila. It seems every cocktail we order Karen gets a normal glass and I get "lady's" glass or cocktail sticks with fruit on the top of my drink!

Everyone is friendly and the it's the first country on our trip where little English is spoken. Karen had a haircut at a local salon and didn’t come out with a totally different style, thankfully. She reported it was a good experience with a head massage, cut and blow dry costing approx £17 with tip, much better than UK prices. Karen also had success with the interpreter app last night and managed to get a vegetarian meal that wasn't shown on the menu. My attempts to ask for the restroom was misunderstood to be "are you the boss man" and the waiter tried to explain who owned the restaurant!

We haven't ventured out too much, but have been to the beach and 5th Avenue as well as several supermarkets. It has been a lot of relaxing, sunbathing and swimming in the pool. When we did go to the beach the tide was coming in which meant as we walked along at one point we were waist deep when the bigger waves came in.

What we have noticed is the supermarket costs against meals out is a similar balance to the UK. We felt in Ameria the food at supermarkets was really expensive in comparison to eating out and we guessed that explained all the diners and takeaway places.

The reviews of our next hotel, which is part of our Central America trip are terrible. People complaining of thin walls, unfriendly staff and insects in the rooms. We hope this is an exaggeration and not what we will expect on the whole Central America trip.