Playa del Carmen, Mexico

This summer break, I traveled with my parents to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, for 9 days. We stayed at a hotel near the 5th avenue, a super long stretch filled with shops and restaurants. Initially, we thought the hotel had a gym, but it didn’t, which ended up being totally fine because we wouldn’t have had time to go since we were packed with activities. We walked kilometers on 5th avenue, exploring, shopping and finding places to eat. I have to admit it was exhausting, especially walking in flip flops, but it was a good exercise. 

The first tour we took was Tulum, Cenote La Gloria and Cobá. We toured Tulum under the hot midday sun, and walked around the archeological ruins as the tour guide explained some history and we got the opportunity to take pictures. Then, we took a bus to the cenote, which was absolutely beautiful and we were amazed by the clarity and color of the water. FInally, we went to the last stop, Cobá, another archeological site where we got to climb the temple and it was sure a work out! 

Under the hot sun, we climbed up the 120 steps and the view was amazing! Halfway up, I stopped and looked down and almost went back down because I thought I couldn’t do it, I felt like I was going to fall but I pushed myself and I made it all the way up. The view 42 meters up was incredible, you could see all the treetops and bits of the other buildings of the mayan site. The way down was even harder than going up, especially since I was wearing flip flops! I made my way basically sitting down each step, because they weren’t wide enough so simply walking down was hard to put your feet on them. Once I finally made it down, I was completely soaked in sweat, and I could already feel my legs sore from climbing! For the next few days, my dad and I could barely even walk without our legs hurting, and going up/down stairs was a nightmare!

Other tours we went on was to Chichen-Itzá, one of the 7 wonders, which was a long bus ride there but we also got to visit an underground cenote and visit a typical Mexican town, Valladolid, which was all beautiful. I was amazed by all the history and traditions of the mayans, and how they discovered so much by observing nature. We also went on a Catamaran tour to Isla Mujeres where we also snorkeled at an underwater museum with sculptures surrounded by many fish, and later had lunch and explored the island. We also went to Xcaret, a super cool adventure park where I got ran over by a flock of flamingos, went parasailing, and helmet diving. Another cool activity we did there was to go on the Adrenaline, a speedboat that does sharp turns and also submerges underwater, making the ride extremely crazy! At night, the park has a show that explains the history of Mexico and I thought it was going to be a little boring but it was actually super interesting and entertaining, it was like a musical and there was a lot of dancing and cool stuff going on. The last day of our trip, we took the ferry to Isla Cozumel, which was absolutely stunning! We wanted to visit the other side of the island, where there are waves, because we wanted to surf there but they told us it was kind of a long drive and there was too much algae on the other side. We decided to not go to the other side and just walk around and have lunch. Then we went back to Playa del Carmen and shopped while we walked back to the hotel to try to pack up.