Playa del Carmen: A Beach and Party Town. A Night Out with Locals
Updated: Mar 15
With some sadness we leave the island and head to Playa del Carmen. A couple of days earlier I had posted a message on CouchSurfing, asking if anyone from the city would like to show two Estonians the local nightlife. And, surprisingly enough, someone responded.
Before meeting him we only know a few things: his name is Antonio Martinez (29) and he is celebrating a friend’s birthday at a bar.
So at 11 p.m. we head to the bar, congratulate Carla on her birthday, have a couple of drinks, and soon learn that the group plans to continue the night at a beachside nightclub called Coco Maya. They already have a reserved table, which means the entrance is free for us as well (otherwise it would cost 10 dollars). If we want, we can join them.
Of course we do.
Antonio is a civil engineer by training. Most of the birthday group works together in a large international company managing luxury real estate. One of the men in the group is also a Canadian teacher who has been living here for about a year.
As we walk along the street filled with nightclubs, we notice something interesting. Unlike in Estonia, most clubs here are open-air venues without outside walls, and because they stand right next to each other, their music mixes together into one huge wall of sound. On a Saturday night the streets are full of people—both Latinos and gringos.
The club we go to is very Western-style, playing international hits. After dancing for a while, we step down to the beach to sit and talk.
Antonio turns out to be extremely talkative, especially in English. The reason soon becomes clear: he has a girlfriend from the Netherlands, and he is even thinking about moving there someday. They meet every few months—sometimes she visits Mexico, sometimes he travels to Europe.
Another woman in our group, Katya (28), has a boyfriend in France. Since the city attracts so many foreign visitors, it’s no surprise that long-distance international relationships seem to form quite easily here.
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