Akumal, Mexico: January 2006Part III: Saturday - Monday January 7-9
          
  After our sun break, we went back up to Yalku for another hour before they closed and then washed up and went to Lol Ha (the restaurant, not the snack bar). This was a big disappointment to me. I think everyone was okay with their food (except me - it was too spicy even though I specifically asked if it was and was assured it wasn't hot at all) but I thought it was overpriced. Then, to add to my grumpiness, they didn't have chocolate lava cake! That was going to be my one special dessert. Grumble, grumble. John ordered banana flambe and the waiter did put on an impressive show of preparing it, but overall I didn't think it was good value for the dollar (or peso).
Monday, January 9. Vacation draws to a close. Sadly, we had to pack up and leave. It all went smoothly - we dropped off the cars, they shuttled us to the airport. Miraculously, we were directed around the baggage inspection lines so checkin went pretty quickly and the plane left on time. Here is our last glimpse of Mexico (Cancun) before we went up over the clouds. And then some of the clouds, just because they were very nice! Got in on time, Katie fed us veggie pizzas and we all left for home the next morning. On the way home we started planning for next year (either Zihuatanejo or back to Akumal).   Click here to go back to Part 1. . . . Click here to go back to Part 2. . . . Click here to return to the Akumal index |
Saturday Jan 7: This morning Bekah and Dave had paperwork to finish up
and submit for their advanced certification so Barb, John, Gail and
Katie went
up to Yalku Lagoon. This is my favorite place for swimming with fish.
It's at the north end of Akumal, within walking distance of our condo,
and it's like a big outdoor aquarium. The lagoon is fed by fresh water
springs but
also has an opening into the Caribbean so the water is brackish. The
pictures below are a combination of mine, Bekah's and Katie's and I'm
not positive of all the identifications. But you'll get the idea
of what it's like just floating around in there! 
After
an hour or so in the water, we headed back and met the other two for
lunch at Turtle Bay Bakery (right). Lots of goodies there. They have
yummy sandwiches and salads and
tons of baked goods. A favorite for breakfast and lunch. After lunch we
stopped at the open air market held Wednesday and Saturday, got some
more fruit; wandered a bit and then went back to the condo for an
afternoon of sun on the beach. Bekah had
a spray sunscreen that was very effective and got us some lovely
photos! (She actually repeated it for me so she knew I was taking this
picture!) 
Sunday January 8: This morning started out cloudy and cool but it is
kind of fun to watch it all blow over (left) and the sun was fully out
from under the clouds by 10. We were outside until around 1 just
slurping up as much sun as we could! After a break for
lunch, I was back out until nearly sunset. Remember I mentioned some
"odd" positions I found that made my leg stop aching? Katie, on the
balcony, caught me in this one in the late afternoon! 
We took in the sunset (below left) from the roof of the condo and then
walked down to La Buena Vida for supper. It was slow because they were
very, very busy. Apparently Sunday night is a favorite going out to
dinner night - there were many families there with
small children. John ordered a Caesar salad and we got to watch the
waiter put that together at the table, then Dave ordered Mayan Coffee
for dessert which is a "flaming" drink and so we had another good show
while that was prepared. The flames got us talking about zilches and so
we went back to the condo and made a zilch out of a garbage bag.
What is a zilch, you might ask (if you somehow missed that class in
college). If you tie a couple of knots in a plastic bag (thin plastic
works best - like dry cleaner or grocery store bags) and hang it from
something - traditionally on a coat hanger, but in our case I stuck it
on a fork and held it away from my body - then light the bottom of it,
it will "drip fire" and go "zwoop, zwoop, zwoop...." No, I'm not
kidding. My kids grew up with zilches for special occasions but we had
to demonstrate for Dave and Gail. None of us took pictures that night
but undaunted, I just hung another one outside and caught a couple of
firey drops. This is a very dim sample of what it's like but just
imagine them pouring down in quick succession accompanied by a
delightful zingy sound.
Try it, you'll like it.
(Or else you will just shake your head in amazement that we haven't been locked up yet.)