Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - How to Live Your Best Expat Life in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Episode Date: May 17, 2020

Let’s move to Mexico, shall we? Specifically Playa del Carmen. Great restaurants, bars, beach clubs, and easy access to nature and ancient UNESCO sites. But the best part, is we’ll get to hang out with my friend Cristal, Dyer, also known as the Tofu Traveler, and one of my all-time favorite travel partners.On today’s episode, Cristal shares everything we need to know to have an epic holiday in Playa del Carmen. We might like it so much, we decide to move there, and she gives us great tips for that, too. ***I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel. Did you know I host another show called Podcasting Step by Step? Check it out if you’ve been wanting to start a podcast. Every week, I break down ‘how to podcast’ with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams. Ready to start your podcast right now? Check out Podcast Launch Academy. Thank you so much for listening to this show. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best. This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet? Postcard Academy listeners can get a FREE audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up viaaudibletrial.com/postcard This podcast is also brought to you by World Nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance? Get a cost estimate from World Nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.co/insurance Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy, a show about travel, living abroad, and location independence for people seeking a more meaningful freedom-fueled life. I'm your host, Sarah Micatel, an American who first moved abroad on our own at age 18 and who has been permanently enjoying life in Europe since 2010. I am so glad you're here. My guests and I will share with you how we made our travel, living abroad, and location independent dreams come true, and how you can to because you will never have this day again. Make it matter. Let's move to Mexico, shall we? Specifically, Playa del Carmen, great restaurants, bars, beach clubs, easy access to nature and ancient UNESCO sites. But the best part is that we get to hang out with my friend Crystal Dyer,

also known as the Tofu Traveler, you've heard her on the Oaxaca episode, Albania episode. She's one of my all-time favorite travel partners. On today's episode, Crystal shares everything that we need to know to have an epic holiday in Playa del Carmen. We like it so much that we decide to stay there like she did. And she gives us some great tips on how to become an expat in Playa Del Carmen. Now into my conversation with Crystal. Welcome, Crystal. Thank you for coming back on the Postcard Academy. Thanks for having me, Sarah. Where in the world are you living these days? Right now, I am in Playa del Carmen in Mexico. It's on the Caribbean coast. And how did you end up there? I think it was after we met each other in Waxaca. I left for Belize to do my Belize Zoo Animal Sanctuary time, hanging out with the cute tapirs.

And then I came up to Pliya just for a bit of a break, a little vacation, because it's always been a vacation spot for me. And I kind of just, at the time, I think it was just what I needed. I needed the beach. I needed, you know, totally relaxed. and I just ended up staying here. We met up. We did our European trip. And then I came right back here.

So how long have you been there? Because I think I read somewhere that you had posted. You've been there for like two years. Is that possible? Yeah. It doesn't see possible. So we've known each other for two years? That's crazy.

Over two years. Because I've been in five two and a half years now. And we met up just before that. Wow. Well, I'm so glad. Happy friend anniversary. I'm so glad that I've known you for this long. I can call you my old friend now, my old friend, Sarah.

Yes. Well, all right. Well, I definitely want to come and visit you there. So first of all, I guess give me a snapshot of what I would see if I were walking down the street in your neighborhood. So Playa del Carmen is kind of a funny city. It started off as just like a small fishing village to the south of Cancun. And it grew really quickly because people were looking for something a bit different, I guess. outside of the resorty feel of Cancun.

So it grew super quickly. In the last 15 to 20 years, it just ballooned into a bigger city than it could handle. So what you'd find here is there's the downtown area, which is still quite small. It's about maybe 20 to 30 blocks across. And then you'll have like a huge local area on the outskirts. So in Plye, you can still get a taste of, you know,

fun bars, nightclubs, lots of restaurants from all around the world. And then you just walk a few blocks and you'll see chickens on the road and stray dogs, people doing their laundry. Like, there's a huge contrast. What's like the mix like between expats and locals? Are there a ton of expats? What does that seem like? It's hard to say because it's such a tourist town, you'll have the expats who usually don't hang out

in the same touristy areas, I guess. And then you'll have a whole bunch of tourists, and then you'll have the locals. So I would say tourists to expats to locals, maybe 40% expats, 60% locals, where I live. Once you get out to more of the local areas, you'll have a few expats who feel comfortable living further out, away from the beach, living more of a simple life.

I am probably having like a bougie period in my life right now, and I've chosen to live one block from the beach. But yeah, I think you can have either type of lifestyle here. So that lifestyle sounds amazing. I'm actually living a block from the beach as well, but over here in the UK. So once again, you're my kindred spirit living a similar life in another part of the world. Tell me more about what you love about where you're living. I mean, it sounds like you've been meeting some cool people.

Like, what does your day-to-day life look like? Right now, my ideal day would be I get up. I get up super early. I will go for a jog, maybe watch the sunrise, along the beach. That's one of my favorite things to do. There are some great gyms here. I've never been a gym person, but I've been really getting into the gyms here. They have a really cool energy, I guess because you meet lots of different types of people from around the world.

And then I'll usually have breakfast. breakfast in Mexico could be something as simple as some tacos, anpanadas, or you could have something more elaborate. My favorite place that I would take you to first is this cute little French cafe. So definitely not Mexican. But the food is delicious. They do great breakfast and great juices and coffee. What's the name of this place?

It is called Shea Celine. Do you know what that means in French? I have no idea. Mrs. Selene. Selim's house, maybe? that's probably more likely. But it's a great place for you to sit. I know you love to sit and have coffee and watch people

because it's a beautiful little garden area. And the tourist trip, which is called Fifth Avenue, just goes along right in front of it. So you can watch all of the people. What does Fifth Avenue look like? Fifth Avenue is, for me, it's a bit insane. Usually I try to avoid it. But if you imagine a wide pedestrian street

plied with tourist stores, people trying to get you to come and try tequila, mescal, buy crazy sombreras, things that you don't need. But also lots of great restaurants, lots of bars. So if you just imagine, it's like a mini version of what you might find in Las Vegas, but more Mexican style. Is there something that surprises people when they visit Playa del Carmen for the first time? I'll think about my experience when I brought people to visit me. They imagine that that's all that it is.

They've heard about Fifth Avenue. They've heard it's like it's a big tourist town that it's all about partying. But when you show them like just a little bit outside of it, it surprises them. The breadth of food that we have, there's some really great restaurants. I can't wait to take you to some from different parts of Mexico. Like there's a Wahakun restaurant that's really good. And also different. parts of the world. There's a lot of Italians here actually. I don't know if I've ever told you that,

but you can find a lot of authentic Italian food. There's this cute little restaurant that has, I think, about four seats. And the couple just come in whatever time they want and they make whatever the hell they want. They charge you whatever they want. And you just eat it, but it's great Italian food. So lots of like little cool experiences like that. Oh, that sounds amazing. What was the name of that place? It is called Premier Plateau. Okay. Perfect. Ah, so I can get a mix of Mexican and Italian. I think I'll stick to Mexican though, because I'm dying to have food like we had in Oaxaca. That was so good. So we went on a great tour of like walking tour when we were in Oaxaca. Are there any cool walking tours in Playa?

I actually looked into a couple for when I've had people visiting. And I think the problem is that Playa is a very new city. So I mentioned that really the growth has happened within the last 15 to 20 years. If you came here 15 years ago, I've seen pictures where it's just a dirt road. Fifth Avenue is like a dirt road. And you really only had like two or three blocks worth of houses. So it doesn't have a lot of history. I don't know if you would get much out of a walking tour, but the popular ones are actually more about food. So they'll take you to different parts of the city so you could try out the different cultures that are in Playa. So you could have your tacos, you can have things that you probably never heard of.

Mexican food like Tlauta. At Tlauta, I don't think we ever got to have that in Waxaca. It's kind of like a Mexican pizza almost. We did have that. I think we had that on our first day in Oaxaca. Okay, perfect. So you get to, if you do a food tour, you get to try food from different parts of Mexico. Have you done any food tours that you would recommend? I haven't yet. I mean, I feel like I know the places that are good. I could take you on a food tour. Oh, all right. Well, let's talk about then what are some, let's pretend that I'm coming to visit you because I definitely want to come and visit you. And so like, let's just live vicariously right now. So if I came to visit you, what What are some experiences that we should have?

Well, we should definitely start off with some cocktails. So I would take you to a couple of my favorite cocktail bars. There's one called Trojios, which does, I don't even know what they do. It's very basic ingredients, but their cocktails are always amazing and perfect, really good balance. But always have like a Mexican take. So lots of cocktails with mescal, which we tried. We did that in mescal tasting. That's really big.

here too. Lots of tequila. Oh, there's a wine bar that focuses on Mexican wines. And I don't think a lot of people would think Mexican wine is very good, but it would surprise you. There are definitely some good wines to be had. Yeah, I don't think of wine when I think of Mexico, but I think it's just because they're so dominant in the Mexicala tequila area that, yeah, I wouldn't even think of it. Yeah, there's actually a big wine region just to the south of the U.S., south of California, called Valle de Guadalupe, which has been dubbed the Napa Valley of Mexico. Is that very far away from where you are? It is extremely far.

It's the other side of the country. It's like the distance between D.C. and California. Oh, my God. That is a long way. But we talked about on a previous episode that flights are really cheap in Mexico and also the buses are quite luxury, right? Yeah, definitely. So you can fly, I've seen flights sometimes go as cheap as maybe $60 one way to go from one side of the country to the other. And you could, you could definitely fly around for less than 200 return, easy, no matter where you want to go.

I'm planning such a great trip in my head. I want to hit Mexico City, which I hope you'll want to come with me as well. Definitely. You know more in Mexico City. Playa, and then we can go to the wine region. But yeah, speaking of like day trips and experiences we should have. So where should we go in or near Playa? Okay.

So one place that I would love to take you to is called Bacalar. It is a huge lake in the south of Mexico, where I live. And it's called the Lake of Seven Cucs. colors because it just has these like very extreme variants of blues and greens throughout the whole lake. It's beautiful. And it has some sonotes in it. Have I ever told you about sonotes? I don't think so. So sonotes are basically sinkholes. So there's also limestone in this region. I guess I'm not a scientist. This is going to sound like nonsense. But in my head, this is what happened. The limestone sank in got and then created these beautiful pools underneath.

So there's lots of little rivers underneath Mexico. They're all connected. And so the sonotes are like the little pools that you can swim in. They're nice and cool. Some of them are ridiculously beautiful. They'll be cavernous. So you have to like climb a set of stairs to get to them. They'll just be like a shaft of light shining down on one little patch of water.

So you'll see lots of wedding photography happening in the sonotes because they're really beautiful places. That sounds lovely. So how would we get there from Playa? We could do the bus, which is very easy. And again, they have these luxury buses. Or we can go local style. They have little minivans that go up and down the highway between Cancun and the north and Bacalar in the south. Or we could rent a car. We should probably do that because that would be a lot of fun. Oh yeah. We have not done that yet. So tell me more about these vans because I'm having flashbacks to Albania where we would just hop in a van and to get to the next town. Yeah, it was basically like that, except probably smaller. They have smaller, smaller vans here. And they're more organized than Albania.

Because I remember one time we got to Albania, they just dropped us off at the side of the road, told us to wait. And then another van turned up. Yeah, and it did come. Yeah. To your credit. Here it's a little bit more organized because I guess a lot of the locals take take these vans to get to and from work and home and get around the country. And it's very cool. All right. Well, so the lake sounds great. What about like cultural and old world civilization type tours?

So we, I probably would not go with you to this place, but you definitely have to see it. My problem is I've been there, I think, four times now. It is Chichenitsa. You've definitely heard of it. I may have been there. I may have been there. Yeah, yeah. Many, many years ago, I went to Cancun with my mom and sister after, like, we both graduated. Like, I had graduated college and she had graduated high school. I think that's how it worked. But yeah, I think we did. I think we did that then. So instead of Chichenica, which is definitely a very impressive place to go, there are smaller ruins that you could visit. One of my favorites is called Cobah. And, There's another one called Usmal, which is closer inland to Marida, which is this beautiful colonial city, which we also need to go to. There's so many places that we can go.

You could spend like a month here with me, and we can do so many places. But yeah, those two ruins. One is more desert-like, so it's a little bit more sandy, if you imagine, more Chichenitsa, I guess. And then Kobah is more jungly. So, you know, you might see some monkeys. is running around. There's lots more foliage. It's more shaded.

There's lots of cool different types of ruins. There's another one that's extremely popular in Touloum, the Tulum ruins. And the ruins themselves are not that impressive, but it's the backdrop. The ruins were actually, they're located on a cliff alongside the coast. So it's like a really beautiful place to visit. Oh my gosh. All these places sound stunning. And I love that you're giving us some ones that are a little bit more off the beaten path than Chichenitsa.

And yes, I want to go to different colonial towns as a well. So Marilla sounds lovely. Crystal, you speak Spanish. You've spoken Spanish for a long time. But if somebody was interested in moving to Playa and wanted to learn Spanish, do you know of any schools? I would probably suggest that they, I can recommend a couple. schools. But I would suggest that they reach out to local people through websites like Italki. Have you heard of It Talki? I've heard of it. I haven't used it. Yeah. So I guess it's less organized,

but you're going to get more conversation practice. You're going to get to hear how our local speaks because Mexican Spanish can be very different to other Spanish that you would learn, especially if you learn Spanish in Spain. It's completely different. I sometimes speak. I sometimes speak. speak to Spanish people and I do not understand what they're saying at all. Yeah, I have no idea what they're talking about. Similar if you meet an Argentinian, totally different language and they have a crazy accent. So I would suggest something like I talkie or reaching out to local schools in the area and organizing like a Skype lesson. I think that's a really great idea. Yeah, you could even do that in advance before you go. Yeah, because when I first started traveling, I remember back in the day

when I was 18, I was planning my one-year trip through South America, and I started doing Spanish lessons. I think I did about three or four months worth where I would go to this lady's house and she would have like a group of about 10 of us twice a week. And it felt like I was learning a lot. but then when I got to Ecuador, I was completely lost. I felt like I wasn't prepared enough. And the only thing that really prepared me for speaking Spanish was just being immersed in that particular country. So I would say just wing it, you know, get here and maybe plan to do like one hour lessons for each day that you're here, like depending on your schedule. And just, you know, learn while you're here because that's the best way that, because you're going.

actually practicing it. You're actually going to be stuck. You know, you go into the bakery. You need to buy bread. You need to actually communicate with people rather than doing classes at home. And then you just like go about your regular day. You're not practicing what you're learning. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's pluses and minuses to school. I think going to a school with other people is a great way to meet new friends when you first arrive. And it's nice to have some people to hang out with. But that's not going to necessarily help you with your language skills because your fallback is going to be English. because everybody wants to chat and get to know each other. But I do think language schools are a good idea from a social perspective. And then also if you're a very beginner, just to get like some of

the grammar down. And then, but then, as you said, doing one-on-one conversations with locals is what's going to help you. And then also living with a local. That's how I learned Italian the first time was living with a woman who knew no English at all. And it was one of the most painful experiences. I'm like at first, but then it was, you know, such a stretching, like it was, ended up being like one of the, you know, most beautiful, meaningful experiences of my life because I left there in a few months speaking Italian. And if she had spoken English, we would have just defaulted to that.

So force yourself into a situation where you have no choice but to speak the other language that you want to learn, I think. Yeah, I agree. It's about making yourself feel uncomfortable and pushing yourself. That's the times when I learn best. Yeah, I agree 100%. What hidden gems would you take me to? I would first probably take you to a place called Las Colorado,

which is in the Yucatan Peninsula to the north. It's this beautiful giant lake area that is all pink. It's like a cotton candy lake lake. It's really beautiful. A cotton candy lake. Okay. That's definitely number one. Number two would be a little town, maybe to the east of it called El Cuyo, which if you wanted to get a taste of what small town fishing village type Mexican life is like, it's still very much like that.

There's some cute little places to say, no giant hotels or anything like that. we can just hang out of the beach. There's no giant attractions or activities. But it's a really nice place to stay. So we can go chill in the beach and then just walk around town and pretend to be local? Exactly. That sounds lovely. And sorry, I'm getting too excited.

The next place that I would take you is there's a tiny little island called Isla Holbosch. So we talked a little bit about how in Pliad el-Karman is. The nickname is Playa. Sometimes with the islands, the nickname will be just Isla. So this island, Isla Holbosch, is also a tiny little island. If anyone's ever been to Belize and been to Kie-Kocker, it's a similar sort of vibe, very small island. No real roads. People get around on bicycles and golf carts.

And it's got some like beautiful beaches, mangrove area, like lots of natural areas. If you come at the right time, you can go snorkeling with whale sharks. Whale sharks? So that's totally safe, presumably. Yeah, they're vegetarian, like us. Oh, nice. I feel like this should be a children's cartoon, the whale shark. That's a vegetarian.

Or, yeah, a cute little children's book. Why am we creative enough to make this happen? Let's make it happen. Okay. Let's do it. So how do we get to this island? So to get to the island from Ply, it's actually really easy. It's about a two and a half hour bus ride to the coastline and then the ferries maybe about 20 minutes

across. Sounds great. Can we go back to the pink lake for a second? Yeah. Do you know anything about this? Like what makes it pink? I knew you can ask me that. I mean, you don't need to get into a scientific explanation, but I'm just curious.

I've never seen a pink lake before. Is this a place that people go to swim or is it just like to look at? Well, the nice thing is it's actually protected right now. So technically you're not allowed to swim. swim in. I think you used to maybe like five years ago, but now they are strongly encouraging that you don't, which is really nice. Okay. So the color comes from a red colored algae plankton and the brine shrimp that eat them. Did you say something about flamingos or did I just think that because you said pink before? No, they are. So in that part of Mexico, you'll find different little

beach towns that have pink flamingos. There's a few, but this is one place that you'd find them. So they just hang out, just walking around out in the wild. That's so cool. Living their lives. I don't think I've ever seen a flamingo in real life. They're really pretty. And especially, you go to some of these places and you'll see hundreds and thousands of them. Are there any nature reserves that you like? Yes, there's a nature reserve to the south called Cian Khan. I got the opportunity last year to go on a tour to Sienkhan, and it made it a lot easier. So I think if you wanted to do it by yourself, it involved like multiple transfers, and then you can't book anything in advance, because once you get there, you have to take a boat. So then you have to like hope that

the boat driver is there, hire the boat driver, go out and then hope there's a bus to take you back. So that's kind of difficult. I did the tour, which was a lot easier. It's about maybe two and a half hour south of Plya and for about half an hour to an hour is on a bumpy dirt road. And this particular road, if it rains the day or the day before, is completely impassable because it just gets way too muddy and you'll get stuck. So it's kind of an adventure. And once you get there, you take a boat into this nature reserve. So it's again another big lake lagoon and it's filled with wildlife. It's all protected. You'll get to see maybe some manatees. There's definitely turtles. There's lots of birds. I don't know enough about birds,

but lots of cool birds. Definitely saw at least like 20 different types of birds. Big birds, little birds, birds, birds, crocodiles. We saw some crocodiles. Those are really cool. There are actually some really big ones hidden there. Yeah. So were you staying in the boat? time? The trips kind of split up in between the boat ride. There's one section that you're allowed to go snorkeling in. So we got some time out in the water. And then you also get to visit. There's a very tiny town that you visit. In the morning, we got to see dolphins. Well, that sounds like a lovely day. And it definitely sounds like it's worth, you know, like I love a good tour. So tell us, again, the name of that place, that tour group.

and I would recommend the group that I went with is called Kai Tours, K-A-Y. Usually I wouldn't be like raving about a tour company, but they actually do a really good job here on the Riviera Maya. They're all about sustainability, like down to the fact that they don't give you bottles of water or like soft drink. For the whole day, they'll give you your own little aluminum bottle. So you can refill your water as you need it. they're very thoughtful about stuff like that, trying to eliminate waste, and they take you to places

that are a little bit more eco-conscious. So, you know, this reserve is on their list because even though it's kind of harder to get to, and there's some nasty dolphin places you can visit in this region, where they train the dolphin to kiss you. That definitely happens here. So I'm sure they could take you to places like that, but they choose to take you a little bit further away so you can experience animals in their natural state, which I think is really cool. That's great. Yes. We should all be supporting businesses that are about sustainability and protecting animals and not exploiting them. So love it 100%. So, Crystal, on previous episodes, you've mentioned that you're a travel blogger and a travel writer. And so that's how you're able to live a location, independent life. But how,

as a non-Mexican, are you able to stay in Mexico? Are there any sort of border runs you need to do? any sort of special visas you needed to figure out? So the reason why I love Mexico, one of the reasons, is that they give you a very generous six-month tourist visa. You can come to Mexico and explore, you know, go from Caribbean coast to the Pacific coast, and you don't need to think about leaving super soon. They will, so far, because I've been coming and going, you know, meeting you in Europe, going back to Australia to visit my family, it hasn't really been a problem sticking to that six-month period, but I have been thinking about getting my temporary residency, which is also kind of an easy process. And that's what a lot of the expats have done here. They're living legal lives

as temporary residents or permanent residents in Mexico because it's quite easy to get your residency. It's just a bit of paperwork and some time. You need time because things are a little bit slower here in Mexico. Mexico, here I come. It sounds lovely. And I know, I mean, you've talked to me a lot about the amazing vegetarian and vegan food that's there. And plus, you've got the beaches. Tell me more about the beaches we need to go to. Where I live, the beaches are nice, definitely nice. But once you get outside of the city, it's when you're going to find some of the more secluded beaches, less people, more wider, wider sandy areas. And one place that I would definitely recommend to anyone who comes to visit. You don't need to stay there for a long time. It's not my favorite city. But Tulum has a

very beautiful beach. Some people say it's magical. And I'm a bit of a skeptic, but when I do go there, I can feel a little bit of magic, for sure. Before we get to the lightning round, this episode is sponsored by me, or rather by my online course, Podcast Launch Academy. You are a podcast lover, and thank you so much for being here. But I was wondering, have you ever thought about creating a podcast yourself. Well, visit sarahmicatel.com to learn how we can work together and to take the podcast personality quiz. All right, Crystal, can we do a lightning round of Pliadal Carmen? We can try. Okay. How about bakery? Do you have a favorite bakery? Yes, actually. There is, so I would say Chezalene, the French cafe told you about, they do really good baguettes. And if

I want bread bread. There is a German bakery called Das Brot, and they have at least three different types of vegan bread, and plus bread for normal people too. Okay. How about coffee shop? Coffee shops, my favorite for coffee coffee would be a place called Bendito Cafe. They do amazing coffee, but also like lots of fun little, I guess, if you want something a little bit more fancy, like French press. That's the fanciest thing I can think of. So obviously I'm a coffee connoisseur. But there's a kind of like a local chain called a cacao. It's a chocolate cafe that also does coffee. So I would recommend that as well because you get to have a taste of local chocolate as well as your coffee hit for the day. Perfect combination. So do these coffee places,

are any of them sort of like Wi-Fi places where people can go and do some more? Yeah, so Aca Cal, if you're here, I would definitely recommend the one on 38th Street. And they have a cute little area upstairs that's kind of almost designed perfectly for people who are working out remotely because it's secluded from the rest of the cafe. And they have pretty good Wi-Fi. But also Bedito is good. And there's another one called Cafe B, which has decent coffee, but also like a great space for work. working. Okay, fantastic. What is your favorite restaurant and you can name more than one? I feel like I'm going to be a little bit trending towards the vegan side of things, but my favorite restaurant is

called the Pitted Date. They make everything in house, all their sauces, their cheeses, like everything is delicious and fresh and homemade and the food is just really high quality. I have so many favorite restaurant. So there's another one called Elemento Cafe, not just vegan, regular people too. They have a regular menu, but then they also do a menu of the week. So changes every week. And their food just feels very fancy, like, you know, fine dining almost. They played it very well. They used very exotic flavors, but it's always tied back to something Mexican. So I'd recommend Elemento. My other recommendation,

okay, this is not Mexican in any way, but there's a, it's this Italian restaurant called Donchendo. He does deep dish style pizza. The pizza itself is amazing, and you can only have it maybe once a month or you would probably die of a heart attack. But the service is super lovely.

Like every time I go there, I think I just get excited about how warm the service is going to be. The people there are super nice, and they just, it's like a restaurant with maybe about 10 tables. It's really small. So if you come and you want to just try something not Mexican for one day, I would definitely recommend that. And I'm going to do one more. Otherwise, we would be talking for five hours. Okay. This place is kind of popular, but it's popular for all the right reasons. It's called La Cueva del Chango. And it's in this cute little, like, jungly area. I mentioned there's lots of sonotes here.

And so there's like the big sonotes where you can go. and you know, you hang out for a day by the water. But then there's also just like little tiny sonotes all around Playa in some restaurants. These are the lakes. Yeah, like the sinkholes. So the pools of water underneath the ground. So there's lots of restaurants that just happen to be placed within a sonote with more of a jungly vibe. So you might, as you walk around Pliya and you explore different restaurants,

you might just be delighted to find a sonote as you're sitting next to it. Quiver de Tango is definitely Mexican, more Mexican. They have lots of vegan and vegetarian options too. And they just do really good food. It's a really, really nice, not too expensive, regular price food. All of that sounds fantastic. I'm so hungry right now. Are there any sort of like food markets or food halls? So we have what's called fruitorias, spread around the city. And they're usually just like a little hole in the wall run by a local with fresh fruit and vegetables. Usually they have fresh juices that they've squeezed within the last day. And coconut water is a big thing. So usually I will, maybe like two or three

times a week, I'll go to my local fridorea, stock up on fresh coconut water. It costs me maybe a dollar 50 for a liter of coconut water that's super fresh. So you get those from your fridaria. There's a big one in the center of the city called DAC. D-A-C. I have no idea what that stands for. It doesn't say on their website. But they will, they have like probably the freshest produce and more exotic things that you couldn't find in a regular grocery store. So maybe something more international. Maybe if I want to mint or rosemary, I would go there. There's a flea market once a week on a Sunday in a more local area of the city. And that's where you might find some of your more regular Mexican things. People say,

selling foods like empanadas, tacos, you'll get some fruit and vegetables, just locals who just selling their own fruit and vegetables, but also more flea-market-y goods. One reason I go there is to get towels because they sell the same towels that they sell in the hotels, but super cheap. Don't ask me why. But basically, if you ever want anything, you go to that flea market on a Sunday and you up around, they'll say, oh, just go up one block. It takes up quite a few blocks. But it's just a crazy mishmash of anything. That sounds like an experience we should have for sure.

Yeah. Do you have a favorite beach club? I do. My favorite beach club is called Lido, L-I-D-O. It's very chill. They make really great juices. They don't charge you for being there. As long as you buy something from them, they're just happy for you to be there.

Sometimes they have live music. It's just a very nice, casual vibe. And the food's really good. That's really important. They have umbrellas. Yes, they have umbrellas for my pale friends. You know I love the beach, but I like to sit under an umbrella. They definitely have umbrellas.

Yeah. Is there any area that you would recommend for shopping if you wanted to buy something unique from the area? So you mentioned the flea market, but like say we wanted to buy a souvenir or something. I do know that, so I don't shop a lot, but I have friends who do. And one thing that you can find here that's really popular is macromay. There's an area if you're driving from Playa to Toulon, there's an area where all the macramee sellers hang out and you can go and bargain with them and they have very beautiful designs like giant taking up a whole wall kind of designs. So if you're into macramee, that's really big here.

You can get pottery that's quite popular. There's a lot of souvenirs that you can find in Mexico. I would probably say if you came here, I would recommend that you got some tequila or mescal because there's a huge. huge variety that you can find and they're really happy for you to just taste it. So you can do, as you're walking down the street, you can do a little tasting here and there, you know, to see what's how you like. Very fun. So I believe your family came and visited you last year. So what was your favorite thing that you did with them? We went to, so there's an island across from Playa called Cosimo. And it's about a half an hour ferry ride to get there. But once you get

there, usually you'd hire a Jeep or scooters to go around the island. island. And I've been to Cozumel a bunch of times, but this particular time, we decided to try out a different beach club. And I found something that probably everybody knew about. It's like a nature reserve slash beach club in Cozumel that's really kind of special. It's called Punta Sir. So you had a good time with your family when they came? Yeah. I love it. I love sharing Mexico with them. And they love Mexico now. My sister actually got married here a good four years ago. It's special for them. It's funny, the first time I decided to bring them here for them to visit me, they were terrified. They just had all these ideas of what Mexico would be like. And then when they actually got here,

they were just like, really? This is just a normal, delightful place. There's no, there's no drug lords anywhere. Well, I'm glad that they had a good experience. I'm sure you know your parents especially feel relieved when they know their daughter is in a safe place. And she knows I'm happy. It's such a, it's such a a relaxing place. You've got the water right there. You know this. You understand. It's nice to be by the water. I agree. What about cultural scene? Is there any sort of museums or theater or anything like that? That is definitely one thing that's lacking. And when I think about something that I miss, that's one thing that I miss. I miss, you know, going to the theater or going to see a dance performance. They do have a cultural center here that does a pretty good job. They do a lot of more traditional

Mayan shows or dance performances to showcase more traditional dance. Throughout the city, there'll be different types of performances. So you'll find a lot more locals just trying to show their history or the parts of Mexico that they're from. But I wouldn't say it's full of culture. Like I said, it's a really young city that's kind of grown out of a necessity for people to have somewhere to spend time at the beach. But you can find things if you look. There is one museum. that's not great that I wouldn't recommend. But it's there, and I'm sure it's going to get better. They're going to work on that museum.

What do you usually do at night? If I'm being fun, Crystal, I might go to my favorite wine bar, which is called Off the Vine, for the record, and I have a couple glasses of wine there, maybe see where the night takes us. People eat quite late here, not as late as in Italy. Maybe like 9 o'clock would be a regular time to go out dinner. I would say that for Italy as well, eight or nine. I think it's Spain when you're starting to get

into much later. The ridiculous times. Yeah, like 10 to be in night. And then if it's going to be one of those nights, there's lots of really fun places to go dancing. If you like salsa, there's salsa bars. If you just like to shake your booty, there's definitely lots of those bars and lots of fun nightclubs because I think that they're trying to target, they want to be like the best nightclub for for the tourists to come to. So you can take advantage of that as a local. Well, you know that I'm not a clever, but I trust your judgment. So if I were to go to one or two of these places, are there any you would recommend? My favorite place is called La Embahara. It's kind of an interesting place. They say it's more of a local place where it's very strange. The center of it is all

open, open to the sky. So if it rains, you just get rained on. But, you know, You're dancing. You're hot and sweaty, so it doesn't matter. But that's a super fun place. They play more like reggaeton, dance hall, that kind of music. Across the street is Larana, which is a little bit more like low-key type of music. And then if you want to do more clubby stuff, two popular places to go is Mandala and Palacio. And that's where you get into the more extravagance, you know, getting dressed up, looking nice, partying until six in the morning. We do also have a place called Cocoa Bongo, which I think there's one in Cancun, there's one here. And it's more of like an experience, a nightclub experience, where, you know, you go, you can have dinner there.

And the performers put on a huge show and then everybody gets into the show and just dances all night long. But that costs. That sounds fun. Yeah. It's super fun. It does cost about $100. So, you know, you got to be invested in it. It's not something you do every night.

You have to go in in a happy spirit. Yes. Eat a good meal, watch a show, and then get up and start dancing. Exactly. Are there any cultural tips that we should know about, either Mexico or Playa Del Carmen, specifically before we go? One thing that you should know about at this area is while you can, you're going to get a good mix of local Mexican experiences, but also there's a lot of experiences that are

tailored towards tourists and the expats that live here. because there's a big expat community. And also, Playa's attracting a lot of digital nomads like myself. It's not going to be for everybody. And that's why when I first came here, I never really expected to stay here because you have like one impression of it. But I kind of like now that in Playa, you can find things like Walmart, Costco. You know, you have the big fancy pharmacies where you can buy whatever you want.

So it's very comfortable. Well, I didn't know they had big box stores there. I think we even have a Sam's Club. I haven't been to it yet, but yeah, there's a Sam's Club, too. Mexicans go there too because it's a great deal. You can find like really good bargains. But it's not the first thing people would expect when they come to Mexico is to find a Wal-Barn. How did you find your apartment when you first moved there? I found my apartment through Facebook Marketplace. Facebook's really big to advertise here, but also you could use Airbnb, find something that you really

like and then you can contact the owner and make a deal for something more long term. That's really common. And just walking around the neighborhood, so like figuring out which neighborhood you like, there's one particular neighborhood that a lot of expats seem to like called Colonia Hollywood. And so if you just walk around, you'll see for rent signs out the front. So that's really normal because some locals just aren't as adept at using the internet or they don't have to really. They just put signs up, people call. And that's kind of like a normal way to do things here too. Yes, you could maybe set yourself in a temporary, set yourself up in a temporary situation. And then once you get there, you can start walking around and see what you like.

Yeah, usually when new expots come, we would recommend maybe book an Airbnb for a week, no more than that, and you will easily find something. Like right now, I'm looking, I'm thinking of moving. My lease comes up in about six weeks. And I haven't even started looking at because people usually will look like the week before they need to move. Things happen like it's just, do you need to move? Okay, let's move. Okay. You can't plan it two months in advance. That doesn't happen. But I mean, I think that works for certain personalities who probably wouldn't really start thinking about it until a week before. Anyway, so perfect. I'm itching. I'm itching to look, but I know that there's no possibility. No one's going to rent me six weeks in advance,

but I'm dying to look. It sounds like that you have like made some nice friendships there. Was it hard to meet people? And I guess how did you go about meeting new people? The first place I'd looked was probably like in Facebook groups. So looking for your particular niche of people. So maybe, so we're a digital nomads, for example. So there's a Facebook group for digital nomads in Playa. Also there's a vegans in Playa. So just like joining these different groups, people that communities that I identify with, chatting to people. In Pliya, actually, they have a ladies imply a group and they've created a WhatsApp and it just makes it super easy because people will just post, hey, I'm going to go to this beach in half an hour. Does anyone want to join me?

And it makes it like a really easy way to meet friends. I love that idea. Yeah, I've made some really nice friends here as well, just randomly organically. But yeah, but we have different WhatsApp threads going on as well. And it's, yeah, same thing. Like, you. just say, hey, I'm doing this or does anyone want to do that? So yes, I love that idea. Well, Crystal, this has been so amazing talking to you. Is there anything else you wanted to add? No, I just hope that you come visit me and I can't wait to see you. It would be really great to do another travel session together. I know we've both been talking about going to Bosnia. So have you done a Bosnia podcast? I have done a Sarajevo podcast, but we can do another one when we go

and roam the streets. Okay, perfect. I can't wait. Yes, me too. All right. Well, Crystal, tell us again how we can find out more about you. My name is Crystal Dyer. I have a travel website called TofuTravel.com. So you can learn more about me there and read about my adventures if you like. Also, I often post on my Instagram page. So if you're looking for daily snippets about my life in Playa, you can check me out there. I'm at Tofu Traveler. Thank you so much, Crystal. No worries. Nice talking to you. All right. Are you ready to pack your bags for Mexico? I know I sure am. I don't really like dating these episodes with headline news, but I am recording this in May 2020. And a lot of the world is still in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic over here in the UK. Nothing is open, just grocery stores and pharmacies. So we're making the best of it. I sure are making the most of my time in

Houston. I love walking along the cliffs and the beaches here. But like you, I'm all the switching to travel again. Specifically, I would really like to head home to see my family. My two-year-old nephew made me breakfast today via FaceTime, and I nearly just dropped everything and ran to the airport because I miss him so much and I just can't wait until I can hug him again. But I'm actually not exactly sure what is happening with flights right now or with travel insurance. A lot of travel insurance places have stopped their policies and especially in this time, like I think travel insurance is a must. So I'm just going to have to sit tight for a while. And as much as modern technology can drive me crazy sometimes, it can also be a godsend. I am talking to my family

every day, so I feel very fortunate for that. And when I think about when my great grandparents left Europe for America, they never got to see their family ever again. And I can't even imagine how difficult that must have been. So here's disdain. connected to family and friends, new and old. Maybe I will even create an online space for us to connect. Maybe that will be fun, so I will look into that. That's all for now. Thank you so much for listening and have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with

friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.