2006 The year we fell in love with playa(with photos a plenty!)

missixty · 11-06-2007

Before ever even setting foot in Playa I had lurked around these boards reading trip report after trip report.

I'm one for researching every element of a trip before going, I just can't help myself, it's all part of the excitement. Upon returning from holiday in 2006 I fully intended to write a trip report of our first visit to this amazing place. However, I somehow never got round to it

and you know how it is, weeks turn into months and before I knew it we were planning our second trip and my main activity was reading trip reports and reviews of the hotel we were going to next.

On the return of our second trip I did do a trip report

Yay me! What suprised me the most was how much I enjoyed writing it. It was nice to relive the trip and serves almost like a sort of souvenier of that trip to me.

I had debated once finishing it whether to do a report of my 2006 trip. I wanted to but I felt so much had changed that maybe the information would be too out of date.

So here instead are the highlights of my trip, told mainly through photos...

Please bear in mind when reading that this experience was a long time ago and certain things (mainly the beach) are no longer the same....

Enjoy!

missixty · 11-06-2007

We stayed at the Occidental Allegro Playacar which we absolutely LOVED. I don't want to go into too much detail review wise of this hotel as things my have have changed in the amount of time since I have been there and one thing that definately has is the beach. Due to the lack of beach now I would not recommend for anyone to go there (unless the beach is not your thing) hence my lack of review of the place. However what I will say is we absolutely loved the place and at the time could not believe there could be a better hotel. We could not comprehend what a 5 star would be like if this was supposedly a 3 star. Everything was perfect and not one complaint about the hotel. However, we have subsequently been to the Iberostar Tucan and can definately see the difference in a higher star hotel but that said, it doesn't take away from our experience at the Allegro and we really did fall in love with the place.

These are the polynesian bungalows you stay in. I aboslutely loved these things and the grounds looked beautiful as there were just these little 'houses' dotted around rather than having an actual hotel. I think they were so gorgeous and prefer them to the buildings at the Iberostar Tucan or other hotels I have seen/stayed at.

The bottom room was the one we stayed at. We had requested to be close to the beach/pool and had the closest room we could other than the front block which I believe are reserved for time share guests. We had a beach/sea view from our room but it was obstructed slightly by the fence between us and the next hotel.

I would never normally be up intime to view a sunrise but with the aid of jet lag I was wide awake and managed to get this picture of the gorgeous sunrise on our first morning while lying back and enjoying the view from the hammock on our balcony.

raquelle261 · 11-06-2007

Ooooooooooh.... this place looks lovely. I adore the "bungalow/hacienda" type set-ups. Fantastic pic too, that one of you in the hammock, sis. You sure you've never done any modelling? (Perhaps there's your new career......)

Looking forward to more!

monte · 11-06-2007

more please

missixty · 11-06-2007

Back in Aug/Sept 2006 the beach at the Allegro was very much existent (despite reports to the contrary) and was beautiful

We spent most of our time on the first few days just lying out relaxing and sunbathing.

And getting used to the sight of men in speedos

and trying not to be seen laughing

This was our first trip to the carribean and having only ever experienced the beaches of Europe

it was hard to tear ourselves away from the gorgeous sand...

...and almost unbelievably blue sea

When we did manage to tear ourselves away from the beach it was usually to lie out here

This photo was actually taken on my 21st birthday - and this is how I spent much of the day. Can you picture a more ideal 21st?
I absolutely loved this pool. I actually liked this pool much better than the one at the Tucan. Yes it's smaller but it was cool and refreshing the best bit about it was lying out and having the view of the carribean sea right there - paradise! It also had the swim up bar in this pool which was a great novelty to us at first as we'd never been to one before!

Of course we knew better than to wear suncream

as we were both clearly immune to getting sunburnt and would just tan a beautiful deep brown colour...

...or not!

This is Ste's back

and this is my shoulder!

Ouch!! We couldn't even touch each other or lie down properly to sleep for the next few days! It was a laugh or cry situation and if you know us we chose the laugh option and laughed our way through the pain

maureena5 · 11-06-2007

Hey Mis Sixty,

Better late than, never!!! Love your report! You photos are fabulous! Can't wait to read more!

MM

raquelle261 · 11-06-2007

Oi.... Lucy.... you are so bloody photogenic its not fair!!!

Love the one now of you standing in the sea looking up at the camera. The "photoshopped" one.....

4wheeled · 11-06-2007

teriffic! great pics.

LOLOSKY · 11-06-2007

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!!! That picture of your sunburnt shoulder looked soooooo painful

!!!! Now I am a bit worried about my boyfriend because he has the fairest skin and he was concerned about the carribean sun

.

abachechi · 11-06-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOLOSKY

Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!!! That picture of your sunburnt shoulder looked soooooo painful

!!!! Now I am a bit worried about my boyfriend because he has the fairest skin and he was concerned about the carribean sun

.

Don't worry about it, just wear lots of sunscreen! My hubby and I are both very fair and we didn't get sunburned - reapplication is the key! And don't forget your feet!

Great report Missixty, and you are unbelievably photogenic! Looking forward to more!

missixty · 11-07-2007

You will be fine with suncream. This year we used Piz Buin Tan Intensifier lotion factor 15 first week and 6 towards the end when that ran out. We did not burn at all and got the brownest we have ever been.

Okay...so since this trip report isn't strictly in chronological order - partly due to it being a 'highlights' report and partly due to the fact that my memory isn't good enough to know exactly what days we did what - I'm going to put you in control....

What would you like next? Xel-Ha? Dolphin Swim? Playa nightlife? Cancun nightlife? Daytime photos? The choice is up to you!

MartyC · 11-07-2007

Great photos. Let's see some nightlife stuff next.

missixty · 11-07-2007

Okey dokies....

missixty · 11-07-2007

As I mentioned I was lucky enough to have my 21st in Mexico.

This is me and Ste all ready for my birthday night out.

We had booked on the Disco Rolling tour to Cancun that goes to Congos, Senor Frogs and Coco Bongos. I was really really excited about going to Coco Bongos as I'd read so much about it before we came and it was the one place I really wanted to go.

Me in Congos on my 21st.

Unfortunately, too much sun and too little water throughout the day left me feeling really ill and the night was cut short and we got a taxi home after being in Senor Frogs about 5 minutes, we never quite made it to Coco Bongos.

It was, as I said, the one place I really wanted to go to whilst on holiday so a few days later we booked an excursion in Playa Del Carmen to go.

Outside our room, ready to go and be picked up for our trip to Coco Bongos.

We'd paid our £8 deposit and the trip never turned up

We weren't really bothered about losing out the money as it wasn't much but we were dissapointed that we couldn't go again that night

Instead we went into Playa Del Carmen for a night out. When walking down 5th ave the place we had booked the trip from had closed down!

We started our night at what has become one of our favourite bars in Playa - Deseo.

Relaxing on the beds at Deseo

We really love Deseo so much, the place is so chilled out and relaxing and is such nice surroundings to sit in whilst having a few drinks. It's a great place to start off the night but in the past we've actually found when inteding to just start the night there we've become so relaxed that before we know it it's closing time

This night we went onto the "coloured bird" after Deseo. In 2006 this was our favourite place. We spent a lot of time here and we absolutely loved it. It wasn't too busy in 2006 but was busy enough to have an atmosphere. Strangely, although we travelled the same dates both years, 2007 was much busier everywhere (the hotel, the bars) etc and we just didn't love it as much this year.

Anyway back to 2006, we absolutely loved this place and one of the best nights of our life there.

Loving the swings instead of bar stools novelty!

We had gone in Om before coming in the "coloured bird" and Ste had bartered with this guy for a good ten minutes over how much he would pay for this rose. Eventually the guy came down in price and then Ste gave him the original amount he'd asked for anyway and said keep the change. The look on the guys face was priceless he was completely bemused!

Here we are, still at the "coloured bird"; hot, sweaty and dancing in the rain! I don't think this is a particularly attractive picture lol but it's one of my favourite ever because it really captures that moment - we were just so happy

Another happy photo of us whilst having a break from dancing!

It was so hot we started stripping!

:

We stayed here for the remainder of the night, dancing and drinking and generally having an amazing time!!

Ste 'modelling' the rose, a bit worse for wear!

And I'm so gone that when I'm 'modelling' it I've not even noticed the rose has fallen off and it's now essentailly a twig!

Lillibet · 11-07-2007

I love your trip reports. You make me feel like I'm there experiencing it with you. Thanks for my pseudo-memories!

By the way, where's your favourite nightspot in Manchester (same place I'm based)?

11-06-2007	#1 (permalink)
missixty life=playa Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 575	2006 The year we fell in love with playa(with photos a plenty!) Before ever even setting foot in Playa I had lurked around these boards reading trip report after trip report. I'm one for researching every element of a trip before going, I just can't help myself, it's all part of the excitement. Upon returning from holiday in 2006 I fully intended to write a trip report of our first visit to this amazing place. However, I somehow never got round to it and you know how it is, weeks turn into months and before I knew it we were planning our second trip and my main activity was reading trip reports and reviews of the hotel we were going to next. On the return of our second trip I did do a trip report Yay me! What suprised me the most was how much I enjoyed writing it. It was nice to relive the trip and serves almost like a sort of souvenier of that trip to me. I had debated once finishing it whether to do a report of my 2006 trip. I wanted to but I felt so much had changed that maybe the information would be too out of date. So here instead are the highlights of my trip, told mainly through photos... Please bear in mind when reading that this experience was a long time ago and certain things (mainly the beach) are no longer the same.... Enjoy!

11-06-2007	#9 (permalink)
LOLOSKY way into it Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Southern, CA Posts: 172	Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!!! That picture of your sunburnt shoulder looked soooooo painful!!!! Now I am a bit worried about my boyfriend because he has the fairest skin and he was concerned about the carribean sun.

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11-06-2007	#2 (permalink)
missixty life=playa Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 575	We stayed at the Occidental Allegro Playacar which we absolutely LOVED. I don't want to go into too much detail review wise of this hotel as things my have have changed in the amount of time since I have been there and one thing that definately has is the beach. Due to the lack of beach now I would not recommend for anyone to go there (unless the beach is not your thing) hence my lack of review of the place. However what I will say is we absolutely loved the place and at the time could not believe there could be a better hotel. We could not comprehend what a 5 star would be like if this was supposedly a 3 star. Everything was perfect and not one complaint about the hotel. However, we have subsequently been to the Iberostar Tucan and can definately see the difference in a higher star hotel but that said, it doesn't take away from our experience at the Allegro and we really did fall in love with the place. These are the polynesian bungalows you stay in. I aboslutely loved these things and the grounds looked beautiful as there were just these little 'houses' dotted around rather than having an actual hotel. I think they were so gorgeous and prefer them to the buildings at the Iberostar Tucan or other hotels I have seen/stayed at. The bottom room was the one we stayed at. We had requested to be close to the beach/pool and had the closest room we could other than the front block which I believe are reserved for time share guests. We had a beach/sea view from our room but it was obstructed slightly by the fence between us and the next hotel. I would never normally be up intime to view a sunrise but with the aid of jet lag I was wide awake and managed to get this picture of the gorgeous sunrise on our first morning while lying back and enjoying the view from the hammock on our balcony.

11-06-2007	#3 (permalink)
raquelle261 añejo Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Hull, UK Posts: 1,653	Ooooooooooh.... this place looks lovely. I adore the "bungalow/hacienda" type set-ups. Fantastic pic too, that one of you in the hammock, sis. You sure you've never done any modelling? (Perhaps there's your new career......) Looking forward to more!

11-06-2007	#4 (permalink)
monte añejo Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: dallas Posts: 12,141	more please

11-06-2007	#5 (permalink)
missixty life=playa Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 575	Back in Aug/Sept 2006 the beach at the Allegro was very much existent (despite reports to the contrary) and was beautiful We spent most of our time on the first few days just lying out relaxing and sunbathing. And getting used to the sight of men in speedos and trying not to be seen laughing This was our first trip to the carribean and having only ever experienced the beaches of Europe it was hard to tear ourselves away from the gorgeous sand... ...and almost unbelievably blue sea When we did manage to tear ourselves away from the beach it was usually to lie out here This photo was actually taken on my 21st birthday - and this is how I spent much of the day. Can you picture a more ideal 21st? I absolutely loved this pool. I actually liked this pool much better than the one at the Tucan. Yes it's smaller but it was cool and refreshing the best bit about it was lying out and having the view of the carribean sea right there - paradise! It also had the swim up bar in this pool which was a great novelty to us at first as we'd never been to one before! Of course we knew better than to wear suncream as we were both clearly immune to getting sunburnt and would just tan a beautiful deep brown colour... ...or not! This is Ste's back and this is my shoulder! Ouch!! We couldn't even touch each other or lie down properly to sleep for the next few days! It was a laugh or cry situation and if you know us we chose the laugh option and laughed our way through the pain

11-06-2007	#6 (permalink)
maureena5 life=playa Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Playa del Carmen & Chicago Posts: 721	Hey Mis Sixty, Better late than, never!!! Love your report! You photos are fabulous! Can't wait to read more! MM

11-06-2007	#7 (permalink)
raquelle261 añejo Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Hull, UK Posts: 1,653	Oi.... Lucy.... you are so bloody photogenic its not fair!!! Love the one now of you standing in the sea looking up at the camera. The "photoshopped" one.....

11-06-2007	#8 (permalink)
4wheeled beachaholic Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 400	teriffic! great pics.

11-07-2007	#11 (permalink)
missixty life=playa Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 575	You will be fine with suncream. This year we used Piz Buin Tan Intensifier lotion factor 15 first week and 6 towards the end when that ran out. We did not burn at all and got the brownest we have ever been. Okay...so since this trip report isn't strictly in chronological order - partly due to it being a 'highlights' report and partly due to the fact that my memory isn't good enough to know exactly what days we did what - I'm going to put you in control.... What would you like next? Xel-Ha? Dolphin Swim? Playa nightlife? Cancun nightlife? Daytime photos? The choice is up to you!

11-07-2007	#12 (permalink)
MartyC life=playa Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Vancouver BC Canada Posts: 567	Great photos. Let's see some nightlife stuff next.

11-07-2007	#13 (permalink)
missixty life=playa Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 575	Okey dokies....

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11-07-2007	#14 (permalink)
missixty life=playa Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 575	As I mentioned I was lucky enough to have my 21st in Mexico. This is me and Ste all ready for my birthday night out. We had booked on the Disco Rolling tour to Cancun that goes to Congos, Senor Frogs and Coco Bongos. I was really really excited about going to Coco Bongos as I'd read so much about it before we came and it was the one place I really wanted to go. Me in Congos on my 21st. Unfortunately, too much sun and too little water throughout the day left me feeling really ill and the night was cut short and we got a taxi home after being in Senor Frogs about 5 minutes, we never quite made it to Coco Bongos. It was, as I said, the one place I really wanted to go to whilst on holiday so a few days later we booked an excursion in Playa Del Carmen to go. Outside our room, ready to go and be picked up for our trip to Coco Bongos. We'd paid our £8 deposit and the trip never turned up We weren't really bothered about losing out the money as it wasn't much but we were dissapointed that we couldn't go again that night Instead we went into Playa Del Carmen for a night out. When walking down 5th ave the place we had booked the trip from had closed down! We started our night at what has become one of our favourite bars in Playa - Deseo. Relaxing on the beds at Deseo We really love Deseo so much, the place is so chilled out and relaxing and is such nice surroundings to sit in whilst having a few drinks. It's a great place to start off the night but in the past we've actually found when inteding to just start the night there we've become so relaxed that before we know it it's closing time This night we went onto the "coloured bird" after Deseo. In 2006 this was our favourite place. We spent a lot of time here and we absolutely loved it. It wasn't too busy in 2006 but was busy enough to have an atmosphere. Strangely, although we travelled the same dates both years, 2007 was much busier everywhere (the hotel, the bars) etc and we just didn't love it as much this year. Anyway back to 2006, we absolutely loved this place and one of the best nights of our life there. Loving the swings instead of bar stools novelty! We had gone in Om before coming in the "coloured bird" and Ste had bartered with this guy for a good ten minutes over how much he would pay for this rose. Eventually the guy came down in price and then Ste gave him the original amount he'd asked for anyway and said keep the change. The look on the guys face was priceless he was completely bemused! Here we are, still at the "coloured bird"; hot, sweaty and dancing in the rain! I don't think this is a particularly attractive picture lol but it's one of my favourite ever because it really captures that moment - we were just so happy Another happy photo of us whilst having a break from dancing! It was so hot we started stripping! : We stayed here for the remainder of the night, dancing and drinking and generally having an amazing time!! Ste 'modelling' the rose, a bit worse for wear! And I'm so gone that when I'm 'modelling' it I've not even noticed the rose has fallen off and it's now essentailly a twig!

11-07-2007	#15 (permalink)
Lillibet beachaholic Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Beautiful part of north UK Posts: 302	I love your trip reports. You make me feel like I'm there experiencing it with you. Thanks for my pseudo-memories! By the way, where's your favourite nightspot in Manchester (same place I'm based)?