By Suzanne Bandick

The Lighter side of Living in Playa

Going for a Mexican Holiday

I love living in Playa. It is my home. But every now and then my husband and I, who are adventurers at heart, get the yearning to explore.

It sounded like an easy and relaxing route: Head to Merida for a little shopping (did you know they not only have wonderful downtown shops and kiosks but a Mall of America and a Gran Plaza shopping complex too?), visit Progresso on the coast, then take the Puuc Route to visit ruins and haciendas and caves, a few days in Campeche also on the coast and then meander back.

Now if I had written this before I left I would have known we were packing in a bit much because just writing it makes me tired. Now, add to this wonderful holiday scenario 2 kids that would rather stay home with their friends as they insist we are dragging them into boonies and you have to just feel the relaxation beginning to flow.

So, we packed the kids up along with about 12 sandwiches to hold our son until Merida (4 hours away) and we were off. We went the scenic route through Valladolid and that was a very good move. It is much more interesting than the highway and you miss all the tolls. We arrived in Merida by early afternoon and checked into the majestic Gran Hotel which is right in the heart of the historic district in the center of town. We unanimously decided to go shopping right away. We actually spent the next day shopping too. I was exhausted - I usually hate to shop but the malls were very nice.

Progresso appeared to be a delightful but tiny seaside town. It was just too hot to visit and explore so we headed back to Merida. Not a bad move as we ended up at the Hyatt. We ended the day with a horse and buggy ride without the kids.

The next day the Puuc Route adventure began. How hard could it be? The route is well written about and many tourists visit so it must be easy to find your way. We were going to explore caves, 4 ruins and end up in Uxmal for the light and sound show. That was the plan. However, this is Mexico remember. Most of the time there were no directional signs to be found. We made so many wrong turns that by the first stop it was already 2:00. The Loltun caves were incredible which was a good thing because by the time we left there we had to bypass all the ruins to make it to Uxmal for the light and sound show. Did I mention we had the kids with us? Remember what they said about ending up in boonie ville? We aim never to disappoint. They were thrilled to say the least.

Campeche was very lovely once we found our way into the town. Turns out we took the wrong exit. Obviously we had had so much fun the day before we wanted to repeat the winning formula. So we looped and circled trying to find a road to take us to the ocean. How hard could that be? Have you seen us drive? That was way too much fun.

We ended our trip by heading back to Merida for 2 days - at least we know our way around there. This turned out to be another good move as we spent 2 more days at the Hyatt. They have great beds!

We actually arrived home still in need of a holiday but glad to be back. There is nothing like Playa. Why did we leave? Then again maybe a holiday in Chiapas would be nice……..

Live Each Day to the Fullest

Suzanne Bandick is a published author and editor of PlayaMaya News. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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