November and Día de Muertos are here. A true celebration of life! Don’t forget to set your own ofrenda or visit downtown Cancun, Playa del Carmen or gather together with some friends to set one up!

We have major events taking place in Riviera Maya this November, for instance OHL Classic at Mayakoba, the golf internationally renowned tournament. We also have the closure for the TOH Bird Festival, a big bird watching event. Don’t forget to keep enjoying paradise and Mexican culture as well. Spot the Papantla flyers at Fundadores Park in Playa del Carmen or enjoy yourself with a cup of tea or coffee while you visit one of the best spots to find English-spoken books at Puerto Morelos, Alma Libre. Don’t miss a visit to Vidrio Soplado Mexicano to take a close look at the furnaces and all the process involved in this precious craftsmanship.

Live paradise every day. Enjoy waking up daily in one of the most beautiful places in this planet: Riviera Maya. Get yourself a nice spot in the beach and watch the sun going down and kissing the pristine blue waters of the Caribbean. Just breathe, enjoy the view and make sure you feel the moment. Celebrate life!

"If life must not be taken too seriously, then so neither must death"

—Samuel Butler



Saludos,

Although the invention of glassblowing is a very old European technique, (it coincided with the establishment of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC), Mexican handcraft tradition is considered one of the most beautiful around the world. Pieces like the popular blue rim glasses and color speckled glassware are a real classic. Some artisans use recycled glass, first they melt it and then a glob of it is put on a pole. It is then blown to get the shape started and part of the stem is formed. After the stem and base is formed, it is time to get the rim formed. It is heated in the furnace again and then the final shaping is done. Sometimes the finished pieces are put into a second furnace and go through a cooling process of many hours.

If you want to take a look at this unique techniques, a very interesting place to visit in Playa Del Carmen is Vidrio Soplado Mexicano Glass Blowing Workshop, here you can watch glass blowing, the blowing, shaping, furnaces and then shop the pieces. They have a considerable variety in items and prices. Definitely a mind blowing place!

The jungle of the Riviera Maya is not typically known as a great place to find fossils. The high humidity levels destroyed most traces of bone of the animals that lived here over thousands of years, but there is one place where they remain less disturbed: cenotes. While diving in Cenote Zapote, Puerto Morelos, explorer Vicente Fito, uncovered 10,000-year-old remains of a new sloth species. According to the National Institute of Anthropology and History, explorers have managed to collect some of the bones, including the skull and jaw, some vertebrae, ribs and claws, and expect to bring to the surface more in the near future. The new species of sloth is called Xibalbaonyx oviceps after the cave-related mayan underworld Xibalba. They do not yet know exactly how big this sloth was, but they can tell it was at least 500 pounds! Can you picture how big it was?

Hosted at a beautiful resort complex in the Riviera Maya, the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, Mexico’s first PGA TOUR event, will feature 132 professional golfers participating in four rounds of stroke play competition, from November 6th - 12, 2017, at the Greg Norman-designed El Camaleón Golf Club in Mexico’s Riviera Maya.

This tournament brings some of the world’s best PGA TOUR players to the Riviera Maya and provides a week of entertainment and competitive golf as well as enjoyable activities for the entire family. The OHL Classic at Mayakoba bases it’s activities for this year’s edition in their motto: Golf is Giving, Golf is Gourmet, Golf is Family. While the game of golf and the PGA TOUR form the centerpiece of the OHL Classic, it is the culture and passion of Mexico which makes this event unforgettable! You would like to check it out!

By 2030, 7.5% of the world’s population will be Spanish-speaking (535 million people), a percentage that stands out above Russian (2%), French (1.4%) and German (1.2%). By then, only Chinese will surpass Spanish as a group of native domain speakers.

Celebrating The Day of the Dead has a long history in Mexican Tradition. The Day of the dead is celebrated on November 2nd. Sometime one hears reference to “the days of the Dead”. November 1st is Día de los Todos los Santos or the day of the children and All Saints Day. November 2nd is Día de los Fieles Difuntos or the Day of the Dead. During these days, some believe that the souls of the departed return to earth to visit with and to provide council or give advice to family and loved ones. During the days of the dead, the family often takes the opportunity to visit the grave site and pull weeds, clean any debris and decorate the graves of loved ones. Often candles, flowers and the favorite foods of the deceased are placed on the grave and the family visits, eats, sings and tells favorite stories about those who have passed. Many set up altars (ofrendas) in their homes and often communities host a variety of events. Even altar contests are held at schools, universities and neighborhoods. Food placed on the altar consists of the loved ones favorite dishes and treats. Drinks should be placed in the altar to quench the thirst of the dead after their long journey back home. Every ofrenda also includes the four elements: water, wind, earth and fire. Water is left in a pitcher so the spirits can quench their thirst. Papel picado, or traditional paper banners, represent the wind. Earth is represented by food, especially bread. Candles are often left in the form of a cross to represent the cardinal directions, so the spirits can find their way.

The cempasúchil, a type of marigold flower native to Mexico, is often placed on ofrendas and around graves. With their strong scent and vibrant color the petals are used to make a path that leads the spirits from the cemetery to their families’ homes.

Día de los Muertos is an opportunity to remember and celebrate the lives of departed loved ones. Like any other celebration, Día de los Muertos is filled with music, great food and dancing. Alltournative features a Hanal Pixan, a mayan ceremony regarding Día de Muertos November 2nd in Tres Reyes, Quintana Roo.

Check it out!

Located in downtown Puerto Morelos, between Cancun and Playa Del Carmen, Alma Libre Bookstore Offers an eclectic collection of new and used books, gifts, handicrafts, maps, guides, and assorted treasures, it is more than just an amazing independent bookstore.

Alma Libre Bookstore has been a book lovers bastion for more than two decades. Not only the curators of the largest selection of new and used English language books on the Riviera Maya, they also strive to provide excellent information, witty banter, awesome conversation, and an ex-pat locals perspective.

Bookstores should provide an experience beyond the simple joy of words. Alma Libre is a perfect blend of the worldly literature, regional handicrafts, and Mexican flare, fully steeped in a unique Puerto Morelian vibe.

Check them out!
#2 Avenue Tulum, Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico 77580

Every year, from April to November, Toh Bird Festival hosts many activities related to the incredible bird diversity of Yucatan, like birdwatching tours, photo and drawing contest, conferences, workshops, etc. The pinnacle of the festival, the bird-a-thon xoc ch'íich' (“bird count”), will take place from Friday 10th to Sunday 12th of November 2016 in Sisal, Hunucma, Yucatan. This amazing marathon offers an amazing opportunity for local and foreign birdwatchers to spend an enjoyable weekend full of colors, sounds and nature, plus the chance to get involved in an intercultural experience in which everybody learns something...

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Voladores de Papantla is a Mexican ceremony, a tradition that you can see, nowadays, in a lot of sites other than Papantla. The “Flyers” perform a unique, ancient Mesoamerican ceremony/ritual, believed to have originated in central Mexico and then associated to Papantla, Veracruz. The ceremony was named an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO and it is still performed for the joy of people and to keep the tradition alive. The setting comprises an 80 or 90 feet pole and five people. The four flyers represent air, fire, water and earth elements. The five dancers climb the pole one by one, and four of them throw themselves backwards tied to the pole by the ankles and start descending, the fifth dancer remains on top of the pole, dancing and playing a flute and drum in a nine inch platform. It is a once in a lifetime experience to watch this ceremony, you can spot it at Parque Fundadores in Playa del Carmen throughout the day and it is something that should not be missed if you have not seen it before. After the performance, a donation is taken from those in attendance. This is how these performers are supported and giving them something helps keep this art form alive.