Diana’s need to rehab her broken hip meant we were (stuck) in Playa del Carmen for most of the summer. The only other time we were in this area during the summer was many years ago. That time we stayed at an all-inclusive nearby and never made it into town. This time, I chose to seek out local events to get to know our town better.
Keep Kids In School
Some months back, we became friends with an expat couple and got a little more connected to our community. Notably, I learned the husband works for a local educational charity, Keep Kids In School.
Apparently, high school students in the area are required to pay for many of the services provided by the school, including things like the custodian’s salaries. The current fees add up to $650/yr, which can be too big a burden for some working families in the region, curtailing education and achievement for the students.
Enter KKIS, Keep Kids In School. The charity strives to raise funds and provide guidance to promising students in the area. Their goal is for students to attend high school and university. We chose to get our feet wet with KKIS by sponsoring a high school student this year. In addition, we donated an old laptop for use by a high school or college student. Many students here do their nightly homework with the help of a single, old smartphone shared amongst the kids in a given family. One of the recently donated computers was the first one owned by any family on their block. As such, it was a no-brainer to provide our laptop.
Galas and Backpacks
KKIS works on other levels as well. We plan to attend a wine tasting fundraiser in a couple of weeks. They also raise funds through a gala event, but it looks like we will be out of town for the next gala. Of course, we will keep an eye out for more opportunities to connect with the group.
We did participate in a backpack stuffing event in August. At the event, volunteers assembled, donated, and purchased school supplies. Think pencils, sharpeners, scissors, glue sticks, notebooks, etc. These items were then stuffed into backpacks to be distributed later to needy students in elementary, middle, and high school grades. Several such events were held, and over a thousand backpacks were delivered in total. Many volunteers participated that hot August afternoon, so the effort wasn’t too great a burden for anyone.
Show Jumping
A new event this year was a horse show jumping competition over two weekends. A bit south of town in the jungle, a temporary grandstand was erected for folks to enjoy the competition at comfy tables, perhaps with food or drink. It was a bit upscale for the area, but I think the event was successful.
We went on the first weekend as the event admission was free. The groups of riders were fairly young, which was probably why there was no charge. Most of the spectators were the families of the riders.
Being that anything horse-related can be expensive, the folks here were all pretty well-to-do. A friend pointed out a family that owned an airline shuttle operating from Playa to Cozumel, for example.
It was fun to watch the kids taking their rides through the course, trying not to knock down any of the gates. I would go again for the spectacle as long as tickets are gratis or at least inexpensive. Diana just enjoyed being around all the horses, I think.
More Food P*rn
We hit some of our regular spots: The Hidden Italian Gem, Cielito Lindo (great tacos), India Jones (known by many as the best place in town), 500 Gramos (for the filet and chicken parm deals), Bendita Costilla (Argentine), Mykonos (Greek), and Rockas (Jamaican).
Melon and tomato gazpacho 
Prosciutto with charred nectarines 
Red wine granita 
Rabbit papardelle 
Diana’s favorite lasagna 
Choice ingredients 
Fried pork tacos with broth 
Samosa chaat 
Spicy fried chicken 
Chicken biryani 
Filet is bigger than it looks and well cooked 
Chicken parm 
Loin steak 
Rib eye 
Falafel 
Chicken bohemia 
Chicken gyro 
Chicken Rasta Pasta 
Chicken burger 
And some new spots: Ceviche Parrillero (ceviche and fish taco), Anafre (a new to us upscale joint), Inka (Peruvian). We go out somewhere about four times/week, so we get to a lot of spots over time. Other comments are in the captions of the pictures.
Chef Dinner Puerto Morales
One special food event we attended was in a town about 25-minute drive north of us. Chef Umberto has been doing a monthly-ish pop-up dinner for a couple of years at Restaurant Ki, a beachfront venue in Puerto Morelos. It’s usually a seven-course, family-style meal centered around a theme.
This time the theme was “popular dishes” from prior events, kind of a best of dinner. We got to try a variety of tasty dishes for 700 pesos/pp while meeting new folks from around Puerto Morelos. It was a lot of fun. Next time, we will probably take some friends to share the experience with.
What is your favorite breed of horse?
