La Buena Vida -- A Sampling

Recently a friend asked for info about our Akumal trip and I remembered I never finished what I started!  I've been sidetracked by Christmas and life since our trip to Isla Mujeres and Akumal in November.

The good life!  It was muy buena, especially when we took a short walk down Half Moon Bay road to eat at La Buena Vida, the neighborhood oceanfront palapa bar.  I will admit to eating here at least five times in six days.  We hit a rough patch in weather and health while we were in Akumal and this place was tasty and very convenient! 

The burgers and fries were wonderful!

Mango chicken empanadas from the appetizer menu.

Craig's always the life of the party!

Burrito Santa Fe

Enchiladas with red mole.

The bar.

Craig enjoying a beachfront cerveza under the palapa.

Tasty fish tacos and the huge plate of nachos!

Seriously, everything we sampled from their menu was wonderful, including the salads and baby back ribs not pictured here.

If you're in Akumal, check out the good life on Half Moon Bay!

Turtle Bay for Breakfast

As I'm sitting here drinking my peppermint mocha morning frappe, I'm dreaming of tropical breakfasts.  I'm not a breakfast eater at home, but when I'm on vacation, I love those scrambles, fruit plates, cinnamon rolls, omelets, muffins . . .   You get the picture!

Akumal has turtles in its bay, and it also has an excellent place to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.   Turtle Bay Cafe & Bakery!

While researching Akumal restaurants on Trip Advisor, someone described it as being located along the main road.  I somehow misconstrued that as sitting along the main highway.  Not.  You'll find Turtle Bay Cafe in the central part of Akumal village inside the main gates in a garden across the road from the beach.

One morning while Craig was snorkeling, I walked into the village to browse the galleries.  First stop was Turtle Bay for the fruit plate and sticky bun.  Is this fantastic or what!

The sticky bun's a little out of focus, but so yummy!

After finding Turtle Bay Cafe on Day 2, it was our go to morning favorite!  Wouldn't it be wonderful if I was an organized blogger and took photos of menus and made notes?  ( I'm not.)  I'm going to take a flying leap and say the above dish is the Turtle Bay Skillet.

Hmmmm.  I seem to remember this as El Omelette!  True confessions.  I'm a cheater.  Here's their online breakfast menu.

I truly regret we never made it back for dinner at Turtle Bay because the menu and specials sounded wonderful!  Next trip, I'll try not to fall off my bike and trip in a hole so we can make the walk into the village at night.

Look for the monkey along the path and you're almost there.  If you're ever in Akumal, be sure and check out Turtle Bay Cafe for tasty fresh food!

Some Pretty Pictures

We've only been back two days, so every morning I wake up dazed and confused.  Know the feeling?  Instead of the sound of lapping or crashing waves, I hear the neighbor's Corvette firing up next door.  Instead of waking to a scene like these below, I wake up to a wall of white shutters.  Aargh.

For now, I'll just have to dream of pretty pictures!

Herdin' Coatimundis

In yesterday's post, I joked about standing by the road with a Dos Equis to attract some coatimundis.  While I was browsing a shop along the road yesterday, Craig called out -- Becky, get over here fast! 

Bored with the whole idea of shopping, he'd sat down on the curb.  Look what came up to him!

Then there were five.

And then a herd came galloping towards us. The attack of the coatis!

Finally we saw the shopkeeper with his bag of torn tortillas.  He said 45 coatimundis to be exact!

It was feeding time at the zoo!

You got something for me?

Take a picture!  It lasts longer!

And as quickly as they showed up, they began slinking back into the jungle.

Here's the quote explanation from Wikipedia of what coatis are:

Coatis, genera Nasua and Nasuella, also known as Brazilian aardvarks,^[1] Mexican tejón, hog-nosed coons,^[2] pizotes, Panamanian gatosolos, crackoons and snookum bears, are members of the raccoon family (Procyonidae). They are diurnal mammals native to South America, Central America, and south-western North America. The word "coatimundi" ( /koʊˌɑːtɨˈmʌndi/) is a commonly used misnomer applied to solitary adult males of N. nasua.^{[citation needed]} The term is reported to be derived from the Tupi language (Brazil).<sup>[3]

Personally, I like the term snookum bears.  Ha!</sup>

Akumal Art

I like window shopping (actually, I go inside the stores) the art galleries in Akumal.  The art and handicrafts are a cut above the stuff I'm used to seeing in this part of Mexico.  That being said, the price tags in the galleries are  hefty, but I'm determined to find just a little something to take home with me.

For now, some photos of art in the village will have to do!

The local critters love their drinks!  Maybe if we walk along the road with a Dos Equis, a coatimundi will come out for a photo op.

Mural on the wall of the little convenience store across the street.

Mural on a casa wall down the road.

Exterior tortuga mural on a local gallery.

This old mail box is a work of art.  Buzon!

Casa mosaic on Half Moon Bay.

Wood carving next to Turtle Bay Bakery.

The piece of art is on the left!

 Craig with wooden skeletons at the restaurant down the road.

I'm heading back to Mexic Arte to look around today.  I can't go home empty handed!

By the way, I had to enable the window verification on comments again because I was starting to get a lot of spam.  When I comment on other blogs, it usually takes me two or three tries, so hang in there!

Rise and Shine!

We were up with first light this morning.  We're headed to Tulum and Coba today to see some ruins.  Before we leave, I thought I'd post the progression of this morning's sunrise.

The Journey and the Destination

For now, I'm just loving doing nothing!  The condo we're renting in Akumal is right on the water, so it's an infinity view in sun or shade from the balcony.

But let me backtrack to tell you about the journey.  After trying to book a transport for a few days only to find the shuttles sold out on Saturday (must have been the post-Thanksgiving rush back to the airport), we decided to just wing it!  I'm so glad we did because it saved us a lot of pesos.

We crossed the street from the ferry terminal and grabbed a taxi to the downtown Cancun bus station for 50 pesos.  As we pulled up, I noticed the Playa Express collectivos lined up across the street from the bus station.  The line at the first one was long, so we waved at the driver in the second van and he loaded our bags into the backend of his Mercedes van.  66 pesos later, we were both in the front two seats headed for Playa del Carmen.  I hadn't been in Playa for years, but I figured the southbound collectivos to Tulum couldn't be too far away from the lot where the Playa Express driver dropped us.  A taxi pulled up as we were searching and offered us a 330 pesos fare to Akumal.  About the same time, we spotted the collectivos in the next block and decided to just wing it again.  A handler moved people around in the second van so he could deposit our luggage up front and we climbed into seats in the second row. 

The one blunder we made was having the collectivo drop us at the Akumal Playa exit as opposed to the Akumal Pueblo exit.  After we paid our 70 pesos and left the van, I looked at the pedestrian overpass and knew I'd made a mistake.  After dragging our bags uphill to the bridge over the four-lane highway and back down to the beach path, a taxi came along a block later shortly before I collapsed.  ja ja ja   He quoted 80 pesos to Playa Caribe Condos and I just dove into the taxi before Craig could question the fare.  While it sounded a little high, a friend had told me awhile back that she paid 90 pesos from the Pueblo exit, so I figured what the heck.

So the total for two people from the Puerto Juarez ferry dock to Akumal's Half Moon Bay was 266 pesos.  We figured our dinner last night and lunch today were gratis since we didn't pay $100 U.S. for the ride.

I'll leave you with a few photos from the journey.

 

Leaving Isla Mujeres.

 

Passing Manchionnes reef.

The beautiful blue Caribe.

I'm glad Jesus was watching over us with Speedy Gonzalez driving.

And here's the destination -- Half Moon Bay, Akumal.

Craig enjoying the view from the terrace.

Sunset over the jungle.

Dinner last night at La Buena Vida.  And yes, this is the good life!

Chicken enchiladas in red mole sauce.

Craig's grande steak burrito.

Teaching Miele to shake for steak.

Craig with his new best friends.

Walking the dark road on the way home, we noticed we were being stalked.  Coatimundi?  Mapache?  Hmmmm.  Too funny!  When a car approached, he scurried off into the jungle.