Engagement beetles
by tashka
When a Mayan boy wants to marry a Mayan girl he catches a beetle and decorates it with small stones, andl also attaches a small chain to it and them presents it to the girl. Then she puts the beetle on her dress as a brooch and wears it. The chain can be pinned to the dress, so the beetle can only crawl around, but cannot escape. The beetle can be fed with a piece of rotten wood and can live for some eight months. After it dies, the decorated "jacket" can be put on another beetle.
Visit the Cenotes
by travelgirl3
A short walk across the highway from the Barcelo Resort brings you to Kantun Chi, a small park with 5 or 6 cenotes. Cenotes are sinkholes within the limestone and are very common on the Yucatan peninsula. For the admission price of around $8, you can wander around and even go in swimming or snorkelling in the cenotes. The water is extremely clear. Be sure to visit the (very) small Aztec ruins there as well.
At the end of the trail, there is a snack bar, as well as a souvenir 'booth' set up at the entrance. When we went, a young boy showed us a snake in a bucket, and offered to take it out for a few pesos. We declined, but still gave him the money.
Ferries to Cozumel
by Dabs
Updated 12/2004
Ferries run from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel every hour on the hour. The UltraMar ferries currently run from 5 am-10 pm from Cozumel (no service at 6am, 1pm, 7 pm or 9pm) and 6 am-11 pm from PDC (no service at 7am, 2pm, 8pm, or 10pm). The schedule is subject to change so it's best to check in advance if you are not close to the ferry terminal.
There are two different ferry companies, UltraMar and Mexicana, both of which took about the same amount of time (I think it was about 30-35 minutes), left at the same time and cost $180 pesos round trip (around $16 US). There were many booths around the 5th Avenue area that you could purchase tickets and there seemed to be plenty of room, we bought our tickets about 5 minutes before the ferry was supposed to leave.
Ferries can be picked up at the very south end of 5th Avenue at the ferry terminal.
There is a new ferry terminal at Avenida Constituyentes that had an UltraMar booth that said Cozumel on it. We saw a ferry pull up so it looks like it is functional
Breakfast in the room
by Pat&ZoAnn
Don't let the No Parking sign stop you, this is a great little bakery in Playa, with a small serving area and a window for take-out orders. Coffee and cinnamon buns (mmm). Since it is only around the corner from our hotel, we ordered breakfst to go and took it back to our room.
Any Riviera Maya Tours (Cancun, Cozumel, PDC)
by ishimmerlessi
We took a private tour with CANCUNVISTA.com and everything was perfect. Martha helped us book our perfect customized private tour and our driver Julio was most amiable. They pick you up and drop you off at your hotel. They book tours for any location in the Riviera Maya (Xcaret, Xel-Ha, Chichen Itza, Tulum, Etc.) They also do regular group tours which cost less than private tours. However, the times and destinations probably wont be as flexible.
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Me doing a foot push with 2 dolphins
The Resort
Tulum
Xel-Ha
