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We arrived in Puerto Morelos (let’s call it PM from now to save typing) last night around 7pm. Our first stop was the Abbey del Sol hotel where we needed to go to pick up the keys for our rental property. They were expecting us even though we were a fair bit early and the guy at the front desk (Joe) gave our host (Mikko) a call and let us know that Mikko would be there in a few minutes. We made small talk with Joe – he was very impressed that we hadn’t been to Playa del Carmen in over 20 years and warned us that it would not be anything like it had been since we were last there. We’ve heard this from a number of our friends who have travelled there and prepared but I imagine we will be a bit sad nonetheless as Playa 20 years ago was a very laid back place… After a few minutes Mikko arrived and walked with us the 200 meters or so to our apartment – Casa Mae.
We picked this rental based on the booking.com ratings and boy were they spot on. We’ve stayed in many vacation rentals, pensions, bed and breakfasts, etc. over the past few years and have stayed at some truly awesome properties… but no one has ever done as thorough a welcome to a property – or made us feel as welcome – as Mikko. We learned eventually that he had spent many years in the hotel industry before “retiring” to manage his PM property… It really showed. He went through the whole place with us, showed us how everything worked and generally made us feel completely welcome and at home. He even piled us into his car and drove us back to the main square (about 1km away) to give us a tour around and to orient us to PM. As far as the apartment goes, it is spotlessly clean, very well equipped and appointed (full kitchen, beach towels and umbrella, bottle water, and FREE! laundry service) and has its own private cool pool and patio area. It’s a little pricier than we usually pay when we’re traveling but for this area at this time of year, it’s well priced and so far we couldn’t be happier with the location or the quality of the accommodations. So if you’re ever traveling to PM give Righetto Vacation Rentals a go… you won’t regret it. We’re already planning our next trip!
We took Mikko up on his offer of a ride back to the square and a short tour so we didn’t have any time to wash the traveling grime off before heading out to check out the town and get some dinner. PM definitely lives up to its reputation as a sort of sleepy fishing village… it’s one of the quietest places we’ve stayed and definitely has none of the Cancun party scene vibe. In fact, it really reminds Marie and I of Playa del Carmen 20 years ago… there are two parts to the town – the touristic beach area where we’re staying and the larger more locals-oriented Colonia that we may check out later. And that we need to go to at some point to catch the bus to Valladolid.
After our quick tour of the town, Mikko bid us adios and we headed for a place to eat. We settled on a place called Chimi Churri and ordered a round of cervezas for all… for $2CDN a piece. Mexico does a lot of things well and cold, refreshing beer is one of them and after a day of traveling the ice cold Sols went down pretty well. We may have ordered another round. For dinner Marie settled on ravioli in a bolognese sauce while Caitlin and I had jamon y queso empanadas (like a calzone without the tomato sauce). The food was delicious.
After dinner we headed to the new supermarket in town (Chedraui) and stocked up on yogurt, granola and pastries for our breakfasts… and beer… we definitely stocked up on beer. We wandered around the town square (complete with Christmas tree) and then headed back to the apartment. We were all pretty drained after traveling so after one last cold beer and a little relax in the apartment, we all turned in for the night.
