Life's a Beach | Expat Life in Playa del Carmen : Events, Fun, Blogging

2013 About.com Readers Choice Awards - Vote Riviera Maya!!

Rob Kinnon — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:00:00 GMT

Greetings from sunny Playa del Carmen!!

Once again, our little blog "Life's a Beach" was nominated for the About.com Readers Choice Award for Favorite Mexico Blog. I just found out that I am now a finalist. Huzzah!!

But wait...it get's even better! "Life's a Beach" blog was not the only nod toward the Riviera Maya!

Tony and Cheri Head are in the race with Luna Blue Hotel in the running for Favorite Bargain Hotel!
Mitch and Shawn with Yucatreks have a fight on their hands to win Favorite Mexico Tour Company.
Matt Shilowitz from Acanto Boutique Hotel has his sights set on winning the award for Favorite Luxury Hotel.

Let's show the Riviera Maya some love and show the About.com readers that our little corner of Mexico is the very best place to be!

There are other fun categories to vote on as well. Votes are limited to one vote per award category per user per day. The winners will be announced on March 19th!

So please, take a minute to cast your votes and pass along these links to your friends, share them on Facebook, Twitter or your favorite social media platform! It would make me super happy and hopefully draw some good attention to the Riviera Maya!

Click here to vote for "Life's a Beach" for Favorite Mexico Blog:

Click here to vote for Luna Blue Hotel for Favorite Bargain Hotel:

Click here to vote for Yucatreks for Favorite Mexico Tour Company:

Click here to vote for Acanto Boutique Hotel for Favorite Luxury Hotel:

Thank you so much for your support!!

I moved to Mexico with my family in 2004 with the hope of offering our children a more global education and world view. Since then, we have traveled through Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, gathering friends and life experiences and learning a lot about ourselves along the way. When we are not out and about exploring, Rob and I own and operate BuyPlaya, a Playa del Carmen real estate company and FurnitureMex. "Life's a Beach" is a catch-all blog where you may find anything from restaurant reviews, to recipes, gardening tips, commentary about expat daily life, local events, information about moving to Mexico and educating children in Playa del Carmen. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Top 10 Take-Aways from the Social Media Boot Camp

Rob Kinnon — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:00:00 GMT

"Accomplished: A room full of people who are passionate about tourism and social media."

So tweeted Arianna Bañuelos from her @AryCancun twitter account at the close of the first ever Social Media Boot Camp for Riviera Maya Tourism. Looking around the room, I see people putting the finishing touches on their notes, asking questions, exchanging email address and twitter handles. Each one of them looks tired but happy. I have come away with a notebook full of information, cemented some friendships and made new relationships with smart motivated people working in this region. We all represent different industries and interests but each of shares the desire to promote Riviera Maya as a destination and increase commerce within the region. We also seem to share a passion for learning and a willingness to share our collective knowledge and experiences.

Without giving away the farm, here are my personal Top 10 Takeaways from Kay Walten's Social Media Boot Camp for Tourism.

1. People want to do business with people, not companies. Put a face on your company or humanize the customer interaction and engagement in every way you can.

2. 100 Fans or Friends who engage with you and advocate on behalf of your business are better than 10,000 that do nothing.

3. If your messages are well organized, well researched, properly timed and interesting, your advocates will "share" it and spread your sphere of influence.

4. Be consistent with your social media efforts by creating and utilizing an editorial calendar.

5. Better to learn and master one social media venue and utilize it effectively than to dabble in 5 or 6 poorly.

6. Connect and cross promote between all the social media venues you are using. Integrate social media with traditional marketing strategies.

7. Whatever social media platform you are using, finding and using the right keywords and search terms will be essential to getting found by your target audience.

8. Before you jump into social media, make sure your house is in order. Be 100% ready to receive an increase in business.

9. Be honest about how you portray yourself and your product, service or business.

10. Don't broadcast or sell. Offer information. Answer a question. Solve a problem. Start a dialogue. Engage.

It is so important that we take advantage of opportunities like this to invest in ourselves and in our businesses whenever we can. The information we were provided over the weekend, regardless of how much or how little we are able implement right now, will help to make each of us influencers and trusted experts in our respective industries in Cancun and all along the Riviera Maya. I am coming away inspired and looking forward to continuing my social media education with all the great online resources we were turned on to and especially with Kay's upcoming webinar series. As soon as I have the registration details, I will be sure to get them out to all "Life's a Beach" readers who have an interest in social media. Take a moment and sign up. Even if you can't commit to the live webinar times, you can still receive and listen to the replays at your leisure. You can even listen to them on the beach with your toes in the sand sipping on a margarita! Isn't that what we all came here to do?

UPDATE

******If you are interested in social media and interested in tourism don't miss Kay Walten's upcoming webinar series. It is reasonable priced and includes a line-up of great speakers and instructors. You can sign up right HERE.

Playa del Carmen Bar Crawl

Rob Kinnon — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:00:00 GMT

After the fabulous tequila tasting and dinner at Hacienda Tres Rios, Kay Walten (www.Locogringo.com) and I shuttled the group downtown for a short tour of a few of the Playa del Carmen restaurants and bars participating in the Taste of Playa 2010 culinary event. I have to admit, we put this together on pretty short notice and I credit our Restaurant Chairperson, Monica Hartlief, with all the organizational work that went into the evening. Special thanks to Casona de los Vinos, Ula Gula, Wicky's and The Dirty Martini Lounge for welcoming in the group and treating us all to cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. We had a great time and it was fun to show off a bit of Playa del Carmen nightlife!

Casona de los Vinos in the In Fashion Hotel

Rachelle, Monica and Kay

Jorge and Clau

Ula Gula Restaurant and Bar

Matt, Janice, Clau, Jorge, Craig, Kay and Geno

Genoveva and Kay

Cheri and Pam

Janice

Clau and Jorge

Wicky's Restaurant and Beach Club

Kay and Craig

The Dirty Martini Lounge

Getting ready to ring in Jorge's birthday!!

Paloma and Cynthia lining them up for us!

Rachelle

That pretty much sums up the evening. Some of us made it home a respectable hour. Others...not so much. We all had a good time and I hope to see all of our new friends again one day soon!

Tequila Seminar and Tasting at Hacienda Tres Rios Resort

Rob Kinnon — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:00:00 GMT

The highlight of my evening at Hacienda Tres Rios, aside from meeting all the great travel writers and bloggers, was the informative tequila seminar and tasting presented by Chef Oscar. Because, I have the good fortune to live in Mexico where I have access to a plethora of fine tequilas, you might think that this would be "old hat" for me. Not so! There is much to learn about Mexico's signature beverage!

Chef Oscar told the group all about the history of tequila production in Mexico, what it is made out of, how the Blue Agave plants are harvested, how and for how long the tequila is barreled and aged. We learned about the different types of tequila and had the chance to taste several samples of each level.

We learned that the procedure for tasting tequila is similar to that for wine.

First we analyze the color and the viscosity.

Next, we experience the aroma.

Finally, we taste. Inhale through the nose, take the tequila onto the palate. Swallow. Exhale through the nose.

We were able to taste about a dozen different tequilas ranging from silver to extra anejo, each more delicious than the next. It was remarkable to register the huge variations in aroma and flavor. Chef Oscar even shared with us his signature Sangrita recipe which we sampled with a clean Don Julio Blanco.

It was an informative and fun event and one that the guests of the Hacienda Tres Rios can enjoy every Tuesday evening. Should you have the good fortune to find yourself on holiday at this beautiful resort, I highly recommend it!

Tweet Up at Hacienda Tres Rios Resort

Rob Kinnon — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Remember when we were kids and we had pen pals? Remember waiting for the mail everyday to see if you had received a letter from your friend from afar? Well it's still going on today, only now, we don't put pen to paper and enclose Polaroids. Now we make friends on Facebook and Twitter. Pen pals have gone high tech! We follow each others blogs via RSS feeds. We "Like" each other on Facebook and "Re-tweet" each others Tweets. When we were kids, we carried on with the understanding that there was precious little chance that you would ever actually meet your "pal" in France, or South Africa or New Zealand. Today, for those of us who indulge in social media, all that has changed. Now, we have the opportunity to actually meet our cyber friends. These meetings are called Tweet Ups and I had the good fortune to attend a fabulous Tweet Up this weekend, hosted by Hacienda Tres Rios Eco Resort.

The beautiful lobby @TresRios

Bloggers and travel writers getting to know one another

Chef Oscar and Genoveva, director of PR at Hacienda Tres Rios

Tasty fruity cocktails

@DonFaustPhoto, @caroundtheworld, @RobKinnon, @LocogringoCom and @Iaaxpage

@caroundtheworld and @LocoGringoCom

More creative cocktails!

@landlopers @LocogringoCom and @travelblggr

@travelblggr

Bloggers gone wild!!

@LocoGringoCom

@StayAdventurous

@elmalquerido and Clau

The whole crew!

It was a lovely evening that included a cocktail reception, a tequila seminar and tasting and dinner. The writers and bloggers all had a great time at the resort and later, followed Kay Walten and I into downtown Playa del Carmen for a short late night tour of a few of the bars and restaurants participating in Taste of Playa 2010.

It was such a nice opportunity to meet and get to know the wonderful travel writers who I have been following in the world of social media. I am looking forward to their reports from the weekend!

Sunset over @TresRios Resort

The Third Annual Latin American Bloggers’ Conference Cometh

Rob Kinnon — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:00:00 GMT

Mark your calendars! The Third Annual Latin American Bloggers’ Conference will be held in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico from Friday Nov. 12 – Sunday Nov. 14, 2010.

The event is open to all Bloggers but in order for us to get ready, it will be necessary for you to pre-register. Stay tuned… in the next few weeks, we’ll create a form and post it. This year our venue will be a downtown college campus (http://www.tttac.com) that comes with wireless Internet, garden space, and lecture hall. The activities will start on Friday evening, November 12th with a Cocktail-Social to Meet & Greet your fellow Bloggers. On Saturday, November 13th we will have a full day of conferences/talks/workshops… lunch, more topics, and more opportunities to eat.

Some of the ideas we have are:

• Identifying and keeping your blog’s Focus • Adding Photos – Uploading, effectiveness and continuity

• Using you Blog to market your product / service / whatever

• A Beginner’s blogging class

• Advanced HTML techniques

Do these topics interest you? Do you have other suggestions? Would you like to do a presentation for your fellow bloggers? Do let us know because we want this conference to be as good as it can be.

Saturday will also provide an evening opportunity to see some of Merida’s clubs and bistros… There are a number to choose from. We'll say goodbye with a Sunday morning breakfast, unless you decide to stay and enjoy Merida for a few extra days. Please email and let us know if you want to come and join us.

Please invite other bloggers you know and by all means, post this information on your blog. We hope to have as many Latin American Bloggers attend the conference as possible. The more the merrier!

In a few weeks, we will be compiling a short list of hotels, restaurants and other places of interest located close to the conference site.

For further info contact…

Theresa at: http:// www.theresainmerida.blogspot.com

Joanna at: http://joannavandergrachtderosado.wordpress.com

Debi at: http://www.debiinmerida.blogspot.com

Back to Belize - San Pedro Lobsterfest 2009

Rob Kinnon — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:41:00 GMT

Blissfully hangover free, I met up with the Tacos, Cindy and other assorted bloggers for another hearty breakfast at Estel's. My brother in law, Dave, another early riser, joined our group as we soaked up some sun and made plans for the remainder of the day. Lobsterfest booth preparations have been in the works for months now, with many AmbergrisCaye.com message boarders and other frequent fliers bringing down trinkets and decorations galore in their suitcases. This year, a flashy casino bar has been planned, complete with mardi gras beads, devil ducks, glitter glasses, lobster hats and all manner of fun prizes for the players. Proceeds from this year's booth will go to support Holy Cross School in the San Matteo district, just north of the toll bridge. Good news! Cindy would be manning the bar, serving up several of her trademark toxins including watermelon jello shots. There's always room for jello!!

Early arrivals for breakfast on the beach enjoy the only sun of the day.

Stage preparations taking shape. Check out the ominous clouds overhead!

Tents and tables ready to go.

After breakfast, Laurie took several of us over to Middle Street to check out the Rum, Cigar and Coffee Shop. Here we were treated to free samples of their homemade brews all made with local rums. We sampled the "Jankunu Rum Cream" which is made with eggs and cream and tastes much like the "Rompopo" we found in Guatemala. Another favorite was the "Campesino Coffee Liqueur" which blows away Kahlua both in flavor and potency. Starting off the day with a "Panti Rippa" brought back horrible flash backs of my last trip to Caye Caulker but the guys at the shop were super nice and their concoctions were delicious. I particularly appreciated that all of the products they offer are packaged in recycled plastic bottles and coffee containers. If you are planning a visit to San Pedro, do make a point of stopping in the shop for a cup of coffee and tasting the products. I passed on the cigars but they do have a nice temperature controlled vault for you afficionados.

The clouds let loose late in the afternoon, about a half an hour before the event was scheduled to begin, with the wind whipping the rain into and around the booths and generally slowing the progress of our crew. I braved the weather to take some pictures of set up time and tried to take up as little space as possible under the tent and keep my camera dry. There were a few folks wandering among the stalls getting an early, albeit wet, start on the festivities, but for the most part the festival grounds were quiet until almost 7pm. Slowly, the wind abated, the rain stopped and the fairgrounds were set upon my a deluge of hungry

The main attraction: a Caribbean lobster.

Laurie and her organized chaos!

Place yer bets ladies!!

A break in the rain.

Sunset Grill getting a late start on an ambitious booth.

The girls from Lime setting up the S.A.G.A. booth. "Slime Cocktails" anyone?

Walter setting up for Pirate (Pedro's) Pizza.

Tacoboy, Rob and Pedro....early in the evening.

More cocktails please!!

San Pedro visitors enjoy a couple of grilled lobsters.

See? Respectable and well-behaved.

Glen Harris and new friend Judy.

Rob with the Carbunkle Trumpets, Shauna and John.

Tacoboy helps out behind the bar.

Damn sexy in those lobster hats and glasses!

The Direct Abundance girls and Alexis.

Island kids.

In all, there were about 15 booths representing San Pedro restaurants, bars and local non-profits. Despite the early rain, island residents and tourists came out in droves to enjoy the various lobster dishes, live music and clever themed cocktails! Rob and I did our best to sample as much as we could before most of booths ran out of food. Fido's lobster rangoon was delish as was the lobster stew from posh Red Ginger. The biggest surprise for us was the simple grilled lobster tail offered by the legendary Elvi's Kitchen. To b honest, we were not thrilled with the lobster we were served at the Lobsterfest in Placencia last season. I had resigned myself to believing that Caribbean lobster was dry, rather tasteless and almost chalky, not at all comparable to the succulent Maine lobster we are used to from the northeastern United States. Well, Elvi's absolutely proved us wrong serving up good sized, juicy tails, grilled in foil with butter. Oh my lord, they were good! Elvi's had so many tempting crustaceous creations, I was disappointed to have filled up before trying them all! I guess that just means a trip back next season. Yippee!!

Homemade tortillas in Elvi's booth.

The girls from Fido's did a brisk business all night.

The ladies from Sweet Basil served up a chilled shrimp cocktail, something for the lobster-averse.

Clever cocktails served up at the swank Rojo Lounge, winner of the "Best Booth" category.

It's not GAMBLING Mom. It's late night math tutoring...right?

Red Ginger's lobsterman with Rob and what's left of the menu.

Despite the rain and the apparent lack of involvement from the local government, San Pedro's 3rd annual Lobsterfest was a huge success. The organizers, the San Pedro Business Association and all the participants and supporters deserve a lot of credit for successfully pulling off an event of this scope in such a small village. In just three short years, this community based festival has grown into one of the world's most anticipated events.

The funds raised by all this running around and craziness will go a long way to continuing the efforts of the administrators and educators who dedicate so much of their time and energy to the children at Holy Cross School. Our friends, Laurie, Paul and Cindy all wrapped up the night vowing "Never again!". Yet, somehow, I think after a long hot shower, a good night's sleep and a thorough accounting of the proceeds from the bar/casino, they will rethink this decision. You can bet we will be there again next year!

San Pedro, consider yourself warned.

Back to Belize - On Island Time

Rob Kinnon — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:02:00 GMT

Not surprisingly, our first full day on the island was a lazy one. The kids were sent off on a fishing excursion and the grownups recovered from the night before. Breakfast and Bloody Mary's at Estel's, our favorite place in San Pedro, brought us back to life somewhat and we filled the rest of the day puttering around the island on golf carts, looking for crocodiles in the lagoon, checking out the new homes and condo developments being built, taking note of interesting properties "For Sale" and noting all the new businesses that have opened since our last visit.

After the children returned from a day on the water, we enjoyed cocktail time by the pool and geared up for our first official Lobster/Blogfest activity, a Meet and Greet at Pedro's Backpackers Inn. Pedro (Peter) is a San Pedro legend, an infamous character who in all of our trips to the island, has somehow eluded us. I went into this party with some trepidation as I had been warned that I would either love him or hate him. There is apparently a reason you will see "Deport Pedro" t-shirts here and there on the backs of island residents. Granted, he prints up the shirts himself and it is all meant to be very tongue in cheek, but is is true that Peter's reputation precedes him and he knows it! Luckily, I got the introduction through Paul (Tacoboy), a good friend and one of the island's brighter minds, so I had a slight advantage and we got on just fine.

Tacoboy (Paul) and Rob...just getting started.

Walter and the Direct Abundance girls!

With Cindy behind the bar, our merry crew was served up stiff cocktails and mountains of all-you-can-eat lobster pizza. We attempted to play White Elephant, a spirited game in which participants are distributed gifts (mostly worthless junk) which they then exchange (take forcibly) with other players in attempt to the end the game holding the best (least crappy) prize. Well. we made it through the gift unveiling and distribution but there were so many people and we were all having so much fun talking and getting to know one another, that we forgot about trading (absconding with) any of the prizes. Fortunately, I came away with two sets of sake glasses imported from Japan (San Francisco). Yeah me!

Winner of the very popular, much coveted lobster hat!

Walter handing out some lobsterfest "bling".

Chris demonstrates his nifty new Lobster Claw Harmonica.

Lara shows off her new Coconut Bikini Top!

And a nice matching set for Tim!!

While I was meeting and greeting and getting to know my fellow bloggers, my family, with the assistance of Glen Harris, was deteriorating in the corner. A special "Thank you" to Cindy for serving up gallons of One Barrel and innumerable shots of Jagermeister to my usually well behaved and respectable sisters in law, rendering them unintelligible and unruly. Well done. Thank you also for substituting Rob's shots for less potent potions. He was called into service on the ride home!

The family that drinks Jager together......

....falls out of golf carts together on the way back home!

It was a great night and an excellent introduction to both the San Pedro Lobsterfest and the Blogfest painstakingly organized by Tacogirl. If this is the level of entertainment we can expect for the rest of the weekend, I'm going to need to contact Betty Ford for some support! Tomorrow, the big event: the Lobsterfest Blockparty! Stay tuned......