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Akumal Wedding

Jonna — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:06:18 +0000

We went over to Akumal for the wedding of some good friends last week. It was beautiful, how could it not be? They are a wonderful couple, we’ve known Scott for 15 years or so and Marieke for about 4 years. We’ve always called Scott Akumal’s #1 Son as he and his sister Terri grew up there most of the time with their grandparents. Their grandfather was one of the owners of the original Akumal Dive Shop and both kids worked there off and on. They are both fully bilingual, smart, engaging, hardworking and wonderful people.

The bride Marieke is beautiful, funny, kind and a wonderful mother to their son. She is from Scotland and all of her friends and family came over for the wedding. It was fun to have so many blonds with Scottish accents around. Some tourists asked me at the party that night why everyone seemed to be so white. In fact, there was a great mix of Mexican and expat guests but I don’t think the tourists were used to the uniformity that exists in Mexico. They were a group of asian, white, black and latin appearing young people and that kind of diversity is not so common here. Or, maybe it was just that the Scots were so blond and beautiful that they outshone all the rest of us.

The location was spectacular, at what is called ‘the cannons’ out at the northern point of Akumal bay. It was sunny and they had thoughtfully provided baskets of paper parasols which were wonderful against the sun and which looked fabulous scattered among the guests.

The reception was a short walk along the water at CEA with some of the tables out on the sand. Excellent food, drinks, friends, family and fun. After that we went home to walk the dogs and then to the party that night at the Buena Vida just down the beach from our condo.

It was a great night, the music was incredible, the crowd huge and lots of dancing and exuberance. OK, I spent most of the evening sitting with my feet in the sand at the bar talking and watching the dancers. Right here as a matter of fact, I was in my seat when I took this picture! Of course, we forgot to bring our camera so all of these were taken with my iPhone 4. Not too bad. I even took a short video right before the ceremony with the iPhone and I should have taken a longer one. It’s here if you want to see it.

Congratulations Scott and Marieke!

Life’s a beach

Jonna — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:59:21 +0000

New wifi antenna on top of the palapa

I’m over in Akumal for a few days, paying some bills and trying to get the hurricane curtains put up.

There is a new wifi antenna sitting on top of the palapa under our deck, I don’t know yet if it will improve the reception here, they are still working on it. They put up 2 huge poles on either side of the property that were for these antennas but apparently the coverage was more on the vacant lot next door than in the building. Thus, the palapa solution.

I’m waiting for them to finish messing with it so they will come with the big ladder to install the hurricane curtains on the back windows of our condo. I don’t have a good feeling about hurricanes this year and want to get that part done now while there isn’t one on the horizon.

I didn’t bring the camera and it looks like the bright sunlight overpowered the iPhone camera. I could have messed with it in PS but didn’t have the energy. The view rarely changes in that direction, the ocean is beautiful always and the sand is blindingly white.

I spent part of yesterday in Playa, I even drove over the infamous new overpass. It apparently flooded in the last rain, about a week after it opened. It was interesting to see that there are drains up there, and the road is sloped towards them, I guess it backed up from below. Manuela says it is because the people there are badly educated. Well, she says that in spanish and really educado means well-raised or polite more than educated. She said they throw their trash everywhere and it clogs up the drains. If they were not such maleducados they would not throw their wrappers out the window and the water would drain as it was supposed to do.

I was in the usual places, Sam’s Club and Mega, and didn’t get anywhere interesting. I had my favorite blue cheese hamburger at Turtle Bay Cafe in Akumal in the afternoon and then came home and pretty much crashed. I was laying on the bed playing a game on the computer when I realized I had fallen asleep, this was at about 9:30pm which is really early for me. I turned the light out and slept until 9am today. I’m not sure why, maybe it was the lull of the AC, but it felt good.

I’ve caught up on the local gossip, that never changes either. Pueblo chico, infierno grande – that’s Akumal. They are putting in pavers on some of the worst of the road here on Half Moon Bay, that makes for a lot of finger pointing and feuding. One of the daughters of the privileged here has put in 2 huge, destructive topes (speed bumps) on either side of her restaurant. I hear the food is horrible anyway but now no one who lives here will go in because of the topes. I think they should go out with some spray paint some night and let the tourists know not to go there either. But… not my problem, I don’t live here anymore. The owners of two huge condo buildings next door to each other are feuding, one side has cut off access through the main entrance to the other side. Don’t walk on my piece of concrete! Business is down, tourists are less, thus most have raised their prices! That’s a logic found often here but I don’t get it.

I wish the guys downstairs would come up and put up these curtains so I could leave for a bit. They said they would do it at 10am, it’s 4pm now and they are still messing with the wifi. Let’s hope I can publish this.

sun, sand, friends

Jonna — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:46:14 +0000

Hanging out at the condo with friends

2011 has been very good so far. Perfect weather both in Mérida and here in Akumal on the Caribbean. NYE at Hennessy’s was fabulous, I think we knew almost everyone there, the food was good, the drinks were good and we had a great time. Such a good time in fact that we didn’t get to our next party in time. That was a bummer as we loved the people there too. Ah well, my carrot cake attended and was apparently a hit.

We convinced the Dodwell’s to come over to the ‘other’ coast with us for a few days. Mimi had to go back to Merida because there is a free spay and neuter clinic starting this week and she is volunteering. I stayed here in Akumal to enjoy the beach a little longer.

the gang next door lined up to watch the show

Yesterday we (the Brits and I) went up to Puerto Aventuras, they had never been there and it had been a couple years since I was there. It’s a planned community built around many lagoons and waterways that come in from the sea. It’s quite upscale, lots of yachts and shops and nice condos and hotels. The central area has a walk around a huge lagoon that holds quite a few dolphin for the ‘swim with the dolphin’ thing.

getting ready for the 'push the tourist out of the water' event

I may be softening on that, I was once quite adamantly opposed to these shows. Partly it depends on how they are cared for and whether they are bred in captivity or wild caught. These dolphin are not wild caught and they are very well cared for with large pens and lots of interaction. In truth, they remind me of eager puppies. They are smart so boredom would be deadly for them, here they are played with, given jobs to do and rewards. It really does seem that they are enjoying themselves. After hurricane Wilma, they all came back. Partly because they don’t know how to live on their own and they are not accepted by the wild dolphin pods, but also I think they enjoy the life they have. I can’t believe I said that.

a two dolphin ride

I can’t imagine ever paying the big bucks for these kind of cheesy shows but it is fun to sit and have lunch along the lagoon and watch them.

We walked around the lagoons as well and they now have a pen of manta rays too. I’m wondering if they are doing those ‘swim with the rays’ things that I did years ago in the Cayman Islands. That one, you go out to an area of the reef in scuba gear and get in with about 30 very large manta rays. They give you octopus bits and you feed them and they wrap themselves around you, it was pretty cool actually. Those rays were free, they just showed up there whenever a boat pulled in because they knew they would get fed.

manta rays

As I recall, Paula gave me permission to use this pic last night while we were having margaritas. We have a deal that no pics of each other on our blogs without permission. I think it is a cute picture although she looks much more serious than usual.

Another kind of paradise

Jonna — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 05:23:45 +0000

We just spent a few days over in Akumal for the condo owners annual meeting. It was a simple meeting this year, no controversy, which we really appreciated. We couldn’t stay long as we left the dogs and adult cats here in Mérida. Friends Tom and Debi came by twice a day to feed them and check on them and open and close the outside doors. We didn’t want to take them with us because of all the construction workers next door. It didn’t seem like a good idea to load up all the dogs and some suitcases and drive away. We did take the kitten of course, he needs much more supervision and frequent feeding. He traveled pretty well, most of it in Mimi’s lap since he really didn’t like being in the cat carrier.

We got back this evening, everything and everyone is fine and we were glad to be home. It was chilly at night over there, as it is here now, but the days were warm and sunny. I took a pic from the deck for Mic, she lives in Alaska and likes to see these Caribbean beach scenes.

While there, Mimi and Rod took the hurricane curtain down. I think we are done with this hurricane season and I’m very happy that we had no hits. We have what is called a Stormcatcher which is a see through material that is similar to trampoline fabric. It stops 90% of wind and rain and yet you can see through it and a little air comes through. We like it because we can tie back one end and still access our deck as well as being able to see through it. I thought you might like to see what it looks like from the inside.

We got to see most of our Akumal friends, have a couple of good meals at Turtle Bay Cafe and take some new bicycle tires over to Manuela. She does such a good job of taking care of our condo, plus she is a great gardener. Once again the tiny palm I planted in a pot inside is threatening to push through the roof. I gave the last one to the building to plant outside and they just left it laying on the sand and let it die. grrrr…. So, this one I will try and bring over here and plant it in a pot on our roof.

As my friend Kate says, Life is Good.

hot days and sultry nights

Jonna — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:35:56 +0000

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

another tough day at work

Jonna — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 07:47:30 +0000

We came to the beach for the sun and the sea, but we got some things done as well.

the real reason

Apparently the Civil Protection or some such agency came around to inspect gas tanks and ours was tagged as too rusty and needing paint. I’m glad they are checking, I just hadn’t heard of them doing it before. Also, I couldn’t believe our tank was in that bad a shape as I thought we’d just bought it last year. Well, my time sense is off, it was actually 2 years ago. When I went down the side of the building and took a look at it, it was pretty bad. The salt air is amazing, it eats metal like a kid eats cheerios.

I had a hard time convincing Mimi that she didn’t want to do the job herself. We brought sand paper and rustoleum primer and paint but I finally got her to let us hire a guy to do the work. The tank looks great now, all safe and legal and pristine white. I’m not taking any bets on how long it will stay that way though, I hope the inspectors come back soon to check it off.

Rod creating a part for the door

It was much better that she and our friend Rod spent the day fixing our screen doors. It was a big job, they needed lots of tools and they had to modify parts and do all sorts of other stuff. I didn’t really pay much attention but the result is very nice. Our screen doors have been sticking for years, apparently they are so old the parts are no longer sold. Well, they slide like air now, in fact the breeze off the ocean kind of moves them back and forth.

Raui helping with the new screen

Mimi and Rod still working on the doors

It took them all afternoon and into the night. We barely made it to the Buena Vida for dinner before the kitchen closed. It must have been a tough job.

What was I doing? Oh, laying in the sun, swimming in the sea, reading – important stuff. I did go down and pay our bill with the management company and we went down the road and got 3 free mangrove plants for the ponds in Mérida. Our friend Jamie who owns the Buena Vida bar/restaurant here has opened a free nursery with starts for lots of native plants that he gives to any residents. He told me to go and sign up and get some when I asked about mangrove. It’s a great service to encourage people to plant natives that will hold the beaches and do well in this climate.

a perfect day

Jonna — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:51:14 +0000

Playa waves next to the ferry dock

looking the other direction down the beach

Wonderful day yesterday! Here’s a couple pics from the ferry dock in Playa del Carmen, you can see that the wind and waves were high. It was a wild ride over to Cozumel on the ferry. I don’t get sea sick (loud knocking on wood, never say never) but I heard some odd sounds coming from around the boat. I sat in the front row and just didn’t look back.

Elaine and Mary

Mary and Elaine met me at the dock and we had a wonderful few hours. These are heart friends, those you know will never fade whether you see them or not but it was wonderful to see them in the flesh. We walked and talked and stopped for some food. I haven’t been over to Coz for at least 5 years and the changes there are as large as the changes in Playa in that time… huge. There were 4 or 5 cruise boats in town and the non-stop “hey lady” got a little old. I’m glad to see tourists returning though, we need them and their money.

They walked me back to the ferry dock and caught a cab back to their ship. It said the next ferry was at 3pm so I sat on the dock enjoying the sun. The difference there on the leeward side of the island from the wind and waves in Playa was astounding. Suddenly the ticket guy came out of his booth and told me there was a ferry leaving, to go and get on. It was only 2:15pm but… T.I.M. (this is Mexico) and I was really happy he saw me and came and told me.

water next to ferry dock on Cozumel, quite a difference!

As I was pulling out of the parking lot in Playa, I got a call from Mimi. She had landed, Jaime and Kathy had picked her up and they had a few more stops to make in Cancun. They offered to bring her to Akumal and I headed home.

It is so wonderful to have her home. I can’t tell you. Chica was pretty pleased as well, it seemed to take her a minute to realize how long it had been since she saw her and then she got excited all over again. She pretty much glued herself to Mimi’s side for the rest of the evening.

She's home!

This morning the wind has subsided some and the sun is out and it is perfect sunning weather, cool and breezy enough to not get too hot soaking up the rays. I’m in heaven, my ginger is back, I’m sitting on my deck in the sun getting my dose of vitamin sol and life is very, very good.

gotta love it!

Is it March? why is the wind blowing?

Jonna — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:43:47 +0000

sunny and warm inside

Because I’m up early this morning and because it’s been a while since I posted pics from inside our condo, I took these. This is my solution to the cold, howling wind outside.

Again all night it howled and screamed and whistled, this time it was more muted because I shut the windows and doors and pulled the curtains. It’s going to be a rough ride to Cozumel on the ferry. My deck looks out at the tip of Cozumel, so all those waves are in my path.

Tropical tip: if you don’t have long pants and it is suddenly cold, put on lotion. It keeps you warmer. The opposite is really important, if it is hot and humid do not, ever, put on any lotion or you will be swimming in sweat instantly. That’s my tip of the day and I’m off to the island.

our other home

Return of the Ginger

Jonna — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:18:08 +0000

waves on Half Moon Bay

Chica and I drove over to Akumal last night. I brought her because she’s the one that is a problem and I thought she’d do better with some more attention. We got here about 10pm, came upstairs and crashed. The wind howled all night long, it screams and whistles and howls as it goes between the buildings. Eerie.

This morning the waves were big and wind whipped and it was only warm off the beach behind protection. So, I canceled my plan to try and get some sun this morning, I need my tan for my mental health but these cold fronts have left me pale and bereft.

I’m off to Cozumel tomorrow to meet up with some good friends who are on a cruise. I’m meeting them at 11am and thought it would work perfectly if Mimi arrived in Cancun at 6:30. Well, she didn’t get that flight so she’s arriving at 2:30 and I’ll be on the island. Our friend Kathy is going to pick her up and I’ll pick her up from their house in Paamul.

Did you notice though? The Meemster is actually returning!!! It’s been 2.5 months that she’s been up in the US. I think this is the longest we’ve been apart in 18 or so years. I’m very happy she is coming back, I need my ginger back at home.

dim light, thunder, sleep

Jonna — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:34:39 +0000

approaching storm crosses Cozumel

I love sleeping during storms, curtains closed, light dim, booming thunder, and snuggled under the covers dozing. Bliss!

It’s much better in the daytime of course because storms at night are more frightening. It’s also better in the tropics where you know you won’t suddenly have to run out into freezing cold rain to clear a drain.

It helps to have the steady hum of an AC that dulls the sound and keeps the covers a necessity. In fact, I’ve taken to building elaborate pillow forts to keep the icy blast off because we only have a few cotton blankets but lots and lots of pillows.

I’ve done some marathon sleeping these last few days. Friday night I went to bed at 10pm and slept until noon on Sat, and then I took a nap that afternoon! I’ve taken a nap every day we’ve been here in fact, and the only other thing I’ve done is swim and try and catch up on all my missed blogs. No time to comment, I’ve got too many to read and a nap waiting.

We need to head back to Mérida today but again the thunder is booming, rain is falling and I may need a nap before we go. We did go out for some food last night as we’ve exhausted the supply of popcorn and leftovers from the neighbors downstairs who contributed the remains of their fridge when they left. Mimi has read about a dozen books I think, I sleep and she reads.

painted water

Today is our anniversary. It appears it is the 18th once again. I’m convinced we’ve been saying we’ve been together for 18 years for the last few years at least. Mimi says it was 1991 and I have no idea so she must be right but how does that explain that we’ve come up with 18 years for so long? 18 is a good number, I guess we should just keep it. Forever 18, sounds kind of nice actually.

I love the look the water gets when a storm is approaching. The surface starts to move but not enough to form white caps, just enough to make it look like an impressionist watercolor.

Once the rain and wind arrives it turns silver and pointillist and bouncy, but that’s another picture that I didn’t take because I didn’t want the camera to get wet.