Mexico
For the last 5 years or so we’ve taken our annual winter (December) vacation in sunny Mexico. Not that Idaho is very snowy where we live but the need for sunshine sets in right about the first two weeks of the month. We started in Cancun, Mexico which is located on the eastern part of Mexican seaboard, Caribbean side. While Cancun is nice it’s a bit too touristy for our tastes. Also, it’s very Americanized. We felt we’d been transported to a really sunny and warm part of the US with white sand beaches and turquoise blue water. We wanted something a bit more authentic so we’ve steadily been moving south since that first trip .
Last year we stayed about 40 miles south of Cancun in the Mayan Riviera town of Playa del Carmen, Mexico (Playa). We like the feel of this little town but even here bits and pieces of America can be found. Of course there is a Starbucks. Actually I’d have been surprised if there wasn’t one. At least in Playa they don’t take up space on every street corner. There is only one and you have to know where it’s located, it’s off the beaten path. The big surprise was the Wal Mart. I guess I shouldn’t have been but it’s not everyday you’d expect to find one largest US retailers in a Mexican beach resort town.
While there we took a day trip even farther south and ended up in the town of Akumal. Love at first site. We decided after spending the day at the public beach that this is where we wanted to spend our two weeks the following year. So come October we booked our vacation and spent two glorious weeks at the Akumal Beach Resort. While this all inclusive resort is average it more than meet our simple needs. We really went for the scenery and snorkeling and we weren’t disappointed. We nearly had the place to ourselves as they’d suffered a major fire earlier in the year and were just now starting to be fully functionally in the lobby/kitchen/dining room areas of the hotel.
A typical day for us: breakfast, pool or beach cabana to read, lunch, snorekling, more reading, a walk to the Cannon House for kitty time and incredible sunsets, home for dinner, then an evening of reading and watching movies.
Finally the fun stuff, the pictures!
Paradise
The view from our room, 2nd floor
The view from our room, 2nd floor
The spouse standing by the emtpy pool. He had it himself almost every day.
We spent plenty of time in beach cabanas.
The view from the cabanas looking toward the snorkeling bay.
Another view from the cabana.
A Corona moment!
Hey kids! Wanna a box of baby turtles? By the time she was done digging up the nest there was over 100 turtles in this box.
The little guys making a break for it, literally. She has just pulled these eggs from the nest as they were hatching.
The resort kittens. There were 4 in all ~ the tabby twins, one ginger and a black. They are very shy but oh so adorable.
We were never able to get very close to these skittish kitties.
Never fear we did find some friendly cats to share our sunset time with. This is a Cannon House cat. We called her PJ (Puddy Jr.) in honor of our oldest who passed this past spring. They could have been daughter and mother.
Another Cannon house cat. There wasn't time for us to miss our gang. About 6-8 cats reside here.
Another Cannon House cat we named 'No Ears' as someone had cut them off. We know now that she has a good home and is in caring hands.
The Cannon House is named such for the cannons on the water that protected the bay. You will see these in the upcoming sunset pictures. This is the place in Akumal to watch the sunset. I've overdosed on including sunset picutres but it's hard to resist when they're so beautiful.
