09-21-2008
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#1 (permalink) |
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way into it
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Camp Hill, PA
Posts: 216
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Trip Report--Midtowngirl and Midtownguy Return to Akumal, Sept 18-28
I'm going to try to do this "live"ish, because I managed to get a good enough internet connection to download photos to Photobucket. Will probably post more photos when we get back.
Chapter 1, Part 1: Ding, Dong, Dash! Remember the game where you'd run up to someone's front door, ring the bell, and then run away? Well, we had our own version at 3:30 Thursday morning. We'd had the alarm set for 2:30 and had finally stretched out around midnight. Ding Dong! went the doorbell at 3:30. And we were still asleep. You've never seen two people dash around like we did. Luckily I'd already gotten my shower so I threw my clothes on and got the door. Mark took the quickest shower known to man (thought I encouraged him to consider his traveling companion and be thorough) and we both go ready. We were out the door by 4. Ironically I'd been bitching about why we needed a 3:30 pickup for a 7:30 flight out of BWI. It wasn't going to take us more than an hour and a half at that time of the morning. And we didn't need to be there more than an hour and a half ahead considering it was a charter flight and it was a Thursday. I had asked if it was too late to change the pickup to 4. It was. And as it turned out 3:30 was just right! Mark and me on the plane...mine is kind of humiliating, I look muuuuy cansada.   After that, it was easy. USA3000 flies out of a separate-ish end of the minuairport, with its own security line. It was great. Flight was fine, just over 3 hours. We were on the ground by 9:45. I always have to take a picture of the first scene I get of land:  Seeing the jungle makes me so happy!  Luggage took longer than normal--mine was the last to come out. But we were outside by 10:15. Easyway was there right outside the gate. It took 10-15 minutes for the car to arrive, and we were in and out of Easyway and on 307 by 10:50. We got a Nissan Tsuru (the early 90s body style of the Sentra. We'd reserved a manual but got an automatic, which was fine. It was a 2008 with only 6800K on it. We found out pretty soon that it had been in a wreck, because neither front door was inclined to close easily. But it rode fine and it was nice to have a "new" interior. I'd been thinking about stopping in Puerto Morelos but we decided to skip it because we were getting tired and hungry. So we made one stop for gas and drinks (no problems at the pump, I asked for 200 pesos, stood by the car with the pump guy, gave him 210 as a thank you). Traffic was very light. Rolled into Playa, parked at the Mega, and headed up 30th in search of food. Found Posoleria de mi Abuelita (Posole is a stew with hominy and in this case either pork or chicken). I'd heard this was a great place. I had "mixto" posole (both chicken and pork) and Mark had "tostada tinga"s, which had chicken in a spicy sauce with refried beans, cheese and sour cream. He pronounced them delicious and that they tasted like buffalo wings. The posole was great, more like a soup than a stew. It came with a tray of chips, peppers, lettuce/radishes/limes to add to the posole. Great lunch, we were both stuffed for 125p. Posole  Chips  One of Mark's tostadas tinga  Got into Mega, stopped at the ATM downstairs, and got a picture this time of the fascinating "escalator" ramp for the carts. I have still not figured out exactly how they work. I think there are "feet" on the wheels, and maybe they're magnetic and hook into the track.  Next to the bakery, my favorite section of Mega:  Back down the ramp with our full cart of provisions:  Got back on the road down to Akumal. I was so happy to make the turn into town and see the arch! Humberto was there to greet us. He has an assistant now, Jose. They carried our stuff up and got us settled. We were so hot and tired! We got our suits on and went down to the pool. The water is much warmer now than it was in December. Mark got right in. We went into town. We heard CEA was having a turtle walk at 6:30. No one was in the office so we decided to stop in the next day. Our first look at the bay as the sun was getting low:  Took a walk down the beach to see the progress on Akumal Beach Resort's rebuilding since their April fire (it's looking good), then to dinner at La Cueva del Pescador. I had the grilled fish fillet, Mark had the fish fillet veracruz style. Prices were the same as last year (I'd heard they'd gone up, and was glad to see they hadn't. Grilled fish is 90p, veracruz is 110p). The bugs were out! We got bitten depite using repellent. We headed back and were asleep by 8:30. |
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09-21-2008
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#4 (permalink) |
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way into it
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Camp Hill, PA
Posts: 216
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Day 2--Sept 19
We slept until 7ish. Man, we were tired. We were slow to leave the condo but eventually got our act together and headed into town with the bikes. Stopped into CEA, met Alma and found out that they were doing a turtle release at 7. Inquired at Imelda's about her Mayan buffet and found out that with the low season, they were only doing it for groups of 8 or more. I decided to talk it up to anyone we met between now and then. Checked out the shops, then walked across the highway and walked through the pueblo. We found the kindergarten...they were just letting out. We met Miguel who let us take pictures of the outside.    Then, around the corner, was the Montessori school. Kids were still there playing.  We walked back down the hill and found Loncheria Naty. My Spanish is getting better but this was a challenge. I was stymied when they didn't have a menu. I saw they were cooking chickens outside, so knew they had that. I was hoping they might have some other things, and they probably did, but the lovely woman there could not understand my Spanish. Chicken is fine! So we had a chicken, which came with tortillas, salsa, rice, beans, and vegetables. It was fantastic. Lunch and drinks (1 coke, 1 bottled sangria, very tasty) were 100p.  Their homemade salsa was just out of this world. Not too hot, but definitely hot. Stopped in the Super Mar Caribe briefly, mainly to browse since we had everything we needed. Liquor prices were a little cheaper there. Beer is more expensive everywhere this year! Tequila is about the same. Went into El Pueblito back in town and found both a highway map we scould use to get to Chichen Itza, plus a guidebook to Chichen Itza (this had been an elusive find, had looked on Amazon and Google at home and couldn't find any guide books for the layman). Found the Yucateca "extra" hot sauce (Mega didn't carry it anymore). Started stocking up on that; we have a lot of requests for it at home. Back home, went for a swim in the pool and then went walking out on the rocks over to Half Moon Bay, so that we could scope out the best place for us to bike down the road with our snorkeling stuff and make camp. North side of Half Moon Bay  sculpture someone had made on the rocks  Coral South side of Half Moon Bay in the distance  Turtle nests on the beach   Walked out to La Buena Vida and then walked back via the road. "Caught" a group of construction workers taking an afternoon swim in the bay...I say "caught" because Mark noticed they didn't come out of the water until we passed--they were in their underwear and I guess were a little shy : ) Got cleaned up and back into Akumal by 7. The CEA staff were already out on the bay at the little point at the edge of Akumal Beach Resort. They had the turtles out, but they weren't moving. Alma had a light out and that woke some of them up, but only about 7 ended up getting to the water. The rest they put back in the tub and will attempt to release tomorrow night. We had lights with cellophane so they let us help guide them with the lights (you need red cellophane over the light to mimic the moonlight which draws them to the water). We will come back tomorrow night to help out. Drove back and walked to Que Onda for dinner. We were the only people there! We both had their homemade linguini, Mark as primavera  and I had the "maribel" with shrimp, vegetables and Thai chili sauce.  It was funny, there were no bugs even though we were further inland. Who knows why that was, but it was very nice. Next up: Snorkeling, Playa day trip and Nasty Bastards. |
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09-21-2008
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#5 (permalink) | |
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aņejo
 Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Playa del Carmen
Posts: 20,751
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Quote:
  You tourists  
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09-22-2008
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#8 (permalink) |
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sandflea
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 1
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Thanks for posting your trip. We are heading back to Akumal for the 10th or 11th year in a row this January. Our daughter got married at the Akumal Beach Resort last February, with about 80 of us attending, and we were not disapponted! I would highly recommend it to any group of travelers that want the best beach and resonable prices. We were so sorry to hear of the fire and were wondering how they were doing rebuilding. Thanks for the update. We stay at the Casitas and when I look at your pictures, I feel we are right back there aourselves. We have been to Punta Allen three or four times, but this year we are hoping to get down to Mahual. Is Mega part of the new mall in Playa del Carmen? How does it compare to Walmart? We usually stock up on the way down also, so I'd be interested in hearing your opinion as which is better. Hope you have a great trip. Great sunrise pictures!!!
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09-22-2008
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#10 (permalink) | |
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way into it
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Camp Hill, PA
Posts: 216
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Quote:
Soriana is the store in the new Playa Centro mall. Mega is just up 30th from Walmart, at 30th and Constituyentes. We visited Walmart for the first time on Saturday evening and it was a zoo, not unlike Walmart at home. So it's not totally fair since I've only been to Mega on a weekday or later at night, but I prefer Mega I think. Walmart has things like pool noodles that Mega doesn't (at least the times I've been there), and their bakery is a bit bigger with a larger selection. And we hit the mother load--1.75L of El Jimador reposado for 149p. So both are worthwhile, but I'd probably stick with Mega. |
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09-23-2008
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#11 (permalink) |
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way into it
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Camp Hill, PA
Posts: 216
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Day 3--Saturday
Sunrise from the patio  We went down to Akumal Bay this morning with our snorkel gear and took a trip around the bay. Mark had some mask trouble so we went in a little early. I looked for Alejandro the snorkel guide that we'd met the day before but he wasn't there. He'd told us about a 3-cenote (spring fed cavern, some are open) trip he offered that included a tour of the bay to show us where the underwater cannons were (we've looked but haven't found them yet) and to show us around the rest of the bay. After reading about Alejandro from other customers, we'd decided it was a good idea. We'll try to find him another day. We stopped in TSA and got a couple of questions answered about the condo and arranged to have the internet connection fixed (we didn't have the password to the strongest connection). We went to Playa this afternoon to walk around. We had lunch at Dr. Taco (thanks to dpreefer for his restaurant list, it's been super helpful in finding places) The tacos were great and the salsa bar was fun to experiment with. My only issue was that the tacos were 45p on the menu but 55 on our check. It wasn't worth arguing about; I figured the menu was out of date, or maybe they charged more for corn tortillas vs. flour. Dr. Taco's salsa bar  We walked down 5th down to the ferry terminal and then back up the beach. I stopped at one of the carts that had fresh fruit and had a mango (I'd been dying for a mango that wasn't imported and that I didn't have to cut up). 15 pesos, which is about what they cost on sale at home, but this one was much tastier! We walked up the beach to Bad Boys and got there a few minutes before the band started. We met JJ and talked with him a little before they set up. Super nice guy. There was a girl "helping" behind the bar and she looked familiar to me...until it clicked, it was Michele and Rob's daughter Birdie. Sure enough, they came up and sat at the bar a little while later. We'd gotten talking to a guy named Scott who's lived here for awhile, but then I walked over and introduced myself to Michele and Rob. We had a great talk, turns out we went to college within an hour of each other. Nasty Bastards playing  We'd parked at Walmart because we wanted to check them out, having been only to Mega so far. It was set up sort of like a US Walmart. The signage was the same, but the layout was different. They had pool noodles (we hadn't seen any at Mega). Their bakery was larger and had a bigger selection, though a tad more expensive. Our haul of the evening was a 1.75 liter bottle of El Jimador reposado for 149p. We had a date with the baby turtles at 7, so we made sure to be on the beach by then. Unfortunately, no one was in the CEA office or on the beach where we were last night. So we were a little disappointed but may check back tonight. Since we had the car we took it across the highway and had dinner at El Ultimo Maya. There were a couple of groups of local guys having a beer, so we were the only ones having dinner. It was great as always. We had sopa de lima, which was GREAT. Mark had chicken fajitas (65p), which is what he had last year. I had grilled fish (80p). Both came with rice and beans, and mine with a little salad of lettuce and tomato. We both cleaned our plates and dinner came to 215p. We love that place! |
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09-23-2008
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#13 (permalink) |
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Canada Dry
 Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Saskatchewan, Canada
Posts: 46,119
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Great job! Thanks for the Mega pictures too. Looks like a decent liquor selection- how about for red wines?
Oversleeping for an early flight has always been a worry of mine. Thank goodness it worked out for you.  I hadn't heard the ABR had a fire. Glad they are rebuilding. 
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09-24-2008
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#14 (permalink) | |
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way into it
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Camp Hill, PA
Posts: 216
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Quote:
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...I like the sound of that...
