This off the beaten tourist path location translates into lower prices and a variety of Mexican art and deco items that’s distinctively different from what you will find on 5th Ave. You can visit their blog here.

Located on the corner of Ave 35 and Calle 6 Bis

Unique items at reasonable prices.

Metal Art and More

A short walk from Walmart

Now we are both very glad that we made the decision not to own one, and we found there are new reasons not to. One is that public transportation is very affordable and is nominal in comparison to the cost of owning a car. We live close to two large grocery stores, Mega and WalMart, and if we buy more than we can carry home on foot, we can get a taxi. We also travel by taxi to Sam’s Club, the mall and anywhere else that we think is too far to walk. Easy! If we want to go to Tulum or other places for the day, we get a colectivo (a van that carries 12 to 15 people) or ride on one of the very nice, air conditioned buses for a small fee. Another reason is that people drive a little crazy here, and it’s probably much safer to leave the driving to people who are very experienced in dealing with it.

 Today, I learned another reason for not owning a car. The following link on the In The Roo public forum was posted by a friend of ours regarding a scam situation involving him and some local taxi drivers.

http://intheroo.com/playa-del-carmen-forums/playa-del-carmen/1146-beware-latest-taxi-scam.html

If you are not familiar with the In The Roo web site (http://intheroo.com/), it’s a great place to visit for information about Playa del Carmen. They even have an interactive map of the area.

The subject here, however, is the wonderful mango. When we lived in Belize, the “mango man” would wheel around town on his big tricycle with a large basket in front full of tropical fruits all cut up and stored in baggies. The mangos were in perfect little wedges and that you could just pop in your mouth and relish. Yum! But when I tried to cut up a mango at home, those little slippery critters made a huge mess that made me want to dump the whole thing in the trash can. I thought there must be a better way, and came upon the Yucatan way to eat a mango. Now eating a mango is a delight instead of a debacle. Here’s how.

 First, hold the end of the mango that was previously attached to the tree up and using a sharp knife, slice down one side.

 Do the same thing on the other side so that you have two slices. The center part contains the seed.

Now you can spoon each slice out of the skin like you would a half of avacado.

Then pick up the semilla (the part with the seed) and peel off the skin on either side.

 Now you can nibble the remaining flesh clinging to the large hard seed. (This part is Mother Nature’s natural dental floss.)

Eat as much as you want, and then.…you are done! How easy is that!

Rinconada del Sol is located in Centro Playa del Carmen. It may be the perfect location, only a block from Mega with the Perlas Mall next door. Walmart is four blocks away, 5th Ave is three blocks, the beach five.

Vacation rentals available now, and three to six month rentals are available May 1, 2008. Three month rental is $1300 per month plus electricity. Six month rental is $1200 per month plus electricity. Email janaita@yahoo.com for more information.

I also found some real American sour cream - a rare find in Playa del Carmen.

We enjoyed looking around, and when we asked for horseradish, a man went back to the refrigerated area and got a jar for us. Here’s some of the items we saw.

There are things to do here that other people enjoy that we don’t particularly. Playacar has a nice golf course and country club from what I’ve been told. Many people like to go to the Muscle Beach Gym to work out or go to a spinning or aerobics class. There are Tae Kwon Do studios and Yoga classes. You can swim, snorkle or dive in the gorgeous reef or one of the cenotes (underground caves) that abound here. Of course there is deep sea fishing and I’ve been told, fly fishing.

I think only a hermit would be bored here. There’s lots to do.  

In Mexico, it is unlikely that the man on the street who finds your phone will return it. It would have been very easy for someone to look through my stored numbers and find my home number or simply call any of the local numbers on the phone to find a way to contact me. I didn’t really expect that to happen, but I was hopeful. I waited two days before doing anything about the missing phone.  

On Tuesday morning I decided there had been adequate time for someone to get my phone back to me, and it was time to replace it. A friend advised me to go to the Telcel Customer Service Center at the Centro Maya mall in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Of course, there was the obligatory line to stand in, but the wait wasn’t terrible… about 20 minutes. Our customer service representative was very helpful and spoke much better English than my Spanish. He deactivated the lost phone, transferred my number to a new phone, and also transferred my remaining prepaid balance to  the new phone. The prepaid balance was about 300 pesos less than when I lost the phone, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to transfer the balance at all.  My cheap replacement phone, a Motorola C139, and the fee to transfer the phone number totaled a little less than $500 MX. So losing my cell phone was more like losing $50 instead of $100. Probably a more significant loss was my stored phone numbers.

Lessons learned - hang on to my cell phone and backup my phone list.

We stopped in to meet the Consular Agent, Samatha Mason. Samantha has lived for many years in Cozumel, but is new to the U.S. Foreign Service. Playa del Carmen is a tough first assignment…don’t you think. :) If you like, she will be happy to add you to her local registry of U.S. citizens living in the Playa del Carmen Mexico area. Her office phone number is (984) 873-0303. Her fax is (984) 873-0481. This is a voluntary list that might be beneficial if you have a personal emergency or if there is a natural disaster like a hurricane. She also plans some educational programs for expats in the area. You can find the U.S. Consulate webpage at http://merida.usconsulate.gov.

One of the services that the Consular Agent can offer you is that of a notary public for U.S. government  or personal documents. We required a notary for some postal forms required by our mail forwarding agent in the U.S. Having a recognized U.S. Notary in the local area was very helpful. There is a fee for this service. In our case about $30.00 US.

There is also a Consular Agent in Cozumel. To find the office from the Cozumel Ferry terminal, walk straight across the street when you leave the pier. Walk straight down the plaza about a half block until you see Fat Tuesdays bar on the left. Walk left under the arch (or through the bar) to the back of the shopping plaza. Go up the stairs and the Consular’s office is on the second floor in the corner.

Lemons and lemon juice are seldom used in Mexican cooking. The lime reigns supreme here in that area. I did find out that Southern Mexico is now a major grower of lemons, not for the fruit, but primarily for lemon peel oil. Also some U.S. food companies are now growing lemons in Mexico for shipment back to the U.S. However, if you are a big fan of lemon cream pie, you might want to bring a few lemons or a bottle of lemon juice with you. It doesn’t bother me. I just make my  margaritas with Mexican limónes and a slice of lime is quite nice in a glass of ice tea.