Coba, located about 100 kilometres of Playa del Carmen. A new archaeological centre to be visited

The first news of the discovery of the ruins of the Mayan city of Coba dates back to 1842. From then on, researchers have been recovering its marvels little by little. Presently, it is one of the many archaeological centres that can be visited on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Coba is located at only 62 miles of Playa del Carmen, which makes it easy to be reached from there. The means of transportation are the usual ones: van or bus from the station of Fifth Avenue, or by a rented car. Hotels and agencies also organise all in one package tours. Once in Playa del Carmen, it is very easy to get there. The entrance fare is 45 pesos (about 3 dollars).

It is situated east of Tulum which gives us a good excuse to stay there for at least two and visit both places and spend the night in the modern Tulum. Coba in Mayan language means “the place of ruffled waters”.

It is possibly one of the Mayan cities to have reached its maximum magnificence quite early. There are vestiges that in the years 200 and 600 A.D., this city-state had an influence over all the northern part of the Peninsula of Yucatan, due to its location which made it the crossroad of countless commercial routes. Its power even reached some commercial ports such as Xel-Há. The result of this wide network, today we can enjoy the pictorial remains of Coba which clearly show the influence of the Teotihuacán’s, who came from the central part of Mexico.

But this supremacy of Coba will start decreasing with the rise of the area of Chichén Itzá. After a first period of confrontation, the supremacy of the latter Mayan city started from the year 900 or 1000 A.D. following territorial and commercial disputes between the two cities. When the Spanish people arrived in the area, the city of Coba was uninhabited. The consecutive necessities of the city throughout its history have left a set of areas very different chronologically as well as functionally, up to a perimeter of 43 square miles packed with archaeological remains. All the zones discovered cannot be visited, due partly to deterioration and partly to the fact that the discoveries are quite recent and there is still more to be investigated.

The visit starts by Grupo Coba, is composed by residences and palaces. The most important is the building devoted to cult, which in the zone is called Iglesia, (church) and is 82 feet tall. Another group that can be visited it the Nohoch Mul, which is older than the previous one. The height of its buildings is quite surprising especially the tallest of all those found in the several Mayan cities, is also called Nohoch Mul (which in Maya means “large hill”); the lowest plinth and the temple is about 138 feet height. Other two groups can also be visited: the Grupo de las Pinturas (Temple of the Paintings), in reference to the remains of mural paintings that are still preserved in some structures; and the Macanxoc, with remarkable steles in remembrance of the achievement some of the queens who governed Coba.

One of the added interests of the visit to Coba is that all the buildings are in the middle of luxuriant jungles where we can delight in the marvellous flora and fauna.

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Francisco Cenamor

The Fives USA blog about Playa del Carmen & the Riviera Maya, Mexico

Isla Contoy, the bird sanctuary north of the Riviera Maya

The Isla Contoy National Park is located at the confluence of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The best way to get there from Playa del Carmen is to take a ferry from the port of Cancun, although you can also leave from Puerto Juarez, Punta Sam or Isla Mujeres. Depending on the type pf ship and where you take it, the voyage may take between one and two hours. The longest one will be from Cancun situated at the south of the four starting points.

It is a sanctuary for highly protected birds, so only 200 visitors are allowed per day, so it convenient to contract our visit in advance. Hotels and agencies of Playa del Carmen offer one-day tours to this island. On some of these tours you can have one of the most exciting experiences of your stay in the Riviera Maya: diving with the whale sharks.

A normal day on Isla Contoy includes, apart from the traditional snorkelling, visiting a small island where we will be given information on this island, going up to a 65 feet tall watchtower from which we can have a spectacular view, taking a walk along two walking-paths while watching the abundant flora y fauna. In the only canteens of the island, we can savour the delicious seafood of the area.

Optionally, we can contract a journey to the Puerto Viejo lagoon, a place where the biggest brown pelican of the area nests. The extra charge for this visit is aimed at financing the preservation of Isla Contoy National Park. The name seems to have originated from the Mayan word pontoj, which means “pelican”. From several discoveries of shells and ceramics, it is known that the island started to be inhabited on a permanent basis from the year 300-200 of our era. During the Mayan magnificence, it was part of a wide commercial network. Francisco Fernández de Córdoba, the first Spaniard to have reached Mexico, run into it after leaving Cuba and facing a great storm.

This island was visited by the most famous pirates of the Caribbean and it is thought that its waters are packed with the remains of tens of wrecked naves full of treasures still to be discovered. Isla Contoy is 4 miles long and only 65 feet wide. It is the ideal place for those who want to enjoy the best preserved nature, especially bird watching, as from winter there are 10.000 recorded species of birds on this small territory, including among others frigates, penguins, cormorants, terns, brown pelicans or herons.

In summer, hundreds of turtles (Carey, white and Caguama) come to its beaches to spawn. Its flora is also very abundant: there are 84 recorded species, but undoubtedly, the most abundant is the mangrove, which covers 70% of the surface of the island. In the surrounding waters, 234 marine species have been discovered, including the whale shark we mentioned earlier and enormous rays. In the nearby reef of Ixlaché, besides the great colourful beauty of the coral, we can also watch hundreds of organisms that find shelter there. Curiously, the lack of fresh water did not prevent the appearance of mammals on the island. During the period between September and February, around 300 fishermen se settle on its coasts to carry out fishing activities strictly regulated. The rest of the year, the island remains uninhabited.

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Francisco Cenamor

The Fives USA blog about Playa del Carmen & the Riviera Maya, Mexico

Walking around Playa del Carmen and its surroundings

There are many opportunities for walking around Playa del Carmen and for going to other places from that point. Obviously, each opportunity depends on where you would like to go as well as the amount of money you are willing to spend. This is because once you have arrived here you will really want to see everything that you can because of the great many things the city offers. Moreover, the fact that it is practically situated in the middle of the Mexican Riviera makes it an excellent starting point to explore this small Mexican paradise.

Cancún, the administrative center of the Mexican Riviera, and Playa del Carmen are connected with public transport buses. The bus service is available between 6 and 10 pm, in which the journey takes approx. an hour with buses running every ten minutes. The fare is approximately 3 US dollars. It is also 3 USD to travel between Playa del Carmen and Tulum, although the buses only run every thirty minutes. The bus station is located on the main street of the city, Fifth Avenue.

Private transport companies with similar fares and trip frequencies offer more services: regular lines, personalized transport, car rental without a driver, and traditional vans (small van for the transportation of passengers). These companies normally offer their services at airports and bus stations for several local hotels, which makes them easy to find.

In Playa del Carmen, there are many places you can go walking because it is not a very large city. However, it is sometimes necessary to use public or private transport. The best way to go is with a taxi, but you have to ask the driver about the total price for the trip prior to accepting the service in order to avoid any misunderstandings. Moving around within the city and beaches normally costs between 15 and 30 pesos, or approx. 1.5 to 3 US dollars. Taxis work in the usual way: you hail an unoccupied taxi on the street. If you request a taxi at your hotel, you will have to pay your hotel for that service.

For longer trips, Aerosaab offers an air taxi service. You can visit the ruins of Chichén Itzá on an organized trip starting from 247 US dollars. This trip takes only an hour versus six hours on a bus. However, you can also travel to other places such as Cozumel, Islas Mujeres, Islas Holbox, Cancun, Tulum, and even take panoramic flights with this same company at a wide range of prices. The address of the company, which is located at the Cancun airport, is Avenida 20 Sur, Calle 1. It is essential to book these types of services far in advance.

The bus station also offers public and private services for long distance trips, and obviously, they are cheaper than the air taxi. For some destinations that are not well-connected, you can travel by taxi at a price that you should agree upon in advance with the driver. You can always also rent a private car as a last resort.

Another way to travel to locations near Playa del Carmen is per a ferry to the several islands of the Riviera Maya and even to other cities. Generally, it is better to take a ferry only if you are going to the islands, unless you would just like to explore the coast out of sheer pleasure. The companies that offer these services have an extensive timetable. The fare, for example, from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel is approximately 8.7 US dollars.

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Francisco Cenamor

The Fives USA blog about Playa del Carmen & the Riviera Maya, Mexico

Note: Feel free to visit our sponsor: The Fives Resort & Private Residences in Playa del Carmen

Enjoying Gastronomy in Playa del Carmen by The Fives Resort

The main food in the whole Peninsula of Yucatan and the Riviera Maya and, of course in Playa del Carmen, is the tortilla de maíz, the equivalent of bread or pasta in the European cuisine. We recommend you not overdo the enchiladas as they may cause you some stomach discomfort.

Corn originally comes from America. Archaeological discoveries have shown evidence that it was grown in the Maya area 4,600 years ago. European conquerors brought it to their countries of origin.

Frijol, a variety of black beans, is the other abundant food which the Mayan cuisine shares with the other Caribbean people. It is believed that it came to this culture from Asia through Alaska thousand of years ago. It is served mainly with rice. And, with rice and pork, it is a delight for the people of the area, especially when served in a tomato sauce, radish, cilantro and onion base. The same way Spanish restaurants serve paella on Thursdays, frijol and pork is served on Mondays.

Another delicious dish, this time with chicken, is the lime soup, made with chicken stock to which fried strips of tortilla de maíz and shredded chicken (which was used to make the stock) are added, so the chicken breast is used in the cooking. To make it tastier, some people also add the liver. And, you mustn’t forget lime juice, the exotic touch that gives its name to this dish.

To continue with chicken, you can taste chicken pibil, pieces of chicken, marinated in achiote, sour orange juice, cumin, garlic, salt and peppercorns, wrapped in banana leaves and baked. It is very delicious, indeed. This dish can also be made with pork, and then it is called cochinita pibil, one of the most successful among the visitors of Playa del Carmen. Those who have tasted it recently say that it adjusts to Western people’s taste and it is not as hot as the other dishes.

The poc-chuc is made of tender slices of baked pork in marinated sour orange juice and served with several sauces and chopped onion.

And, since this a coastal zone, dishes made with seafood couldn’t be missing. One of the characteristic dishes is the ceviche de caracol, made with snails, not the small snails we have in Spain, but very big ones, of about 0.9 lbs of meat each. It is a very elaborate dish, made with mashed and boiled snails, which are frozen and marinated later in lemon juice for some hours. Be careful, they are served with chile habanero, one of the hottest.

The chocolomo, is an exquisite food because it is not common to use veal. It is a dish of cooked veal and viscera, served in a base of chili peppers and several sauces and wrapped in the famous tortillas.

For dessert, it is better to let yourself surprise by the abundant, colourful delicious tropical fruits each restaurant has on offer.

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Francisco Cenamor

The Fives USA blog about Playa del Carmen & the Riviera Maya, Mexico

Note: Feel free to visit our sponsor: The Fives Resort & Private Residences in Playa del Carmen