Spanish in Mexico

No leaning!

In the city of Valladolid, pay attention if you are waiting for the bus.

What do you usually do while you are waiting for the bus? Lean on something? Careful if you do so in Valladolid! Roughly translated, the notice in the window of a travel agency we spotted while waiting for the bus says :

"Please do not to lean on the glass. You break the window, you pay for it — every peso!"

Just to put it to the test, we tried…and, phew, it didn't break!

Keep your eye open for curious signs in Mexico: there are lots that are fun and it's also a good way to practise and learn some Spanish…

(Note that recargarce should actually be recargarse, with an 's'.)

Claudia Harkavy tells us about dancing Salsa at Playa del Carmen's Mambo Club

Anything can happen in Playa del Carmen, so prepare for the unexpected. Just as I thought that the town was nothing but tacky tourist shops and multinational chains (Starbucks, MacDonald's, Burger King), some classmates and I get talking to a local waiter, Roberto (admittedly at a bar called Chicago) and discover that his friend is a salsa champion. When he mentions international competitions in Cuba and shows us photos of him competing (in a silky red shirt!), our interest heightens. The more they tell us, and the more moves they demonstrate, the more excited we become about going out dancing.

Even then, I had reservations, thinking every club would pump out cheesy house music and be full of foreigners, or be some Disneyfied version of what they think we think Mexico is. But the Mambo Club was anything but. Brimming entirely with local residents (we were the only foreigners in there), it was completely pumping and pulsing with real Latino life. It didn't take long for us to be asked to dance – each partner shows you different moves, has a different rhythm, speed and style. And, also a surprise, the men generally don't tend to assume anything more than a dance or two. Or sometimes three. You can bop away happily knowing you're indebted to no one (of course there are the odd few who try not to take no for an answer, but they soon get the message).

To both salsa records and a high-energy Colombian band we were twirled, twisted and swung about a packed dancefloor and for the first time in a week, I really felt I was in Mexico. With nothing but smiles, salsa (and a fair amount of sweat!), we had the time of our lives until 5am, when our chaperones walked us to the end of our street and politely went no further.

If you avoid the 5th Avenue hotspots and get chatting to the locals, who knows where Playa del Carmen will take you…

Claudia (London, UK) was with us in Playa in December 2007

The IH Riviera Maya piñata

The piñata is a brightly-coloured paper container which is filled usually with sweets. Generally it is suspended on a rope from a tree branch or ceiling and is used during celebrations. In Mexico the piñata is one of the big things used to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas and Easter.

The imagination and creativity Mexicans put into their piñatas is unlimited: lambs, burros, roosters, chickens, angels, Christmas trees and Santa Claus figures…

You can find every size and shape imaginable – as you can see from IH Rivera's Maya piñata.

>> More about "la piñata"

A Christmas tree piñata!

¡En IH Riviera Maya no podíamos ser menos! Todos nuestros estudiantes participaron en la elaboración de una piñata. Las piñatas fueron elaboradas por grupos de alumnos con la destacada colaboración y ayuda de sus maestros utilizando materiales como papel china, periódico, pegamento y materiales de desecho.

Cada grupo presentó su piñata al jurado compuesto por todos los miembros de la escuela. Los temas y los modelos de las piñatas abarcaban diferentes motivos: piñata en forma de pavo, la piñata de la paz, la piñata zanahoria, la piñata estrella con los siete picos que representarían los siete pecados capitales, la piñata en forma de árbol de Navidad, etc… Posteriormente se otorgaron los premios a las piñatas más aplaudidas.

El primer premio no podía ser otro que una botella de tequila. El concurso estuvo peleado ya que todas las piñatas eran dignas de premio. Este evento hizo que los estudiantes fortalecieran su creatividad y fomentó respeto y comprensión hacia la diversidad cultural.

Hacer una piñata, parece fácil, pero es una tarea que requiere dedicación, paciencia y mucha imaginación! Pruébalo…

And finally — blindfolded — the piñata has to be broken open…

¡Romper la piñata! En la escuela, no podía faltar esta tradición tan común en las posadas navideñas. Esta tradición funciona de la siguiente manera:

La piñata se coloca a unos cuatro o cinco metros del grupo colgando de un hilo. Una persona se encarga de mover este hilo, haciendo más difícil romperla.

Después se escoge un voluntario a quien le corresponde romper la piñata. Primero el voluntario observa bien dónde está colocada la piñata, luego se le vendan los ojos, se le hace girar sobre sí mismo unas dos o tres veces y con un palo en la mano empieza a dar golpes a la piñata. Es una tarea bien ardua ya que no se ve nada y ¡la piñata se mueve! Se dan tres oportunidades para romperla, si no le acierta, se sigue el juego con otro voluntario.

En México, mientras que una persona pasa a pegarle a la piñata, se canta:

Dale, dale, dale, no pierdas el tino, porque si lo pierdes, pierdes el camino.
Dale, dale, dale, no pierdas el tino, mide la distancia que hay en el camino.
Dale, dale, dale no pierdas el tino por que si lo pierdes pierdes el camino ya le diste uno ya le diste dos ya le diste tres y tu tiempo se acabo.

Y pasa a otros voluntarios hasta que se rompe y de dentro caen dulces y entonces… ¡Todos corriendo a recoger los dulces!

Traditional basket-making, Quintana Roo

December 13-16, we had the 2ª feria artesanal navideña taking place in Playa del Carmen — a Christmas handcrafts fair, organised by the government of Quintana Roo, to promote the culture and the arts of the State and support the artisan communities of Quintana Roo. The slogan was "creando para crecer" (creating in order to grow).

Artisans from the eight municipalities of Quintana Roo participated in the event to display and sell their work. There were items made of wood, fibers, vegetables, seashells, glass, stone and ceramics.

Traditional craftwork is something you'll see a lot of in Playa — and makes for great souvenirs, apart from anything else!

¡Vive la Navidad! | Photo: Marta Conesa

El sábado 15 de diciembre tuvo lugar en Playa del carmen el evento "¡Vive la Navidad!", promocionado por la revista Quinta magazine (revista de publicación mensual con eventos, información de Playa del Carmen y alrededores, novedades y mucho más).

En este evento, no se pagaba entrada, sino que el costo de ésta era un regalo nuevo (sin uso de pilas ni bélico) que se entregaría después a los niños de las comunidades mayas. ¡Qué idea tan bonita!

Nuestros alumnos contribuyeron generosamente a la colecta de juguetes. En el evento hubo villancicos, pastorelas, antojitos mexicanos, piñatas y muchas cosas más.

Llega la Navidad y en Playa se respira solidaridad…

A new look for our website…

We've just launched a new version of our website, ihrivieramaya.com.

"Actually, there's still some work to do on the new version," webmaster Tom Walton tells us, "as there are still things to add to it, but you'll now be seeing the new version."

"We've tried to give it a cleaner look, make navigating it easier — especially in the seven different languages it's available in — and, more than anything else, we didn't think the old version did Playa del Carmen justice, so we've tried to include more photos to give you a proper impression of what a lovely place it is."

In the screen capture, above, you can see pictures of our student residence and we'll be adding more shortly, both on the website and here on this blog.

Marta, el mar, y su color turquesa…

Marta Conesa — who has lived in Playa del Carmen and worked at IH Riviera Maya for the last three years — wrote this post on the plane back to Mexico. Wouldn't anyone like Playa…?!

Faltan 5 horas de avión para llegar a Cancún…

Ya puedo sentir el sol calentando mi piel, el calor que desprende la blanca arena cuando la piso, el olor del mar, su ruido, su color turquesa….que ahora mismo parece tan irreal y cuando llegas a Playa del Carmen se hace realidad. El sabor de la papaya, la guayaba, las aguas de sabor, el olor de los tacos al pastor que encuentras paseando por la Avenida 30.

Puedo ver el camino rodeado de la todavía verde y fuerte jungla que me lleva a Playa del Carmen, respirar la familiaridad con la que la gente me recibe, las sonrisas sinceras, las miradas de disponibilidad y el buen trato. Porque aún y sin estar allí, una vez has estado, siempre es muy fácil sentirse en Playa.