Archive for July, 2008
Happy Anniversary Playa del Carmen
Today, the municipality of Solidaridad turns 15 years old. Solidaridad governs the towns of Playa del Carmen, Paamul, Xpu-Ha, Puerto Aventuras and northern Akumal. Until just a few months ago, it also included Tulum. But Tulum recently won a fight to secede from Solidaridad and form their own municipality, taking most of Akumal and Chemuyil with it.
Solidaridad won its own fight fifteen years ago. For many years, Playa del Carmen and the rest of the tiny fishing villages along the Riviera Maya were governed by the municipality of Cozumel. As Cancun grew more popular, travelers started headed south and discovered beautiful, unspoiled beaches. With increased tourism, Playa del Carmen grew larger and yearned to govern itself. In 1993, Playa won that right and seceded from the Cozumel municipality. Solidaridad was born.
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Public Service Announcement
Hand painted signs, or rotulos in Spanish, are traditionally used in Mexico to advertise businesses, announce upcoming events, and declare property for sale. In the tourist zones of Playa del Carmen, these rotulos have largely been replaced by modern digitally produced signage. But in the surrounding areas where most of us live, rotulos are still very prevalent.
Even public service announcements are painted on walls. In a previous entry, I shared pictures of three of these announcements. Today on my walk, I noticed an entire wall of psas on 20th Avenue between Constituyentes and Calle 20. Here they are with English translations.
“We work to confront obstacles and to put an end to violence against women and children. You are not alone. Integral Union for the Attention of Women” (Sorry, tough to translate the name of the organization.)
[singlepic=309,640,480,,] No commentsVibrant Beach Clubs
The summers in Playa del Carmen are sizzling hot, but the tourists just keep on coming. Playa is hopping right now! As usual, visitors have come from all over the world, but we are especially seeing a lot of Mexicans right now.
Yesterday, after lunch at La Fragata with the lovely Marissab, I took a little walk to check out the action on the beach. Kool and Mamitas beach clubs were particularly vibrant, packed with people and energy! See for yourself.
[singlepic=287,640,480,,] No commentsNorth End Beach & Condos
Tropical Storm Dolly has brought us some rain and gloom the last couple of days. I haven’t gone out for a walk, but as luck would have it, I have some photos from Saturday just before the clouds came in.
In my last entry, I walked 5th Avenue from Calle 38 north to Ave CTM. In this walk, I took Calle 38 towards the beach to explore the area just east of there. This area is full of condos, some a few years old and many currently under construction.
The first place I encountered was La Cueva del Chango. This is a great breakfast spot in a pretty and unique setting.
[singlepic=259,640,480,,] 2 commentsFifth Avenue Stroll – Part Cuatro
After a much too long hiatus (or was it a writer’s strike?), Walking About Playa is back baby! When I last left off, I was walking 5th Avenue north and had reached Calle 34. Today, I go further north to an area that many of you have probably not seen yet. This part of 5th Avenue has the same cobblestone paving but is still open to car traffic. With all the new restaurants, condos, hotels & stores opening up, it won’t be long before it too becomes pedestrian only.
A new sushi place, Tsuba, just opened up in the last few weeks.
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