Lucia is known as the eldest person in Playa del Carmen, even though she does not remember if she is 94 or 96. She was part of the fist settlement in this town, born inside a hut that her own father built nearby what is now the founder’s square. The situation then was very different: jungle everywhere, the sound of the local animals and the immense blue ocean… a spectacle very few could ever see.
“When I opened my eyes Playa del Carmen was already Playa del Carmen”
The oldest census ever registered in Playa del Carmen goes back to 1921, when Lucia was just a child, only 33 men and 27 women lived in the area. The name of the town was given in 1902, when the chief of a bubble gum company established here wanted to honor Carmen Romero, the wife of the then president of Mexico (Porfirio Diaz).
Lucia remembers the family trips to Cozumel Island riding a sail boat. They ate almost only fish, fried with coconut oil or pig lard. She also witnessed the transformation of this city that started when the road from Juarez Port was made. She endured the hurricanes and the shortage of basic consumption goods back in the day, but never ever considered leaving Playa del Carmen.
