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Akumal Mexico, Nov. 7-14: Day 1 |
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Beth Morris, 12/7/05 11:43:14 am |
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To preface this trip I must say a few things. We didn’t have finite plans until one week before we left. In October this year, right after Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans, Hurricane Wilma took its turn on the Yucatan. Earlier in the year, Hurricane Emily had also hit it really hard. The locals say that every seven years there’s a big one, and this was that year. Cancun was destroyed, wiping out the hotel zone as well as all areas surrounding it. Our original travel plans were to get our PADI certifications on Isla Mujeres, a small, but beautiful island off the coast of Cancun. A few weeks before we were supposed to leave they still didn’t have water or power, and a lot of the buildings were gone. So Greg in his Greg way jumped on the Internet and began his research. It turned out that south of Cancun in the Riviera Maya area most areas were in much better shape. (i.e. had power and water and were still standing) South of where we had honeymooned was a town called Akumal, which in Mayan means “of the turtles.” Sounded perfect, so he found us a place to stay that we knew was in working order and was right on the ocean. So we were good to go. It wasn’t what we originally had planned, but it was going to be beautiful and relaxing just the same.
Then the automated voice started talking when I picked up the phone one week before we were scheduled to fly out of Pittsburgh. US Airways had canceled our flight and tried to tell us the Cancun airport was closed. We knew that wasn’t the case because other airlines had been flying in and out. US Air also refused to find us another flight. Long story short after a total of five hours on the phone, a ton more money, a very helpful travel agent (Use Jennifer at National Travel), and the kind people at North West who agreed to keep flying to Cancun with only partially full flights, we were back on track.
Finally it was time to leave! My Dad, helpful as always woke up at 3:30 am to take us to the airport. We checked in with no problems, grabbed a little breakfast, and was on our way to Memphis. Small planes are a little cramped, but a fine flight nonetheless. Memphis airport is nothing to speak of really, asides for one thing. There are the most amazingly dressed women there. Beautiful southern ladies in huge fur hats, fur trimmed sweaters, gorgeous dresses. The men were all wearing pin stripped black suits complete with front pocket scarves. I was walking and I looked down and thought I saw a steel drum. I was like that’s interesting, but it wasn’t. It was a real live hatbox! I thought they only existed any more in shop displays or grandmother’s attics. The women had some fashion attitude. I could only imagine the hats that lived in these lovely silver, traveling boxes.
We waited around during our layover, did some “people watching” and then boarded a much larger plane. I’m guessing the plane can hold around oh… 100-150 people. There were 20 on board. It was an odd sight to see actually. With air travel these days, flights are usually over booked and crowded. Well, with the hurricane mess tons of people had canceled their trips, so not many people were flying into Cancun. There was enough room on the flight for everyone to have three seats, an entire row, to themselves. So I stretched out, opened a book, and enjoyed the two and a half hour flights.
We arrived to a noticeably empty airport. Customs was easy to get through since no one was there. We pushed the red/green light button and walked on through. I had originally booked a rental car with Hertz, but Greg had found a “deal” online with a company called Easyway. We wanted to rent a Jeep Wrangler for optimal weather enjoyment, and he thought $392 including insurance for a week… a great deal right? It is if everything works out. So, we went outside to find the “Gregory Morris” sign, and after a few phone calls from the guy who picked us up to get us a ride to the office, we were taken to the rental car office. It looked like a junk yard! That wasn’t a big deal, because most of the Cancun area looked like a junkyard at this point. So this Jeep we rented, it was… how do I say… it looks like it’s been through a lot. There are no windows in the back and sides and the top has a hole in it, and those are its good qualities. After an exhaustive search for an elusive spare tire nut key, we were sent on our way with an, “Just call if you get a flat, since you can’t change the tire without the key. We bring new car.” We laughed and didn’t even really care. We were in sunny Mexico and just wanted to hit the road!!
We followed 307 south. It’s the main highway down the coast from Cancun to Tulum. This was the first time we saw the devastation from the hurricane first hand. All road signs were gone, all billboards in tangles metal heaps (except the replaced-immediately-after-the-hurricane Dos Equis advertisements), the power lines and poles were down in most places, and trees were ripped from the ground and strewn about everywhere. It was a totally different Cancun.
When we’d been down here before, we had taken shuttles or taxies everywhere. This was our first experience driving in a foreign country. Thank goodness they drive on the right side of the road. Well, mostly. 307 is a highly traveled road and everyone seems to be in a big hurry to get to where they are going. When the road is two lanes this really means 1.5 for each side. If you’re slow, you drive half way in the lane and half on the side of the road, so people in a hurry can drive half in their land and half in the lane of on coming traffic. It takes some getting used to. We continue south past Playa Del Carmen, which we had heard was hit pretty badly as well. It’s a beautiful sunny day probably around 85 degrees, and we’re cruising in the old Jeep feeling great. I’m especially happy about pulling the Berks out and stashing the tennis shoes almost as soon as I got in the Jeep. Nothing is better than free toes! We then pass Puerto Aventuras (where we went fishing on our last trip) and we discuss how we are going to find a cheap place to go fishing again this time. We then pass Xpu-Ha Palace, where we stayed on our honeymoon and we got all gooey and cute on ourselves. I’ll save you the details.
We keep going until we see a sign for Akumal (took about an hour to get here from the Aeropuerto.) We pull through the archways leading into town and begin to take it all in. Greg points out some of the places he’s read about and I keep looking for signs for Lol Ka’Naab that meant we’d arrived. Lol Ka’Naab is a building of condos, and we have rented #8 for a week. Greg goes up to the penthouse after asking someone, “Donde Elio?” and finds Elio, the manager, to take us to our condo. It’s perfect! 3rd floor view, directly overlooking the ocean onto Half Moon Bay, one bedroom connected to a bathroom with a huge tiled shower with glass walls. There is a kitchen with everything we’ll need for the week, and the all important agua purificada in a large jug. There are flowers, ruins, and plants painted on the walls and it’s decorated in a very Caribbean style. There is a hammock on the balcony… it wouldn’t be Mexico without a hammock! After sighing over the color of the ocean for a while and breathing in some good salty air, we had to rest. It had already been a long day, and it was only two o’clock. So, we took a break for a little while.
Eventually the owner of the condo, Sandy, stopped by to drop off the key. She, like many property owners in the area, got down here as soon as they could after the hurricane to assess the damage and start clean up. About all of that; Even though Akumal didn’t get hit quite as much as Cancun, they still had a lot of damage. Roads are filled with debris. Walls knocked down. The beaches are filled with broken coral. Sand, rock, concrete, and fallen trees lay in piles everywhere. It looks like a war zone... Yet, it didn’t seem to affect the Mexican people as much as I would have thought. It’s a fact of life for them. They accept it with ease unseen in the States. Men and women are hard at work here trying to get it back up and running, and to get ready to go for the all important high season. It’s not something that they question. Storms happen, buildings are destroyed, and life happens. Grab a shovel and get to work. To use an already over used cliché to summarize, they just don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all small stuff.
After our quick rest, we were starving and needed to find some lunch. A lot of stores and restraints are closed down right now. They’re just not cleaned up enough or rebuilt enough to be ready for customers yet. We drive down to the main area of town to search for somewhere to eat. We’re glad we have the Jeep. The roads are still a little rough, filled with sand, pot holes, and narrow, but not impassible. After some looking, we find the Lol Ha restaurant. It’s right on the water and has a thatched roof, so I’m happy. We sit at a table in the sand and eat some lunch. Greg had some good chicken and I in my exhausted, can’t decide what to eat, cranky state, and I ate an amazing HUGE chili cheese dog and fries. After lunch we came back to the room and then went for a walk on along the beach. I will never be able to explain the amazing turquoise color of the water, so I won’t even try. Go see for yourself! Because of the storm, the beach is covered in broken coral and shells (although, from what I hear, HMB is usually a bit rocky anyway.) We walked along Half Moon Bay, which is the bay our condo is on, and collected interesting corals and shells. After that we were pretty tired, so we decided to go back to the room for the night. After some reading and hammocking, we went to sleep.
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