Day 3: My Run On The Beach & Downtown Playa Del Carmen
I woke up today at around 8am and headed straight for the beach. I want to make it a daily ritual to run along the beach, stop, sit down and do a little meditation and then head back to my place for 4 sets of pushups. Then after a good breakfast, I can start my day. This is exactly what I did today. The run on the beach was amazing. I ran on my bare feet and really felt my calf muscles being engaged. The coastline added more resistance to the workout which felt great! I sat on the beach afterwards and meditated towards the water. After my pushups and breakfast, I packed my laptop and backpack and headed towards the 5th avenue tourist section. The plan was to spend the whole day there working out of the local Starbucks.
First, I stopped off a little tortilla bakery up the street and grabbed a whole bag of freshly made tortillas for only $12 pesos. The lady that sold them to me appeared to be the owner of this little shop. She had another girl helping her with bagging the tortillas and there were two other men working the kitchen. It was a little Tortilla factory 🙂 I opened up the little sealed back and enjoyed the fresh tortillas. This little place will now be part of my regular spots as I plan on eating these Tortillas regularity. They are so damn good! Maybe I will make it part of my regular routine each morning to walk up the street and grab a bag for the day. I posted some pics below of this little gem and I will post more as soon as I get around to it.
After enjoying my plain tortillas. I headed down 10th Avenue downtown. Along the way I observed the Mexicans go about their regular days. It reminds me of when I was a kid and my family would go to Goa, India. The little school I passed was filled with children running around in the playground. The Mexican children are very cute and so full of happiness. Moms and grandmothers pop their heads near the walls and greet their kids as they play. I walked by many small restaurants and other small family businesses. It seems that if you have a house near a busy street, you can easily turn it into a business. I seen tailors, laundromats, restaurants, and of course, the little tortilla factory.
I knew I arrived downtown when I saw the buildings starting to look very modern with a greater concentration of tourists. I found the Starbucks! I grabbed my coffee and parked myself on the outdoor patio and remain there for at least 4 hours working away on various tasks. I loved the combo of the warm sun, fresh air, coffee and my technology. I better take advantage of this, I am sure the month will go by fast. I was able to make calls to Canada on my phone using Talkatone, an app for my iPhone. The internet connection was fast. I met a few German business men who were also doing the work/vacation thing like me. They, however, appear to be jumping from one country to the next. They just got here from Argentina and were already booking their flight out of Cancun.
I headed up for the Walmart when I stopped to ask for directions. Malin, a vibrant and free spirited red headed Swedish woman pointed me in the right direction. We stood there after she gave me directions and spoke about her three month stay at Playa Del Carmen. She was heading over to one of her favorite places to eat. I asked if I can join her and away we went. We sat and talked about traveling and working from remote destinations. She ordered us both her usual dish. I had no idea what it was called but oh man it was damn good! And the salsa, was hot! Just the way I love it! Dinner in the warm patio was amazing and the conversation inspiring. We exchanged email addresses and headed our separate ways agreeing to get together before she heads out in a week. I was now on my way to Walmart.
At Walmart, I grabbed some bathroom supplies and food items and walked back to my place. I mixed up some drinks and here I am drinking some Tequila in lemon juice and writing this blog post. Maybe it’s the drinks talking but I must say, Playa truly is magical. I have met amazing people each day, got a lot of work done, enjoyed this beautiful city, ate some great meals and am now drinking some good Tequila. After the little mosquito evening clears, I am going to lay in the hammock for a bit and head to bed ready for my run tomorrow morning and yet another day of adventure. Have a great night, thanks for reading!
