Closer to the convention center are a couple branches of Checandole, a really old local restaurant downtown. One branch is in Plaza El Parian, which is just north of the convention center, and the other is in the food court Plaza Flamingo—neither have any ambience at all, but the food is really tasty (and cheap!). The menu is pretty pan-Mexican, so you should find a range of stuff to eat. (Oh, and speaking of Plaza El Parian, there's also a funky little Japanese café in the interior called K's Café that serves a mix of Mexican and Japanese—think tamales with Japanese-style curry filling.)

You can also head way down to the end of the hotel zone, to a place called Rio Nizuc—look for a sign off the road just after the Westin, when you cross the first bridge. It's a really casual beachy seafood place—also not open late. The thing to get here is tikin-xiik, the Yucatecan-style fish baked in banana leaves.

Oh, and (I keep thinking of new tasty things!) look for Ty-Coz—it's a French baguette-sandwich place, but they serve all their sandwiches with pickled jalapenos and chipotle chiles! Delish. There's one branch of the place in a little strip mall around Km 7.7, I think, on the lagoon side of the road, next to Calle Quetzal.

Have a great time, and eat some fish tacos for me!

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Trivoli, Ill.: What is the future of Progresso as a travel destination?

Zora O'Neill: Good question! Progreso—a small town on Mexico's Gulf coast, directly north of Merida—has been getting a lot of attention since Hurricane Dean wrecked the port at Mahahual. Some of the ships that were going to Mahahual are now being rerouted to Progreso. Until now, Progreso has just been a vacation town for local Mexicans—mostly people who live in Merida and make the half-hour drive up to the coast on weekends, or who come to summer homes. In the winter, Progreso has a significant snowbird population, but so far it's still a really quiet place. The Yucatan state government is putting a lot of money into the town right now, to help it deal with the influx of cruise-shippers (though I haven't been up there yet to see the changes).

A great place to keep track of this story online is at the website Yucatan Living. The editors have been following the news in Progreso and have posted a lot of stories about it.

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Albuquerque, N.M.: Buenos dias, Zora. Would you please recommend hotels and restaurants in Playa del Carmen that are preferred by middle class Mexicans and not frequented by Gringos or other foreigners? Adios.

Zora O'Neill: Buenos dias to my hometown! Non-gringoized hotels are a little hard to come by in Playa—or nice ones, anyway. Things can get pretty dingy on the low end, and anything that's clean and nice is usually geared to foreigners. There are about four or five distinctly Mexican hotels on Avenida Juarez in the blocks west of the bus station—varying degrees of cleanliness, but definitely geared to internal tourists, not foreigners. Check them out...see what you think. But I won't blame you if you wind up at one of the more typical tourist hotels.

Restaurants are quite a bit easier: You basically just have to walk away from the beach—by the time you get to Avenida 15 or 20, you'll have loads of places to choose from. El Fogon is really popular—amazing grilled meat of all kinds, and get some grilled green onions on the side. There's one on Avenida 30 at Calle 6 bis, and another on Av 30 around C 26, I think (just follow your nose—you can smell the meat from blocks away!). Also, La Floresta, which I've mentioned previously, is where every single cab driver stops for shrimp tacos and fresh ceviche. It's out on the highway—a trek, but worth it.