Playa del Carmen has plenty to explore

By Roseanna Schick

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Situated in the tropical tourist region known as Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen is 65 kilometres south of Cancun and 20 kilometres from the island of Cozumel. This humble hot spot provides all the sun, sand and surf of its trendy cousins, but still sports fewer crowds.

At least for the time being.

Named for Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the patron saint of Cancun, Playa del Carmen was a rest stop and readying point for the earliest travellers making their way from the great Mayan cities to the island of Cozumel. From the same shores that now house modern-day resorts and restaurants, they launched dugout canoes to journey across the open water.

During ensuing centuries of European exploration, Spaniards travelled up and down the Yucatan Peninsula, and pirate ships patrolled the waters. Trade was established in the area, where local commodities like salt and honey were bartered for goods imported from other regions.

Today, bartering still takes place, with the commodity being the Mexican peso or U.S. dollar. You can still venture away from the shoreline, but the vessel will most likely be a kayak, fishing boat or perhaps a parasail. But first, you have to get to the waterfront.

Riviera Maya's coastline extends nearly 145 kilometres along the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula, with Playa del Carmen at the heart of it all. Bordered by the Caribbean Sea, the beach looks exactly like those magazine pictures of turquoise water and sparkling white sands. If ever I'd imagined paradise, this was it.

One of my favourite pastimes when travelling, besides wandering alone into wilderness areas, is roaming along a beach. It is here I'll find my most treasured souvenirs - seashells eroded from endlessly spinning in salt water, and rocks smoothed from tumbling about the tides.

Riviera Maya is home to the largest barrier reef system in the Northern Hemisphere. Second only to Australia's famous Great Barrier Reef, the Great Maya Reef was introduced to the world by Jacques Cousteau in 1954. Stretching nearly 1,000 kilometres from the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula southward to the Bay of Honduras, the Great Maya Reef is a chain of crevices, ravines, canyons, and coral gardens.

It has become one of the most popular and spectacular scuba and snorkelling destinations in the world, offering 100 different dive sites and more than 500 species of fish, four species of sea turtles, and some of the biggest sponge formations in existence.

Diving takes place inland, too, where numerous subterranean streams throughout the jungle are connected to submerged caverns, resulting in the world's largest underground river system. Cenotes, or freshwater pools, are formed by water filtering through the limestone, providing a myriad of tunnels, channels and caves to be explored.

Riviera Maya's natural jungle setting is the perfect place for eco-parks, and there are several to choose from. Our group toured Xcaret, a destination teeming with opportunities to learn about regional ecology, culture, traditions and history.

Xcaret means "little inlet" and is one of the most visited places in the Riviera Maya. It hosts an array of indigenous wildlife, including monkeys, bats, zebus and tapirs - whose main predator also lives at Xcaret. Jaguars are kept on an island shaded by lush vegetation. To the Maya, the jaguar was a god called Balam, a symbol of power and sovereign of the underworld. To the admiring tourist, this king of the tropics is majestic. To the tapir, the only good jaguar is one kept on an island.

Marine turtles have lived in the oceans for more than 100 million years, and constitute an important symbolic figure for indigenous communities around the world. During nesting season, Xcaret establishes turtle camps to protect the endangered species from possible predators. When baby turtles hatch after 60 days, the ones that arrive at the park as part of the conservation program are marked for identification when they return to nest 25 years later.

To see other marine life, the Xcaret Sea Trek allows you to walk and breathe underwater using a special helmet. Other unique experiences include snuba diving, which combines the technology of scuba diving with the ease of snorkelling, swimming with dolphins, and swimming with sharks.

With so much to do and see at Xcaret, including performances, ceremonies, cultural sites, sculptures, chapel, Mayan village, wine cellar and more, you could spend an entire week exploring everything it has to offer.

There's an increasingly popular attraction in Riviera Maya that doesn't involve swimsuits, sunscreen or waterfall massages. The Riviera Maya Jazz Festival celebrated its sixth birthday in November, and is becoming more acclaimed with each passing year. The festival features the best of Mexico's jazz culture and a choice selection of international artists.

While there are other jazz music festivals in Mexico, this is the only one on the sandy beach alongside the Caribbean Sea. An estimated 30,000 visitors attended over three evenings, using beach towels, blankets and lawn chairs to stake claim to their piece of sandy real estate.

If you are visiting Playa del Carmen, you must stroll down La Quinta Avenida, or Fifth Avenue, a festive pedestrian walkway running parallel to the ocean. It offers a wide selection of shopping, dining and entertainment, along with Internet cafes, money exchangers and other specialty places. It's also lined with boutiques, stores and kiosks, giving tourists plenty of potential to practise the age-old tradition known as haggling.

There are three rules to remember when shopping in Mexico. First, everything is negotiable. Second, never buy the first one of anything you see, as chances are there will be five more just like it down the street. Third, don't forget rule number one.

You can get great deals in Playa del Carmen, even on a tourist strip like the Quinta. The selection of silver jewelry is exceptional, and somewhat overwhelming. With so many stunning and inexpensive pieces to choose from, the toughest part is making a decision. Take the time to look around first to find the best quality and locate that one special item that truly catches your eye.

Of course all that walking around and haggling will make you hungry, so stop in at one of the many restaurants along the Quinta. With ex-patriots from dozens of countries around the globe calling Playa del Carmen home, the town has a vast selection of food choices, including Italian, Argentinean, Chinese, French and other cuisines.

My preference is authentic Mexican cuisine like ceviche, empanadas, and fresh salsa and guacamole that tastes delicious atop anything. To wash it all down, nopal juice made from the medicinal prickly pear cactus is not only refreshing, but also contains valuable nutrients that support immune, glandular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems.

After a long day's roaming it's always a relief to rest your weary head. Being one of Mexico's fastest-growing destinations, Playa del Carmen has had a boom in the quantity and quality of lodgings. Small hotels possess a captivating Caribbean charm, with some offering spectacular ocean views, while others resemble cosy nests surrounded by tropical jungle. And of course you have the high-end, all-inclusive resorts, which line the waterfront up and down the Yucatan Peninsula. Looking like fenced-in fortresses, some of these places are the size of small villages and have all the amenities.

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/liveit/article/550014