Oops … we were supposed to vacate Casita Sur on Sunday! Nice guy Abraham gave us a special one night rate, so we didn’t have to spend our last night out in the street. And Abel arrived exactly on time at 6 am this morning.

In the meantime we had a very nice last couple of days as you can see from these photos.

Excellent flight from Cancun to Toronto. Customs was completely empty when we arrived and I think there was a customs officer at every single security kiosk … this is unheard of in Toronto. I was amazed and delighted too! Good job Pearson International and Customs Canada. Now we needed to figure out what to do with seven hours. Problem here is that it is a holiday Monday. Not exactly a good night to find something interesting to do. So we found a couple art and museum displays at the airport to look at, both well worth the time spent. Had supper, wandered about and played on the moving walk ways and then decided to sign up for a days’ internet access and update the blog!

After our red eye flight to Vancouver and then all day there, we will arrive home at about 7 pm tomorrow. We are looking forward to a vocal greeting from the Os and sleeping in our own bed. All this is to say we enjoyed Mexico, but are going to be glad to arrive back at home.

Yes there is a theme to these pictures … silly titles and multiples! This is what happens when one has way too much time on their hands. Cheerio!

Yesterday’s snorkelling with the turtles was very exciting. Lawrie floated just far enough away that the turtles continued to feed and come up for air as though he wasn’t there. They certainly didn’t swim away. Today we watched several unthinking folk pretty much chase the turtles out of the bay too many times. Of course they come into shore bragging about swimming with the turtles, not stopping to think that it would be much better for the turtles to have been observed from a distance so they didn’t feel threatened to the extent that they quit feeding and swim away. Stupid people!

Tomorrow we plan to visit Yal Ku lagoon for a final time. We never did go to a cenote. It was just too easy to park ourselves under the palapas right in front of Luna Azul and relax.

Yesterday and today the water in Half-Moon Bay was almost dead calm and we didn’t even have the pre-requisite rain storm either. We saw a barricuda about five feet away that was about 20 pounds or perhaps a metre long. Lawrie swam with a turtle for a bit. We both saw a sting-ray at about 3 feet away. And then many, many other colourful fishes and some pretty coral as well.

We think we will go to Grand Cenote tomorrow as our time is running out. In the meantime, we are off to update L2O2 and see if Turtle Bay is as calm as Half-Moon Bay.

The ride is uneventful, the highway is in very good condition, straight as an arrow and flatter than Saskatchewan. We did go through three small villages and pass several cenotes which lead us both to believe that an explore is a very good possibility at a later date.

In order to get to the old city of Coba, you first pass through the new town of Coba. Plenty of small tourist shops and several restaurants, with a few hotels. If you plan on spending some time in the area, be aware that Coba is not really on the tourist route, so be prepared for Mexican standards. You pass through Coba, around one of the two fresh water lakes before ending up at the dirt parking lot, the beginning of our explore of the Ancient city of Coba. The taxi driver pays for the parking, but you must buy an entrance ticket. The ticket booth is on the right hand side of the entrance, behind one of the tourist vendors’ shops but in front of the washrooms. Just follow the washroom signs and you will find it. There is a lot of confusion and hustle and bustle right at the entrance, so just take your time, relax and don’t panic.

Our guide books recommend renting a bicycle and we concur with that recommendation. The rental shop is about 100 yards past the entrance. You can walk, but biking allows you to see all of what this place has to offer. Besides it’s hot, you will do some climbing, and there is a lot of distance between excavations. So do yourself a favour and rent the bikes! Don’t rent the bike taxis, they only go on the main trail and you will miss some pretty interesting stuff unless you know where you are going and direct the taxis to where you want to go.

After a quick guide book and partner consultation, we decide on not hiring a guide and also decide to head right for the furthest site and work our way back. Along the way we pass dozens of unexcavated sites, several developed sites, a sacbe or Mayan highway, lots of other tourists, bikes and bike taxis before we arrive at the El Castillo pyramid, the second tallest in the Yucatan, taller than El Castillo at Chichen Itza and the Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal. This is the showpiece of the Grupo Nohoch Mul excavation site and of the entire site. From the top you can see the forest covered mounds of numerous unexcavated sites and all the way back to park entrance. We also found out after that you should be able to see the tallest pyramid at Ek Balam, forty-eight kilometers away.

From here we follow our route back to the entrance taking every side trail we can find. We follow a route sign that even isn’t in the guide books and end up at a fabulous site full of carved stelae, stone monuments, several excavated sites, a half excavated pyramid and many many unexcavated sites. What’s also amazing is we have this entire area all to ourselves! No one, just us, the jungle birds and the ruins of an ancient past. What a great way to finish our trip to Coba.

Then we will find a pile of ancient rocks to go see, maybe Ek Balam, Chichen Itza or Coba, we aren’t decided yet. We also have an evening at Playa del Carmen’s 5th Avenue to do. And I think we also want to go to a Cenote.

Okay, this last paragraph was our thinking yesterday morning when I started to write this post. However, a good 24 hours can make a difference, especially when your names are Lynn and Lawrie. We are notorious for changing our minds as you may know. In this case we have made some very conscious decisions. And this is how it went. (You may think we should be certified too)

So Friday afternoon we wandered out to the 307 (the highway to Cancun and everything in between) and picked up the colectivo (local bus that takes about a dozen people, no particular pickup or drop-off locations, just wave them down and speak up when you want off) to get to Playa del Carmen. We were bound for the 5th Avenue pedestrian mall and looking for information about taking a bigger bus to some of the more major centres around the Yucatan Peninsula. We also had investigated a car rental and wondered what the addresses were of those listed on the internet. So a little shopping and a little investigation work. All good.

So we were successful getting to Playa del Carmen and walking to the 5th Avenue mall. In the process of wandering around taking in the sites we were more or less offered a rental car for an amazing price. The hitch (of course there are hitches, and we do know that nothing comes without a price) is that there is a hotel that is new that is having a promotion. An hour of our time to tour the hotel (just five minutes away) and we could have a rental car with air conditioning for 68 US for three days. Not a price to be sneezed at, the fellow is friendly, convincing, and seems to have fun helping us decide which of the Mayan ruins we should really go see while we have our rental car for three days. I ask the question, is this a time share promotion? I’m told that it is not. So we agree to get picked up at 9 am tomorrow in Akumal. We are going for breakfast and a tour.

Of course this isn’t strictly speaking a time share, but how does fractal ownership, or membership sound? Same difference, name slightly changed. But the breakfast was good, the hotel nice as ocean side hotels should be (they do occupy some wonderful real estate so they better make it nice) and we came away without spending a penny. We also came away without our rental car. We listened for almost three hours, we endured and enjoyed the company of Angelo (the guy on the street), Roseanne (the lady who made sure we had the right credentials, as in a major credit card, picture id to ensure we were who we said we were), Alex (the poor fellow who was supposed to convince us that this was a good thing to do), and then four other dudes who were supposed to convince us when Alex didn’t. What it really meant for us was a confirmation that this trip will likely be our last vacation that we fly to frivolously. We really don’t want to be part of a society that doesn’t think anything of jumping on an airplane when the evidence says we are destroying the planet doing so. Yes, there are many things we are continuing to do now that are contributing to the problem. We are going to work at stopping doing these things as best we can. It is a process too. Not buying into making Mexico our yearly holiday place and not driving our own rental car around the countryside is a start. So we got a colectivo back today to Akumal, had a second delicious meal at the very Mexican place just outside the Super Chomak (grocery store) and then wandered back to Luna Azul, our modest but very comfortable home here. We are a bit stunned at being so decisive in our decision making, but know it was very much the right choice.

We are also now the happy owners of 4 acres and a modest 750 square foot house in Saskatchewan and look forward to a major experiment trying to grow as much of our own food as we can using a permaculture model. Why shouldn’t life be an experiment? We don’t think to rule out going to Yarrow, but not just yet as we see it. That being said, we do change our minds frequently and without warning, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, we do plan on enjoying this trip to Mexico and so here are a few pictures of things found interesting!

Lawrie first, his curling team was three and eight. Not exactly last place, but close enough to wish for a bit better. The competition was a little more experienced and everyone wasn’t quite curling their very best … curling at its finest from my observations! Did they have a good time? Yes!

Yesterday was spent in the Yal Ku lagoon that is part of the ocean but also fresh water fed. No coral, but lots of different salt water fishes. The rock formations are very interesting too! Management has also done a wonderful job of paths, planting, sculpture and bench placement. We had such a nice time, we went back later in the afternoon too!

Today has been spent on our Luna Azul beach. Very quiet, nice view, good company and even the left-over pizza from two nights ago was great. We would like more Mexican food but we haven’t had anything to complain about anyway! I must have a cast-iron constitution as I haven’t had a minutes worth of stomach problems. The skin on all my fingers and thumbs have decided to peel off from the tips down though. Very weird and slightly disconcerting, but I’m sure it isn’t serious!

Mark and Jean leave for home tomorrow morning, their taxi is picking them up at 6 am. They have been here for five weeks, so we won’t feel too sorry for them. But we will miss their company and the wealth of information they have acquired over the last five years of coming here. C’est la vie! or better yet Es la vida!

We spend a very nice morning on the beach visiting with Mark and Jean. Then Jean and I ride the bikes into Akumal for some market fruits and vegetables. The bikes make quick work of the distance and I’m sure Lawrie and I will be grateful for them once Mark and Jean have gone home. Thanks loads for this you two!

Late afternoon we all go into Akumal for an early dinner at Lucy’s Kitchen and then Ruth, Jean and I take a cab to Playa Del Carmen. 5th Avenue is an amazing pedestrian market that is teaming with people, buskers, and shopkeepers trying to entice tourists to come buy something. Very fun to browse the shops and watch the goings-on! After three hours of shopping, we had all had our fill and departed for Akumal. I think Lawrie and I will have to come for a return visit.

We all are impressed that the taxi arrived very much on time, hugs are exchanged and Ruth left for the airport. I’m so happy to have had her company for this very pleasant week and am hoping for an opportunity to do it again. I’m also not unhappy about the fact I have another two weeks in the sun!

We hitched a ride with Mark and Jean, who were on their way to their property several hours south, to Tulum, and so arrived just before 8 am. This proved to be the very best time of day to visit this site. When we had finished having a good wander about the hordes just started arriving. What a relief to escape and also realize how fortunate our timing was.

While the guide book I quote from talks about sitting on the temple’s platform, there is no opportunity now to touch or walk in the buildings, they are all roped off. An interesting incident happened very shortly after we arrived. As we stopped to take our first few pictures near one of the buildings, we noticed a couple who were disregarding the obvious “don’t touch or go here” of the ropes bordering the paths. The woman blithely stepped across the barrier and sat on the steps to have her picture taken. I thought to say something, but was still contemplating what, when she crossed the path and did the same thing on the other side. At this point we noticed a lawn tractor on the path down the way. The worker jumped off the tractor, blew his whistle sharply, and then started to rapidly tell this couple in no uncertain terms that they were to get out. He used Spanish and English, flipping back and forth just to ensure that whatever language they understood they got the point. The couple tried to say they didn’t understand, that they didn’t realize, and I don’t remember what else, but the employee was having no excuses. At the very least the woman was going to have to leave for her unpardonable transgression. He basically herded her out the exit that was fairly close at hand, all the while berating her. Ruth and I almost applauded his actions! It was nice to see such decisive protection of the site. So pay attention to the rules!

Ruth is on her spring break and is filling in for Lawrie, who is busy curling in the Senior Men’s Canadian Curling Championship in Trois Rivieres, Quebec. Ruth goes home on Sunday, Lawrie arrives on Monday, and Mark and Jean go home on Thursday. Lawrie and I then have another week and a half before leaving. I am going to try to blog a time or two while here. The internet is pretty sporadic so it may just be that my photos and observations get posted after arriving home, but whatever!

After I arrived on Monday morning, Mark, Jean and I were taken to a market in Cancun. We had an enjoyable time wandering about looking at what is available. Jean suggested I plan on finding special momentos in Akumal, where there are artisans and a person could be pretty sure the manufacture is Mexican rather than from one of the other countries in Central American. The one thing I can see today that I would really like to go home with is the cotton shirts that have lovely tiny stitched tucks in interesting patterns. It isn’t that we don’t have cotton shirts at home, just that rarely does one see this type of detail.

Coming to a warmer climate is always interesting for me as I see the plants outdoors are typically those I’ve grown inside for many years. The purple Wandering Jew, Moses-in-the-cradle, Croton, and small leaf trailing philodendron are very noticeable around Cancun. And now that I have been to a few warm places, there are the ubiquitous bougainvillea, palms, coconut palms and what looks to me to be a fiddle leaf fig.

Mark and Jean haven’t spent time in Cancun, so we used this opportunity to have the driver travel the hotel row. This is a rather unusual strip of land that is pretty much nothing but hotels and beach. We all agreed it wasn’t a place we would want to spend our holidays. Too American, too five star, and definitely too busy! But the ocean was beautiful.

After fetching Ruth from the airport in the afternoon, we trundled on our way south, stopping at Playa del Carmen to pick up groceries. My other favourite thing about visiting a different country is the food. There are always lots of new things to see and try. We picked up one fruit that has a hard brown exterior and appears to have a softer almost red interior. We saw a broken one and all agreed it looked interesting enough to try. Interesting to note that all milk is UHF packaged. Mark says the white onions are especially sweet and flavourful. Hmmm, just finished lunch and I’m hungry again! Much of the produce is grown very close and so the flavours are quite wonderful.

Ruth and I requested we go to an ATM, that was fun too. The first one was out of cash. Fortunately there was another one across the street. There is some English used on the screen, but not always. The big thing is that Pesos are written the same way as dollars and cents. Pretty weird and slightly scary to ask for $5,000.00. But ask we did, and happily took out the pesos that did amount correctly to the equivalent dollars.

Days later … We have now had a snorkel or two, played in the water, walked here and there, eaten local food and of course Ruth and I have been lost and also sunburned. All fun and enjoyable, except getting sunburned. I’ve managed to do a very good job of that I’m sorry to say. No, I’m not taking pictures, just think lobster!