Playa Players Vol. 1
Playa del Carmen is a city located along the Caribbean Sea, in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Originally a small fishing town, tourism to Playa del Carmen began with the passenger ferry service to Cozumel, now a world-famous blading destination.
After deciding to visit Mexico and arriving in the capital due to easy entry without any COVID restrictions I left for the Riviera Maya to meet up with one of my childhood friends. We partied pretty much for two weeks straight as it was possible for the first time in a year and the homie just loves a few good drinks in combination with lights and music. We separated after a while because I couldn’t keep up with my work schedule and he prioritized to follow random girls to different places. I ended up in Cozumel and after being sick for a good week I returned to Playa del Carmen without a real plan other than to skate the DIV skatepark a couple of times and do a bit of exercise. Playa itself didn’t seem that interesting at first, the beaches and nature close to the city were not that pretty in comparison to other parts of Mexico. I knew through the gram that Joe Atkinson was close to Mexico. I’m not sure, I think he flew to Mexico, left for the USA and then came back, visa-running like a madman. I was lucky to flip through the stories one day because he randomly posted that he was going to do a blade clinic at Woodward in the Riviera Maya. A quick Google search later and I realized that it was just a short collectivo-ride away in Puerto Aventuras, just outside of Playa Del Carmen.
Joe Atkinson – Wallride, Cancun, Mexico
We had been skating in Cancun all day and were already on our way back to Playa but were about to check out one more spot, a fullpipe of which Joe had received a picture. We didn’t know the location and had to get some help from the locals. I think Joe’s original idea was to loop it but it was just too tall to do so and it also started raining. Maybe it was just the rain that kept him from doing it. After going back and forth a couple of times he figured that he could do the wallride instead and after a couple of tries on the lower bit he went for the higher part which is pretty insane considering the 4m drop.
Roro, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Roro was the main man of the operation, always there, always helping, always in a good mood, never complaining. Supposedly he has a picture of himself somewhere in his flat where he, according to Joe, looks a bit funny. He was supposed to recreate the facial expression here. I don’t know if he succeeded, I never saw the original. Thank you so much for everything Roro.
Frai Gomez – Backslide, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
This was our first bigger session street skating together in Playa. It actually worked out quite well, we all got a few clips. The first spot was a ledge that was just a little too curvy and after visiting the food-court we went to skate the local mall. I spotted this little rail when we entered and everybody gave it a go. Frai got the best trick and I really like how the photo turned out, a solid backslide in high noon colourful Playa sunshine and heat. That day raised everyone’s expectations and motivation to higher levels but it sadly remained the only good street session I was part of in Playa.
Frai Gomez feeling female, Cancun, Mexico
We visited the Tulum ruins on our trip to Cancun. After walking around for a couple of hours we took a break on a bench somewhere. This is Frai dicking around using the leafs of a palm tree as hair. “Like a girl” he said. Thankfully his hands were occupied, otherwise it would’ve just been another thumbs up photo.
I was a bit disappointed because I had messaged Joe a couple of months earlier about Mexican daily life and entry requirements, but he never replied. So I visited his clinic undercover and it turned out to be such a fun day regardless, he did a great job in entertaining everyone, worked out a program and overall showed a great attitude towards all the people.
I hadn’t skated in quite a while and skating Woodward was a dream come true (not comparable to the Woodwards in the United States, but it did have the famous logo) It also showed that there was an active skate scene in Playa, with Rodrigo, Benji and Alex as the main heads. A surprising amount of people came to visit and other than Joe I met Sofie (who I had met in Spain) and another girl I had met in Thailand years ago. Frai Gomez, one of Mexico’s own skate legends was around as well, trying to help Joe film a few vlogs and obviously skate. Not to mention all the heads from Cancun and the surrounding area. We had a great day of stretching, trampolines, backflips, a movie premiere and of course skating the pump-track and skatepark. We finished the session off with the latest Cayenne video that was shot in Mexico. I hadn’t seen it, so it was great to get a glimpse of what skating in Mexico could be like. Shout-out to everyone involved, such a timeless piece of art in all aspects. Once we made it back to Playa it wouldn’t have been a Joe Atkinson clinic™ if there weren’t plenty of beers involved on the beach at the spontaneous after-party. Great to meet the Playa bladers and reconnect with the people I already knew. It all ended at the emptiest club in the world with a private DJ, Joe teaching the Mizou-true-Mizou dance and a slice of Renzos’ pizza later.
The old man himself – Topsoul, Cancun, Mexico
This photo was taken at the entrance to a stadium on the way to Cancun. We paid the security guard about 20MXN each to skate for a couple of hours. It had a nice but too low kinked ledge on the side and two high rails on the stair-sets. I liked the spot, how it looked and figured I could do something myself, so I asked Joe if he could take the picture and he did a pretty good job. I didn’t wanna push it so I just did a Topsoul.
Rollersoccer Ronaldo, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Joe initiated a rollersoccer match as he quickly got bored skating the ledges in the basketball court. It was fun for a bit but the man is just a little competitive, necessary for the competitions and all that, but not necessarily in all-smiles roller-soccer match situations with the disabled kids on anti-rocker steups. This is pretty much what it looked like when he came storming towards anyone of our team, no wonder we all shat our pants and lost the game.
It was quite hilarious out of all the places he could be in the world, Joe was going to stay in Playa. He wanted to train in Woodward so staying in the closest town made sense. With his magical Joe-ways he convinced me to stay in Playa for a longer time as well.
Great idea, stay and skate for a bit again, hang with the crew and have a home for a while. Frai, another pro level skater from Mexico was going to stay in Playa for a while too. He was highly motivated as well as all the other heads I mentioned earlier. Rodrigo was the best host we could wish for, always down for everything, taking us to the local skateparks, parties and beaches, drove us around all while juggling his full time job and lots of joints. Thanks brother, highly appreciated! The reason I came to Playa from Cozumel in the first place was the DIF skatepark, but it turned out to be closed. It was a bit of a pity as it was a pretty good park for a beach-town gig, but no haggling at the door, impossible to get past the people standing guard. It was in some sort of community centre and everybody just loved obeying the COVID rules. I took us a few weeks to figure out that we can just use the backdoor and walk in, nobody seemed to be bothered once we were skating inside. Going through the main gate was still a big no though.
Mexican Food, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Mexican food, everyone loves and is very proud of it, so don’t ever tell a Mexican you don’t like it, its like insulting their family. So here we go, lots of amazing Tacos, Tortas, Gringas, Chilaquiles, Pozoles, Tamales, Quesadillas, Flautas, Tlayudas, Moles but mostly Tacos, Tacos and Tacos. Did I mention Tacos? My all time favourite were the Mangos though, the yellow kind, so good they can even replace chocolate and candy. I naively expected them to be around all the time but to my devastation the season had ended once I returned from Guatemala. Luckily Papayas and Lychees came through but still can’t replace a fresh, ripe and juicy Mango. Pure gold. Roro is the only Mexican I’ve met so far who has spent a longer time in Germany, it was quite funny he knew how dreary it is and how the 100m long candy lanes in the supermarket help to get through the winter. Mexico got mangos and sunshine, Germany rain and candy… go figure.
Roro’s nephew, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Rodrigo’s nephew came to visit Playa with the family and had a couple of afternoons to hang out with us. Our crew ranged from dudes in their mid-twenties to late-thirties, I found it remarkable how well he integrated himself into the group, just like he had been part of it forever, such confidence.
Joe’s idea was to get an apartment together which, after evaluating the situation, I was a bit hesitant to do because of work and Joe being wild and uncontrollable at times. The classic pro-skater, no commitments, just looking for the good times. He was using Facebook marketplace and managed to find places to stay for the both of us in the end, two brand-new studio apartments on top of each other.
The setup couldn’t have been any better, the places were really nice, fresh and tastefully furnished, finally access to a kitchen, air-conditioning and a washing machine. I absolutely loved staying there, it turned out to be such a nice home for a while. I also really enjoyed having Joe as a neighbour, not in the same flat but just upstairs was perfect, not too close but absolutely not far away. I feel like we connected quite well, even though our missions differed, had quite a few good talks and exchanges. He mentioned that normally hanging out with the pros everyone is about the same pie and just as Joe they are all very competitive. That explains a lot of the madness, all these extroverted characters trying to one up each other. I have my own pie, so no problems there.
The first weeks flew by, everything was new and there were so many things to see and do, everyone was excited. There were a few skateparks to visit, the beautiful beaches and cenotes, expensive craft beers (always just one, of which I got so drunk one time I forgot the pin of my credit card) on the 5th avenue, the blue house for classic Mexican food, the national park in the south and a few clubs for the parties. Going out after a long year of COVID restrictions was awesome again as well, especially considering the rest of the world was still closed down.
The Blue House, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
This was the go-to spot for late dinners, Roro and the crew loved eating there. Big portions at affordable prices all in a very down to earth, authentic Mexican ambience, served by two old ladies who probably had been making food their whole lifes.
Frain Gomez – Topacid, Cancun, Mexico
After skating the stadium in Cancun we found this steep aluminium rail for the second spot of the day and Frai put on a show for everyone, he did a couple of Topacids and switched some of them to a Backroyale.
Joe Atkinson – Flip, Puerto Aventuras, Mexico
There were quite a few skateparks in the area, just Playa del Carmen alone had five, two under the bridge, the hole in the ground, Las Palmeras and the DIF. None of them except the DIF and maybe Las Palmeras were that great. This is another one, on the way out of Playa towards Tulum in a gated community named Puerto Aventuras. They asked for identification at the gate and we always needed a good reason to enter and bring a vehicle, it seemed as if anyone on foot was considered too poor and denied entry. On their first day Phil and the crew came by collectivo but were not allowed to enter, they had to wait for us to come out just to hit another collectivo back to Playa that took them straight into a two hour traffic jam. We went a couple of times and Joe enjoyed entertaining the kids that were getting skateboard classes.
