Over 30 innovative events are planned for this year’s festival, to include demonstrations by celebrity chefs from the US, Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru, a catamaran dinner cruise, wine and spirits tastings, and more.

This celebration of star chefs of the Americas is proud to welcome world-renowned Spanish Chef Ferran Adria as its Special Guest.  Don’t miss your chance to experience world-class cuisine in one of the most beautiful tropical resort locations in the world.

For more information or tickets, please visit the Cancun-Riviera Maya Wine and Food Festival website.

Photo taken from www.dashberlinworld.com

Mexico has built Puente Baluarte Bicentenario, a cable-stayed bridge located between the municipalities of Concordia in Sinaloa and Pueblo Nuevo in Durango, along the Durango-Mazatlan Highway.

With a total length of 1,124 m (3,688 ft) and the road deck at 403 m (1,322 ft above the valley below, the Baluarte Bridge is the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world, and the second-highest bridge overall.  The bridge is a part of the new highway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of Northern Mexico and when it opens to traffic later this month, will greatly reduce travel times between Durango and Mazatlan.

The astounding hand-beaded VW beetle, called “Vochol” (combining the popular VW bug nickname “Vocho” and “Huichol”) was decorated by indigenous craftsmen from the Huichol community living in the Mexican states of Jalisco and Nayarit.  The VW will be auctioned off after its exhibition in Europe, with proceeds going to the Huichol community who created it.

Spacious and full of light, Condo 5 is a great value for your vacation dollar

We’re excited to announce that our already fairly-priced two bedroom Condo #5 has just reduced its rental rates.  Weekly rates now start at just 1,000 usd.

This spectacular 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo has a view of the garden area from every angle. There is a private patio with table and chairs just outside the entry of condo #5 facing the pool and garden area.

For a more complete description of this condo’s amenities, additional photos, as well as all rental rates, please click here. If you’re interested in renting this or any of the condos in Royal Palms, please contact us at info@royapalmscondos.com

Office hours are: 9am to 5pm – Open Daily
Tel: (52 984) 803 2754
Tel/Fax: (52 984) 803 2755
Toll-Free: 1-888-753-5161

This year’s Tequila Fest will include a tequila expo, tastings and food pairings, regional music and dance, tequila courses/lectures, and more.  Don’t miss your chance to celebrate Mexico’s most important drink!  Salud!

Taxi Project

Visitors departing Mexico to major hub cities like Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago were selected at random and pre-screened at airports in Cancun and Cabo San Lucas (to date; other Mexican resort cities may follow) by interviewers stationed behind airline ticket counters. Told their opinions were being sought to test a new tequila brand, these tourists were then offered a free ride in a taxi at their home airport as compensation for their assistance. Once in the taxi, the driver (also an actor) got the conversation rolling by asking the travelers about their trips.

The current campaign will run through December, with additional ads planned for January and February–Mexico’s peak winter travel season.

The Maya created a calendar with a 400-year base period, each of which was called a “baktune,” and each era is comprised of 13 cycles of 400 years, totaling 5,125 years. According to the Mayan solar calendar, 2012 will be the last year in a cycle of 5,125 years — a cycle that began in 3114 B.C.– and according to scientific evidence found in Maya stele, codices and other sources it presages “a change of epoch” for  all of humanity.

Speculation over the meaning of the end of this cycle in the Maya calendar has led some to believe 2012 will mark the ‘end of the world,’ when for the Maya, it marks only the end of one cycle of time and the beginning of the next.

Whatever 2012 will bring, it will surely be an exciting time to visit the land of the Maya.

1. Go Bowling! Cancun has Planet Bowl and Playenses are anxiously awaiting the grand opening of the new Planet Bowl location at Centro Maya in Playa del Carmen. http://www.planetbowl.com.mx/
2. Go to the movies! Playa del Carmen has 2 excellent, new theaters with comfortable stadium seating, fair ticket prices (around 45 pesos per adult, or about 4 usd), relatively inexpensive snacks, and a decent selection of first-run movies.  Most American movies have both English and Spanish-dubbed options, though children’s movies are an exception–they are typically dubbed in Spanish only.  Other foreign films are typically in the language of the filming with Spanish subtitles.
3. Shopping! Take advantage of the cooler temps to stroll down 5th avenue exploring shops filled with souvenirs, Mexican folk art, and funky, fun beach clothes.  You can also check out one of Playa’s two major shopping malls: Centro Maya, on the west side of the highway south of Juarez (across from Sam’s Club) or Plaza Las Americas, which is located in a residential neighborhood west of the highway between Avenida CTM and Avenida Colosio. It’s easy to get a taxi or colectivo to either location.
4. Dancing!  Karaoke! Check out Bodeguita del Medio for great Cuban music and dancing or maybe Club Social for karaoke, if that’s your thing!  Bodeguita del Medio is on 5th and Calles 34 and Club Social is on Avenida 25 and calle 6bis.
5. Spa Day.  Playa del Carmen has many lovely, relaxing spas, with prices that are generally much lower than those you’d find in spas in the US.  Veronica’s Massage (several locations, one of which is 5th avenida just north of Constituyentes, upstairs next to Karma Bagels) offers 1 hour massages for 30 usd.  Other spas to check out include Maya Spa(1st avenida between Calles 12 and 16) or local favorite Holospa (Calle 26 between Avenidas 25 and 30), which offers a fantastic, hour+ long deep-cleansing facial for about 500 pesos or about 45 usd.

Don’t despair if you wake up to a rainy day–look at it as an opportunity to explore what Playa del Carmen has to offer apart from the sun, sand, and sweaty days.  Plus, it gives you a chance to wear cute rain boots!

Locals love the occasional rainy day because they get to wear cute rain boots!

Rio Lagartos, which is internationally famous for the 30,000 pink flamingos that come to the area between January and September for reproduction. It is also the home of the Sea Turtle that visits the beaches between June and August to lay their eggs in the sand.  Expect to see 800-1500 nests along the beaches.

With more than 360 different birds visiting Rio Lagartos, it is also a fantastic place for bird watching.  In addition to the diverse wildlife, you will find a tropical forest full of Royal palms, coconut plantations and majestic Ceiba trees, the national tree of Yucatan. Rio Lagartos National Park is considered a true jewel for lovers of peace and nature…far away from telephones, pagers, and computers.

Ask us for details on this day trip.

For the full article http://www.petergreenberg.com/ on June 23, 2011 7:15 am

Is it safe to travel to Mexico? How can you reconcile the great travel deals with the reports of drug violence?

Robert Reid, U.S. travel editor for Lonely Planet, and Peter get to the bottom of the recent State Department alert and other troubling news reports.

Peter Greenberg: We’ve done the radio show from Mexico four or five times this year. I don’t need you to convince me that it’s a cool place to go. But, in light of the statistics that people see in the press, what do you think?

Robert Reid: “Should I go to Mexico?” is the question I have been asked the most in the last couple years. There’s swine flu; there’s reports about the drug war; there’s new and expanded warnings from the State Department. I always say, if you plan carefully and pick where you’re going, you actually can go.

The State Department came out with a new travel warning to Mexico in late April. Seventeen out of 30 states in Mexico are not included on it. Not included are the places people usually go like Quintana Roo, the Yucatán State, the Southern part of Baja where all the beaches are, Mayan ruins and the colonial towns around Mexico City like San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato. Locals as well as travelers tell me it feels the same there. The reports of the drug war feel as distant there as they do here. Plus, there are a lot of deals as a result of some of these news reports. Prices are going down.

Ideas for Mexico travel: Mexico & Central America Travel section

PG: When you have all these states on a travel warning or travel advisory for the State Department, it does send a negative message to most travelers, who probably don’t know where these states are located.

RR: Absolutely, I understand that. If someone is not comfortable, they shouldn’t go. First, you need to consider that Mexico is about the size of Western Europe. There’s an area that’s bigger than Britain and Ireland that is not on the travel warnings. And there are other smaller areas outside the warning as well.

Second, look at the results of some of the crime reports. The Washington Post had an article last year that the homicide rate in our nation’s capital is four times greater than Mexico City. A lot of people won’t go to Mexico City because of pollution and crime. The crime rate has gotten a lot lower. It’s cleaned itself up. The bicentennial for the Mexican revolution a couple of years ago really cleaned up the capital.

My message is always the same: Make sure you have the full picture, the 360-degree-picture, before you make a decision. There are a lot of good things to be had in Mexico if you do choose to go.

For example, Mérida is a great Mayan town near Mayan ruins in the Yucatán that had fewer nuisances with drugs last year than Wichita, Kansas. I fear that we perceive Mexico through a keyhole of the worst common denominator. No doubt, it’s a grizzly image, but it’s not the full picture.

PG: Isn’t it ironic that we’re talking about crime and murder in Mexico and I’ve spent so much of the year enjoying the ocean, the beaches and the beautiful sunsets in Mexico? Where have you been?

RR: I’m in Newark, New Jersey.

PG: Ladies and gentleman, I rest my case.

By Peter Greenberg for PeterGreenberg.com.