Playa del Carmen Pt. 2
Letter #89: Kezia joins me for week long vacation, and I try my first bout of stand-up paddle boarding.
11/13/24
Kezia and I met at the gym maybe 6 or 7 years ago. What began as friendly hellos during our daily 6am classes, soon turned into group brunch dates with Franny and Shannon (other 6am gym friends), then turned into solo birthday dinners exchanged between Kez and I, and then turned into regular workouts + brunch whenever I came back to NYC to visit.
Kezia checked in on me frequently while I was traveling in 2023, and we found we could easily confide in each other during our times of catching up—and made each other laugh about fellow gym-goer gossip and men. It helps that we share similar lifestyles—both driven individuals, love to exercise, eat healthy, travel, and are in the dating world. We had been discussing for about a year going on a trip together.
I’d been down in Mexico by myself for 20 days by the time Kezia joined me, and I had fallen into an easy routine in Playa del Carmen. Even the haphazard nature of the place that pushed against my aesthetic need for symmetry and harmony grew on me—much like I got used to the inexplicable chaos of “why are things the way they are” out on the streets of NYC. Sometimes the things that rub me the wrong way about an environment slowly drift into the background until I can accept them and no longer notice them.
Having Kez join me there was a nice change of pace. I moved my stuff from the economy studio condo I had been staying in, into a 2 bedroom condo right on the beach. I walked the 13 minutes down Quinta Avenida to the Ado bus station to pick her up on Sunday evening.
I’d be taking my first “vacation” from work since May 2024 (vacation meaning 5 unpaid days as a contract worker). I was looking forward to having some aimless days of lounging on the beach, eating, drinking, and laughing with my friend.
When we got back to the condo we ordered some incredibly disappointing sushi delivery and caught up over a glass of rosé on the balcony. Both of us being morning people, we were in bed by 9am.
One of the best perks of our condo complex? They gave us day passes to a super nice gym with all the equipment an avid gym-goer could possibly want—plus free classes. On Monday morning, Kez pulled up a YouTube video of one of her favorite trainers, and I followed her through a weight training program for our first day. I hadn’t lifted weights in month at that point, and I could barely walk the next day 😵💫.
Tuesday we decided to join the 8am Bootcamp class. The funny thing about Kez and I traveling together is that she wakes up at 4:30am like clockwork, and I’ve been following behind at about 7am. Since we both love exercising in the morning and had access to this amazing gym, we knew this would be the one activity we’d commit to every day 😅.
We hadn’t considered that this Bootcamp class, however, would be taught in Spanish. We arrived about 15 minutes early, just us two and one other guest in the studio. In my experience, it’s fairly normal for large gyms with weights and cardio equipment to have empty classes, since classes aren’t their main focus. That was absolutely what I was expecting here.
While the class was meant to start at 8am, by 8:15am people were still piling in and the room became PACKED. The energy was LIT UP. Each person that walked in said Buenos Días to several of the other gym-goers around them, often leaning in for a hug, laughing, and exchanging stories. It was such a vibrant, infectious vibe so early in the morning, seeing a class full of people arriving to exercise but that had become friends in the process.
The room had been so cold with the air conditioning blasting when Kezia and I first arrived, but now with all the extra bodies packed into this small room, I could feel the heat begin to rise.
The trainer’s energy is what made the class. It was even more infectious than the crowd’s. I kept telling Kezia he was the Central American version of Anwar, the trainer we first began working out with (and who kept us coming back for more) at Tabata Ultimate Fitness in Brooklyn.
This guy was bouncing all over the room, joking around with all the guests, dancing, enjoying his upbeat playlist. You could tell he genuinely loved his job.
I mentioned everything was in Spanish, right? I knew we’d catch on just by watching the trainer’s demonstrations and by understanding a few words here and there, but it was a mental challenge to try to interpret the class as an English speaker. At times the trainer would peel off to the side to make sure Kez and I were following along, giving us a quick note or two in English.
And this class was TOUGH. I was pouring sweat, having to carry my hand towel around to each circuit with me to mop up the floor after myself 😬. It was like being in a hot yoga class but with a HIIT workout.
I have to say—in the US we have some very fit men at the gyms. But the women in Playa del Carmen?! INCREDIBLE—the US men have nothing on them. They were so lean, so muscular, so strong. It was inspiring to see not only how seriously people took their fitness here, but how warm and friendly they were with each other (and us!) in this gym environment.
Kezia and I left the gym sweaty and exhausted, and headed down the road for a protein smoothie, gushing about how fun it was to do something different like a Spanish-led workout class while on vacation.
On Wednesday I decided to book another AirBnB experience, this time opting for sunrise paddle boarding. It’s a sport I’ve never tried—I’m not sure why, as I’ve been many places where there have been opportunities. But doing it at sunrise felt like the perfect way to start.
I woke up at 5:30am and was down at the beach by 6:30am. Again, the instructions were given in Spanish, but the demonstration seemed fairly straightforward, so I wasn’t too worried about catching on. It looked similar to the start of surfing—and WAS so much easier than surfing—so I felt I wouldn’t need any further guidance.
I carried my board to the water’s edge, guided it along the water’s surface, and walked alongside it away from the beach. The sea was like glass that morning, the calmest it had been in the 3 1/2 weeks I’d been in PDC. The view was absolutely stunning.
I hoisted myself onto the board, first kneeling as I paddled away from the shore, and then bracing the edges to stand up. I was a little wobbly at first, but once I tightened my core and put a slight bend in my knees, I felt in control and set out towards the sun rising over the horizon.
Noel, the guy who I booked the experience through, was back on the shore operating a drone that was taking aerial photos of the group as we paddled toward the horizon.
The sky was a mixture of purple and pink, with the sun beginning to peek out from behind the clouds. Moments like this make my eyes well up with tears, the feelings of disbelief at how different my life has turned out compared to how it was just a couple years ago. I get to experience these moments of beauty somewhat frequently when I travel, and it means to the world to me. I am never ungrateful for them.
After a while, the instructor recommended we take a swim. So I tied my ankle strap to a buoy and dove into the water. Even for the early hours of the morning, the water was as a warm as a bath. It was a darker blue out where we were, and yet I could still see the bottom with the sea being so clear in the Caribbean. What a beautiful place for the people who live here to call home.
I allowed myself to float for a while, that feeling of gratitude sinking in that this is how I got to start my morning on a random Wednesday in November.
When I got back on the board, I decided that while I was enjoying the paddle boarding, I needed it to feel like more of a workout, So I took off, paddling back and forth, parallel to the coastline, watching as the sun grew higher in the sky until it was time to head back in.
When we got back to shore, I asked Noel what the weather limitations were for paddle boarding if someone wanted to get into the sport. He explained that the main limitation is wind. That as the wind climbs into the double digits, the ability to paddle and balance grows more challenging, providing a heavier workout (or creating waves too big, too dangerous to participate). It’s a sport I’d consider if I ever lived close to water!
I thanked him for the advice and the photography (after learning we both lived in New York for a while and discussing his thoughts on city life vs sleepy beach town life—he misses city life), and I headed back to the condo for another beach day with Kez. Not much to do but lounge in the sun, eat fresh-caught lobster, drink Modelos, nap, and go for a swim in the sea. 😎
Hey! Would you like to connect over creativity, self-growth, and problem-solving? Please book a time on my Calendly for us to chat! I can’t wait to see you. XOXO.
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Damn, great shots!
Beautiful images, fun adventures!