beach off my deck
So, I’m sitting here in Akumal waiting for the day to start. I don’t know why I woke up so early but when this happens, I don’t know what to do with myself. I always assume that the world is closed for business before 10am so there’s no where to go. Perhaps that isn’t true but I don’t want to find that out this late in my life. I thought about going for a swim but it even seems too early for that.
I drove over Thursday night. I like driving late into the night, cool and quiet and less traffic. We’ve never paid much attention to the homily that you should never drive at night in Mexico. It can be dangerous on unfamiliar, rural roads but that’s due to animals in the road. There is something in dogs and cows that tells them to go and sleep on that nice, empty blacktop out in front. I feel nicely anonymous in my beat up Toyota truck with Quintana Roo plates. No one can see that it is a gringa driving until I stop. The military inspection guys are always surprised when they walk up to the door.
So I left Thursday at 11pm and zipped across the peninsula arriving in Akumal at 2am. I looked up a few times for the Perseid meteors but that’s not really a smart thing to do at 70 mph. I didn’t see any and when I got here I forgot. Maybe tonight, it’s nice and dark on the bay now because the turtles are nesting. We have a huge number of nests on this bay and more on the next bay over. That’s good, supposedly when there are a lot of turtle nests there won’t be a hurricane.
Mimi stayed in Mérida with 2 dogs and the cats and the fish and the plants and her sandbags. It is difficult to leave the house anymore due to all these things that need attention. I have to figure that out. Stuff that I enjoy when I’m at home can’t keep me from traveling, I’m not sure how to fix that.
I brought Chica with me because when I’ve come over here alone it seems really lonely. Chica is the best because I can just open the door and let her out and she goes about her business and then comes back, pretty quickly. No need to smell and pee on every bush in 5 miles like Hombre and not as energetic or frightening to others as Cuba. This is where she’s from, when we got to the arches she sat up and started sniffing the breeze. She knows home. She blends in here too. She looks like about half the dogs here and when people see her they usually know who she is. She’s a small town girl from a little beach town on the Caribbean.
It’s hot and muggy here too, very little breeze at night. I’m cocooned in the back bedroom which is dim and cool. I’ve got the AC on, the curtains closed and this is the only room that picks up the internet signal. Yesterday was one of those ‘everything is a hassle’ days. I didn’t pay attention to the gas gauge on the way over because the light is out in the dash. When I got up I went over to some friends a couple blocks away and was then going in to Playa when I happened to look at the gauge. I’m glad I did, it could have been a lot more of a hassle running out of gas on the highway. So, my lesson for the day is that just because it takes me a half a tank to get here in the jeep means nothing compared to the truck – especially when I have lead footed it over here with the AC on full blast. It was so far below empty my finger would fit between them. I came back to the house and the guys here found someone with a can of gas somewhere in town. They had to use a metal rod and a cut off water bottle to get it in the truck. All this in the sun and the heat. They did it though and off I went. It’s about 10km to the nearest gas station and that station is a big rip off so I hate going there. They got me enough gas that I could get all the way to Playa.
I’ve another day of running around to do, bills to pay and I need to get Rod to fix the AC in the other bedroom. I guess I can get started now, it’s almost double digits 
I ran over a pig sleeping on the road, driving a VW bug, with five people in it on the road over to Coba. Pig was fine, car was fine, the pig was little more than a speed bump. Night driving in Mexico…
What a gorgeous view to sit back and enjoy!
Chica sure seems to have redeemed herself since that Really Bad Morning, http://baddog.com/2009/11/24/a-really-bad-morning/!
Oh Jennifer…. I had almost forgotten that day. Yes, Chica has redeemed herself but it took an expensive garden re-do and lots of treats for her to decide that there were no longer dragons in our back yard. I think we have come to an agreement that I am unhappy when I have to spend time thinking about her bathroom habits and that I also make sure she is unhappy when that happens. So, off she goes down the 3 flights of stairs over here and where she shits I do not know or care. I’m sure the gardener has an opinion about it but he doesn’t share it with me.
She actually behaves very well here, maybe it is the familiarity of the place. We went to “downtown Akumal” for breakfast today and she hangs out by the table, schmoozes with the other local dogs and only went and peed on the stand for the menus once. I did not see that, I’m good at ignoring stuff like that. The owner’s dog is one of Chica’s cousins I’m sure, she looks just like her but she is the color of Hombre. Neither of them like the other very much, both of them are crotchety old bitches – and I mean that in the nicest way. Daisy knows that Chica will steal any food that drops just like she does and is worried that Chica will get to it first. But, they know each other and when Chica walks up Daisy kind of sneers at her with one lip up and Chica does the same thing and then they act like the other one is invisible. Even the cats that live at the cafe ignore Chica, they know her too. There is something kind of wonderful about having a spot in the hierarchy of the town, actually I have one myself and it is rather comforting at times.
Oh, and yes the view is spectacular. I’m going swimming in a minute, there is nary a soul on the beach and the water is like gin.
Also, pigs, I forgot that pigs also like laying in the middle of the road. That Cobá road is much better these days, almost a freeway. I remember the old one though and it could be a bit hairy. Luckily the 3 towns along the road all have a minimum of 15 topes each which I am sure saves the lives of all those dogs, pigs, chickens and cows that like to sleep on it.
Ah! Just reading about sniffing that sea air makes me feel better!!!
Have a good visit!
Linda
Isla Chica
This Akumal thing is not a bad idea in the summer. You can divide your kwhs between two places and remain cool all summer
I envy you!
Tra la la la laa laaa laaaaaaaa
Mimi singing in the rain. Be very glad you can not hear me. Jajajajaja
I sure hope that that adage about turtle nests and hurricanes is true. We have had more turtles nesting in front of my house this year than ever before.
hey! Some blogging friends recommended your site and I’m glad they did
Merida and Akumal? I’m jealous!!
So far so good Wayne, but the hurricane highway to our part of the Caribe doesn’t usually open until fall. Let’s hope it stays closed this year.
Welcome Laura, I just spent a couple hours reading your delightful blog. Re: Akumal y Merida. I think sometimes that 2 houses is one too many, I never feel I am spending enough time (or $$$) in one or the other. Still, you are right, it’s a good problem to have