Playa Del Carmen Travel Files: The Anatomy of a Solo Adventure

Written by - Lu Johnson, Founder and Curator at Mending Miles Co.

Sanchez Restaurant in Playa del Carmen, Mexico is THAT girl 🫰🏾✨

I rode an hour from Cancun to discover Playa del Carmen by night, and I'm glad I said

yes to the urge of taking the adventure a little further.

Part of being intentional about my travels is choosing the destination and comitting to the adventure. This is a result of diving into all the firsts of solo tarvels. I understands what it feels like to get to the destination and be filled with questions and freezing completely. But in the background of all that angst, there is a particular voice that keeps calling and reminding you: if you've made it this far, imagine how much further you can go.

But these miles stones aren't alwsys simple to achieve, and eventually, I think I got the hang of it. So I hope by sharing a bit of the adventure with you, it will feel like I am holding your hand through it.

Just know, the perfect solo adventure, does exist.

Sanchez and Specialty Food Concepts

On this particular Playa del Carmen solo travel adventure, I was drawn to an out of the ordinary, for me, restaurant in Playa del Carmen, somewhere that allowed me to discover tacos in a way that is daring and creative. Taquería Sánchez stands by their motto, "por la glorificación del taco," for the glorification of tacos. You can always count me in! They present themselves as a concept that serves the classics and more innovative flavors, and they pride themselves on using fresh ingredients. And these are more than good reasons to take the hour journey down the Cancún/México 307.

Most of my solo taco party experiences stand on the same pillars: Land, Water, Plants. A little bit of meat, a little bit of seafood and usually cauliflower or mushroom. This time I chose cauliflower and the most beautiful mini forest of textures and flavors sitting on a bed of purple corn tortilla appeared in front of me. Dare I say, best cauliflower taco to date? They had a bright spread of 6 sauces with heat levels ranging from mild to apprentice dragon and

I went halfway to dragon 🐉, paired with a spicy mezcal margarita because am I even eating Mexican if I'm not completely on fire 😜?

The team was phenomenal, which as a frequent solo flyer matters to me, and as a former hospitality leader I watch for it. In my professional experience, servers either see zero value in a single diner and rush their experience,

or understand their role as culture stewards is to create an unforgettable one, and the two team members taking care of me that evening were of the latter.

Cenote Urbano and Its Story

I usually whip out a book at dinner, but this time I was fully immersed in the ambiance of Playa Del Carmen, on the patio alone I watched a wealth of different people waltz in and fill the space. First dates, matured married couples, girl groups, parties of three, and one other solo diner, to balance out my presence, lol. But the band directed the energy; they went from being energetic musicians to a loud and convivial dining party and as the perfect background sound, Playa Del Carmen's neighboring restaurants and street traffic. My dinner closed on a fluffy plate of churros, but when game planning my post dinner walk, I saw there was a Cenote right in town. Cenote Urbano.

It is said that in Mayan culture, cenotes were regarded as sacred portals to Xibalba, the underworld. In times of major cities like Chichén Itzá, communities erected nearby cenotes because they provided resources like irrigation for agriculture and water for drinking or household needs. Communities have always revered cenotes; they would leave gifts for the Mayan rain God Chaac. These sacred caves exist all over Yucatan territory, as protected cultural and historical sites, but this one was a gift to visit. I am not a Mexican woman, nor a girl of Playa Del Carmen, but as I walked away from Cenote Urbano on my way to the beach, I could not think of the marriage of an ancient water source in this happening modern town, which no longer relied on it for sustainability, but still held it dear, because of what it represents to its shared Mayan culture.

There is power in honoring the versions of us we've built from. They may not hold who we are today, but they deserve credit for having shaped us.

Solo Travel Safety

The thought deepened and carried me all the way to the beach. A thankfulness for such a great opportunity to discover Mayan heritage and its marriage to modern life. Innovative tacos, an urban cenote, deepened my perspective on my own life and how I relate to my personal story.

The beach was calm; a few people camped on the sand, enjoying a drink with friends, eager tour operators, and their bright personalities making conversation and proposing a tour for the next day to the obvious tourist recording her b-roll. But eventually, it was time to go, but it was not the end of the adventure yet! I had an hour-long ride home to my resort in Cancun. I coordinated with my Uber driver to bring me back, to avoid being denied a taxi ride from Playa Del Carmen to Cancun, it is just about 60km.

I love sharing about my daring adventures, but the dare is 90% choosing experiences that will challenge who I am in the moment and teach me, but only 10% unpreparedness. I did have a blind spot when planning for Mexico, "Ubers are available in Cancun" did not cover the spontaneous choice to "dinner in Playa Del Carmen," but before adventuring away from my home away from home, I coordinated my return and checked for hotels in Playa Del Carmen, just in case my ride changed their mind.

Booking Through Your Hotel vs Winging It

I say, be daring in many ways, but never gamble your safety. And my ride back was just as my ride in: lively, funny, and educational. Most transportation drivers in my travels share a similar story, this is their contribution to the tourism prism we all add a tile to. Most of them hold affection for the areas that they service and share a little bit of it with all of their passengers.

But you never need to wing it last minute, even for an impromptu adventure. In areas like Cancun, hotels and resorts have systems in place for you to explore and discover safely: tours, transportation, discovery maps. So, as travelers and adventure seekers, we can always count on our on-duty concierge to help us navigate our comings and goings, ensuring somebody is always "missing us".

As a solo traveler, I know one of the concerns we might have, is knowing that someone local and just a call away is always aware of where we've run off to. It is a nice backup to sharing our location with our mom or best friend.

The Perfect Solo Adventure Does Exist

Traveling solo might feel terrifying at first, because of the many questions we are unable to answer. Whether it is the discomfort of being seen alone or what friends and family would even say about you going alone. Their first question, and ours too, is "will it be safe?", especially not knowing whether it is even worth the trouble. I always recommend testing out your own company at home first before taking a big trip, unless you are a rip off the bandaid kind of person, but I have found that depending on the perspective of travel you are experiencing these solo travel firsts from, that might be a challenging quest and you might freeze and water down the experience by leaning into fear instead of who you are when nobody's watching or asking or worrying out loud.

Worry is not bad, it is good, but I have learned to redirect that into readiness, understand where I am going, gauging my levels of agency while I am there, the different resources that are built to help me be safe and feel safe, those are two different things sid you know? But all of it is worth it when you are choosing destinations that make room for your process, activities that align with what brings you joy or the discoveries you may have been too shy to make.

It all started with wanting to discover a place that served me Mexican cuisine with a twist and it developed into a culinary and emotional adventure that transcended time. And in the end, when someone will ask, how was Sanchez in Playa Del Carmen, I will know, it was THAT girl,

but so was I wasn't I?