I kind of forgot that I still had a few stories to tell from Mexico.  Having grown up in California, it should be no surprise to anyone that I enjoy good Mexican food.  As a small aside, Taco Bell is not Mexican food by this (or really any objective) definition.  So I was looking forward to getting some good, authentic Mexican food, or as they call it down there, food.  Well, actually they call it comida, but that ruins the joke.

As it turns out, if you want really authentic food, you have to get off of Avenida Cinco, because that is the pedestrian avenue that sucks in all the tourists.  Don't get me wrong, they have some great food there too, but its not truly authentic... its still a little Americanized.  There is also a heavy Mayan influence in that region, and that shows up in the food too, which is not a bad thing.

But of all the things we ate down there, the one thing I had, which I loved the most, was the vanilla ice cream.  We had it at a couple different places, and every time I would have to say that it was the absolute best ice cream I've ever had in my life.  The vanilla was beyond compare!  We bought a few bottles of vanilla to bring back with us too.

The coffee down there was also outstanding.  And no, despite my addiction to it, we never went to a Starbucks... not that we didn't have the opportunity.  I think we counted at least 5 different ones on Avenida Cinco alone in Playa del Carmen.

When you're down in that part of Mexico, anything that comes from a bean is guaranteed to be the best you've ever had.