Day 7 - Akumal and LG Party (and our 6th Anniv.)

  Akumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Saturday, May 20, 2006

Author's note:  Zoom in on the map to the right, to see the "Dot" actually move up to Akumal."

Alright, so I've got a slew of sunrise pictures and realize that I haven't yet written anything about taking any of them.  So this seems like a good place to do that.  In trips past I have taken a number of sunset shots from places like Isla Mujeres and Cozumel. 


These are locales that face west (at least where we were) and offered good sunset pix. 

 
As you are all aware, the Roo offers spectacular sunrise opportunities.  I typically arose each morning as soon as the sky began to lighten, around 6 am.  I'd grab a book, a camera, and head out to our little cabana-side table and chairs while Chris slept in. 




It was during these early morning times that I would truly enjoy the beauty of the area, spend some quiet time with my maker, catch up on some reading, and of course enjoy the awesome Tulum sunrises.
 




Sometimes I'd even get so excited I'd go and wake up Chris to enjoy the sunrise with me!  She was always way thankful that I did this!!!

 


 




But usually it was just me taking sunrise shots all by myself.


 
Anyhow, back to our story.  We decided to skip Yoga this morning due to our late night dinner, and some very tasty Mojitos and Hibiscus margaritas.  Instead we took a taxi into town for breakfast at La Nave.  Go figure, its another Italian place and they have a great selection of Italian breads for snacking on right out of their brick over.  Nummy.  They also have good coffee and omlettes.  They are about 1/2 the price of breakfast at Copal and worlds mo' better.  We rented a car to head up to Akumal with later in the day.  We got a "styling little Chevy Monza.  Do they even make these anymore?  After doing the standard walk around and taking the attendants picture (keeps 'em honest) as well as the car dings, we headed up to el Paraiso beach club.  The plan was to see if we could find good beach farther north.
 
When we got to el Paraiso, it was still kind of empty.  Shortly after we flopped on a beach bed we were asked to pay for it.  I don't want to take it home senor, I just wanna lay down.  But once I understood this whole rental concept, we paid and decided to nap.  Again within minutes we are asked to buy some jewelery.  No gracias.  Hammock?  No gracias.  This gets old real quick.  In Jamaica they have guys with guns keeping the vendors out, no such luck here.  After about 5 more hammock salesmen come by, we decide to cut bait.  We'll go pile back into our Chevy dream machine and head up to Akumal a little early and hit the beach there.
 
Driving in Mexico is fun.  No matter how much of a bad-@ss you think you are in the US, you're no match for a Mexican taxi cab on a mission.  So I spend quite a bit of my ride up 307 driving on the right shoulder.  At 110 km/h.  At one point I look up to see nothing but chrome in my rear-view mirror.  I get over and a Riviera bus flies by me, with a second class bus on his tail.  Suddenly I feel like lapped traffic at Daytona, and I can't get back into the fast lane.  I look ahead and see the shoulder is going to end soon.  Very soon.  So I shoot a quick glance behind me and see an ambulance, which I quickly jump in front of.  There's no way someone who saves lives for a living is gonna make road kill of me, is there?  In seconds that ambulance passes me using the southbound lanes.  Yes, driving in Mexico is fun.

We make it to Akumal and park.  Our first stop is Lucy's for some of her highly rated shrimp tacos.  Can they hold a candle to what I had down at Charlies?  Abso-freakin-lutely!

We were lucky and nobody was at Lucy's when we got there.  So we grabbed a table and munched on our tasty delicacy.  We talk about getting some ice cream too, but then I notice the line at Lucy's window.  No biggie, I got nothin' but time.  Then I hear there are no more cones.  Vamanos C, we're outta here!

We head over to the beach, and spread out our blanket.  We rest a little bit and then see Susy and Tim.  They invite us over, and have beverages!  Chris enjoys one of Susy's killer margaritas, and I stick to the cervezas.  After all, I'm driving and the plan is to take it easy today.  The Loco Gringo party gets going around 5:30 and the banner is produced and the signings begin.  Then something akin to high school yearbook autograph sessions takes place, with our Loco coolers taking the place of yearbooks.  We meet MargaritaMan, Gextyr, Dot (from the UK) CatEyes and her daughter, and many, many more.  We take pictures at the webcam, we take pictures of the webcam, and the webcam takes pictures of us.  All in all, pictures were taken.
 
Later on, after ordering a pizza (they have pretty good pizza at Lol-Ha) and switching over to Coca-colas we meet Ray2DaRay and her husband Kai.  They are some cool folks from New York, and we (us, Susy and Tim) share some good laughs and stories.  The time hits just after 9:00, and since we have a drive back to Tulum we decide to bid adieu to our fellow Loco's.  Thanks for helping celebrate our anniversary!  Until next time LG's!
 
On the way home, I pass a taxi on 307.  Paybacks are a beach!