"Life's a Beach"

One of the advantages of having our children in both of the Waldorf Schools in Playa del Carmen is that we get to participate in two different festival schedules. El Papalote held their Posada for the preschool earlier this week and, last night, Ak Lu'um celebrated the Winter Solstice with a spiral garden and candle lighting ceremony. ...

Christmas for Mexicans, in traditional homes and rural areas, is a religious holiday. For better or worse, families in Playa del Carmen, Mexican or otherwise, seem to have adopted a decidedly “Americanized” version of this holiday. This year, more than ever, the stores are jam packed full of fake Christmas trees, ornaments, tiny ...

One of our favorite peeps, Anna Lynne (Shammy) and her husband Chris celebrated their birthdays together last night at The Beer Bucket. This is Shammy's 4th Birthday Bash in Playa del Carmen and she was surrounded by lots of friends, old and new. Here are a few photos of the festivities! The Bucket Susie (SusieQRoo) with Attaboy and ...

Friday night marked the re-opening of the bar at Mom's Hotel in Playa del Carmen. Our pal Jurgen has been working hard to get the old bar polished up and well stocked and ready to welcome guests of the hotel, Playa residents and visitors. Rob and I met up with J.J. and Kim for our regular Friday date night and headed over to join in the ...

Last night was the inauguration of "Bolister in The Blue", an evening of acoustic music and song from Playa favorite, the talented and charming Chris Bolister. Perched on a swing at the bar, surrounded by friends old and new, Chris entertained the crowd with well-loved tunes from yesterday and today. There was a lot of ...

Last night was the innaugural evening for this year's Paintings for Pets fundraiser hosted by Tony and Cheri Head of the famed Luna Blue Hotel in Playa del Carmen. Well loved, award winning artist Barry Launius generously offered to show and sell many of his beautiful Caribbean themed acrylic and watercolor paintings and to ...

Every November, closely following Dia de los Muertos, the students of El Papalote School participate in a traditional celebration of San Martin. This festival, also known as Martinmas, recognizes Martin, originally a soldier in Roman army in the 4th century. The legends tells that one freezing winter night ...

Most people, knowing my disinterest in Halloween, are confused to learn that I really enjoy the celebration of Dia de los Muertos. As a matter of fact, this is my favorite holiday in my new home country and I look forward to it every year! Commonly known as Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), this is actually two holidays celebrated on the first ...

I'm not big on Halloween. There. I've said it. I wish I was like all my pals in Playa who plan and prepare their costumes 364 days a year in anticipation of October 31st. I love looking at all the pictures from the parties and marvel at the creativity of the costumes and make-up effects. I am envious of the imagination necessary to concoct ...

Pinche Gringo's Sports Bar provided the perfect venue for the Fall fundraiser for Ak Lu'um International School. Given the time of year and the incliment weather, we had no way of anticipating what a huge turn-out we would have for this event! Every seat in the house was filled with standing room only! We actually SOLD OUT all of our ...