Comments about LocoGringo Casa del Mar Condominiums:

Just returned from 10 days spent in Playa del Carmen at the Casa del Mar Condo in the Iguana Fea suite, which was anything but "ugly"! LOL!

We had arranged for a shuttle to the condo from the airport, and our driver offered to stop at a store for drinks as we left the airport since the ride is about 40min. We left at separate times at the end of our trip and easily flagged down a taxi from the Elements condo complex across the street for a 500 peso ride back to the airport.

Big thank-you to the friendly daytime sequrity/door man (Enzo?) for holding our luggage when the airport finally delivered it a day AFTER we arrived. Thats why I always pack shorts and a bathing suit in my carry-on! Also the rest of the maintenance staff were very friendly and helpful whenever we encountered any issues. They do not speak any english though so if you don't speak Spanish - grab your handy Ipad and translator App. LOL!

The five of us girls were thrilled with the interior of our suite, everything was clean and new looking, the glass doored showers were spacious, the King beds and leather couches were comfy. All the amenities were present in the kitchen, laundry and bathrooms. It was nice to have such a large fridge with an ice maker and we used the blender often. The full size stove was nice to have but only got used for garlic bread on spaghetti night.

The 2 teenagers were overjoyed to have wifi in the condo for facebooking and skype and I'm sure they watched almost half of the large collection of DVDs in the bedroom.

The condo complex is at the quiet end of the beach on 46 street which was far enough away from Fifth to enjoy the peace but close enough to walk to and from every night for our dinners. If you walk up 2 long blocks from the condo you come to Fifth Ave, follow this towards downtown Playa until you choose somewhere to eat and drink, stopping often to shop in the numerous stores.

There are a couple of corner stores about 2 blocks up and 2 blocks over to purchase essentials (red wine) but the Mega store is a better value for major stocking up at the beginning of your stay. It is a bit of a walk, probably 30-40 minutes, but certainly doable, and a cab ride back with supplies is only 5US.

The roof top pool at the condo was small but clean with numerous beds and loungers as well as bathrooms so you dont need to run back down to your room.

The beach out front has only been open to the public for about 6 months and is quite busy with local families. We spent many an afternoon on our deck watching the comings and goings of the local families. Very entertaining but the bongo drums stareted to wear on our nerves after 3 days! LOL! We spent Christmas day out front of the condo with our cooler, chairs towels and umbrellas from the suite.

We spent a day at Mamitas beach club about a 10 minute walk down the beach where chairs were 30 pesos each for the day and you had use of their restrooms. We also spent a day at nearby Canibal Royal beach club, no charge for chairs but minimum 250 peso each for food and drink. Both clubs had great food and drinks but expect to pay bar prices of about 80 pesos per drink and about 200 pesos per sandwich. The shrimp tostadas at Canibal Royal were excellent, but the music got really loud as the afternoon wore on. Reservations required there for beachfront seating and it fills up early.

There is a massage place on the beach just to the right of the condo looking off the deck. It doesn't look like much but they are professional and friendly, accepting US dollars, pesos or Visa. A one hour combo massage was 45US.

We took the ferry (150pesos each way per person) over to Cozumel for the afternoon for shopping and lunch, skipped the snorkling on the island as everyone was a bit tired that day. We also spent one day at Xel-hah which I suggest everyone do once - check out the reviews fr it on Trip Advisor. We purchased tickets from a tour operator at Mega store for 85US each for the day with pick-up right from the condo. Great value for all your drinks and meals plus all the fun in the water at the park. We als purchased a zip lining/quadding trip for 75US each at Gorillas Ex. Great fun, good option for first timers as the towers were not crazy high. Very safety contientios and friendy guides. Beautiful cenote to swim in as well.

I would book this condo again in a heartbeat, and I found the rental company to be super friendly and easy to work with.
Thanks again Matt and Allen.