Mexican Beach Life
I have been to five Mexican beach resorts, Holbox and Tulum last Christmas and New Year and most recently, Muzunte, Playa Escondido and Playa Del Carmen. They are all unique in their own way.
Muzunte is a sleepy beach town, a 6 hour bus ride from Oaxaca City. There are countless coves of virgin beaches, golden sand, rock pools, and Punta Cometa which stands tall on the cliffs for a magical sunset. Be prepared for a bit of a steep hike, but so worth it and good to get the heart pumping.
We stayed in an adorable place called ‘Una Posada Mas.’ The rooms had fans, private bathrooms, hammocks outside and perfect little décor touches. They had a few hangers and shelves which is not always common. It was close to shops and restaurants and short walk from the beach.
I highly recommend Muzunte, it’s relaxed and rustic. Much how I imagined Tulum was going to be, but Tulum is bigger than I anticipated and a very different experience.
We visited Playa Escondido for the day, mainly to fly back to Mexico city from. The bus back was 10 hours and $50, the plane wasn’t too much more considering the ease and time saving which was a price worth paying for.
Playa Escondido is famous for the surf. Each year they host one of the biggest surf competitions in the world. The beach is long and wide, not dissimilar to Venice Beach, California. It’s a reasonably big town, with some smart beach restaurants looking out on to the turquoise waters. We hung out at a beach club and ate lunch on Playa Zicaleta to pass the time before returning to DF.
The cold and wet of Mexico City was getting to me. It was mainly the night, not heating in these old buildings was making me crave the beach and I had friends in Playa Del Carmen.
I haven’t heard the most positive things about Playa Del Carmen, notably from those that love Tulum, but every places serves a purpose, right?
I knew fun and lovely people there, and where there’s fun people, I don’t get hung up on my surroundings. They were staying in Hostal Viva la Vida, which is by no means paradise, but I laughed my ass off and slept well. Or at least passed out happily the three nights I was there.
Playa Del Carmen is a big town, a great place to pick up tourist tat to take home as gifts, get beauty treatments (I can’t let everything get completely wild!) and party! There is no shortage of bars and restaurants.
I didn’t end up dancing in any of the big clubs, but mainly hung out in Walmart buying cheap booze with European guys who were not from America and extremely excited about the value Walmart had to offer. Then we would return to the hostal and make new friends, laugh loudly and put the world to rights. Simply perfect!
I sadly post this the same day as news was released that there was a shooting in Playa Del Carmen last night in the Blue Parrot which was a beach hotel and bar that I spent an afternoon supping Mojito’s whilst I was there.
My thoughts and prayers are with the people who were killed and their family and friends whose lives are forever changed. These kind of atrocities are so hard to understand and the complexities of those who commit such vehement crimes.
The Chic Seeker 
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