Birds of a Feather and Capitan Dulce

When we're on Isla Mujeres, we try not to make plans.  That's our idea of a vacation, just doing what strikes us at the last moment.  We fly by the seat of our pants.

One afternoon towards the end of our trip, we decided to board the bus last minute and take a ride out to Capitan Dulce.  We waited about 15 minutes for the bus down at the stand by the ferry dock and headed south.  I will tell you that the driver charged us double for the ride, or maybe not if the price has gone up to 9 pesos apiece?  Oh well.  Must have been a tourist tax.

We rode all the way to the stop in Mundaca Circle in front of the Isla Palace, then walked the rest of the way to the beach club.

Walking down the driveway, Craig pointed out some beautiful birds in a little house over by the private pavilion.

Back in 2008, we stayed at the new Mar y Sol for a week. We wondered what was going on with the nautical antiques and huge dock being built at the large estate next door.  An island friend told us he thought it was going to be a museum, but it just seemed a bit far-fetched to me, so I continued to fantasize that a rock star with a penchant for nautical antiques was building his own nirvana.  I was wrong!

We decided to stop for a drink, then look around and take some photos -- like this guy's doing!

That's a long dock!

Beautiful kinetic wind sculpture!

Tranquil beach.

Craig and the property from the dock.

My thoughts on Capitan Dulce?  If a person's staying on the south end and looking for a beach where they can bask in the sun and order drinks, it looks like a good choice!  We did not order food, so I'm not sure about that.  The water in that area does have turtle grass (note the dark areas around the shoreline in the photo above), so it wouldn't be my choice for swimming.  If we're going to the beach, we prefer the peaceful sections of Playa Norte with deep shade from palms and nice clear water in front for swimming.  I think it's a beautiful place for people to stop on their golfcart tour of the island.

I know there's a museum at Capitan Dulce, but we missed it.  Craig later told me that it was in the opposite direction of the birds that I focused on.  Funny how something captures your attention and you miss the obvious! 

Huge clouds were gathering and we were on foot, so we decided to speed walk our way back to the colonias where we could catch a reasonably priced cab.  By the time we rounded the curve and were a block in, I felt drops.  I heard a little beep beep from a taxi (that means 'want a ride?') and we hopped in.  For a few pesos more than the bus driver charged us, we were quickly back in El Centro in time for our afternoon coffee.

  

More Mexican Altars

I know I've said it before, but I find so much comfort in all the religious symbolism when I'm in Mexico, especially the little shrines and altars I pass along my way.  Most of us are struggling to understand the events of this past week, so I thought some photos from my November trip might be soothing.

Angels in the cemetery pointing towards heaven. 

Altar at a home on Juarez.

Another casa altar.

The altar at the mercado constantly evolves.

Saw this arrangement on the Poc Chuc counter at the mercado and asked the waiters if it was the Poc Chuc altar.  They laughed.

Looking over the cemetery wall.

Interesting altar on the road to Playa Norte.  Just noticed the tip box?

Shrine along the road to Half Moon Bay in Akumal.

Some Akumal Pueblo Photos

I thought I'd follow up the Akumal post with photos from the Akumal Pueblo -- the other side of the highway.  I wish we'd been able to make a return trip for a second look, but my bike exploration days were over after the two falls. 

Typical vendor trike.  One item we missed in the Akumal resort area was the fresh orange juice we buy from vendors on Isla.

We stopped at a tienda to stock up on groceries and I noticed the customary barrel of brooms out front!

Love this big Hot Wheels truck parked along the main street!  Evidently, Hot Wheels is as universal as Coca-Cola.

I've never seen anyone deep frying authentic chicharrones on Isla Mujeres.  I remember seeing a big pot just like this on a street in San Sebastion del Oeste.  A store that sold veggies, fruit, and meat had the pork rinds frying in a pot of grease out front.  I assume the finished product was in this glass case below.

I bought some avocados in this store, but passed on the meat.  I still can't get used to seeing meat hanging unrefrigerated.

Next door, a food stand sold pollo asado and all the fixin's.

Craig posing in front of Verduras Akumal.

Beef, it's for dinner.

In order to cross the highway to get back to the beach side of Akumal, we had to push the bikes up over a pedestrian bridge.  I took the opportunity (actually, I was resting after pushing the bike loaded with milk and beer up the steep ramp) to take a photo of the jungle below. Sorry about the blurred photo.  There's a lot of undeveloped jungle between the beach and highway in the Riviera Maya.

Watching Juarez

Juarez has always been my favorite street on Isla Mujeres.  It's lined with interesting casas and businesses.  While  Medina's nuts with traffic and daytrippers and Hidalgo's full of restaurants and shops, Juarez is more local populated with people conducting their daily lives. 

Some years back, we'd walk Juarez to the beach -- right down the middle of the street.  A person can still do that in the early morning and late evening hours, but it bustles during the day.  I wish I was sitting at Mogagua right now sipping my morning white chocolate frappe watching the street.

Here's a Juarez sampling from our November trip.

 Hola Dr. Simi!  Got any weight loss pills because I've been consuming way too many of these!

Frappe frappe frappe frappe frappe.  (That's how I meditate medicate.) 

Shop selling magazines, newspapers, and books.
 

Tranquil blue casa.

How many chickens could a chicken chopper chop if a chicken chopper could chop chicken?  I peeked down the narrow passageway and snapped a photo this trip.

Got souvenirs?

Okay, I have to walk inside the candy store someday!

La Susanita

Hola Fidel!  Por Estoooo!

Hairy skirt.

Somebody buy this place and fix it up!  

Now appearing on the upper deck.

Cute Juarez casa.

Casa Luz Spa

Work trike.

  Tienda across from the Navy base.

The cool cart!

 Okay, Craig wouldn't do it, so someone had to!

A Really Big Shoe Tree!

I take photos of this large shoe tree on Isla Mujeres almost every trip and it continues to grow!  I'd love to know the story behind it.  It reminds me of the collections of hats, panties, etc... that end up hanging on the walls at palapa bars!

The photo also brings to mind a growing trend.  Every trip to Mexico, I see more tourists/travelers traipsing around the streets with no shoes, and they're not all surfer dudes.  Now I know they own shoes, but they choose to go barefoot on the not so clean streets.  I'm not talking about barefoot beach walking!   It blows me away. I have a hard enough time keeping my hooves healthy in Mexico wearing shoes, much less pounding the pavement barefoot!  And what about infections, worms, and various assorted other ailments?

In Akumal, I was walking down the road along Half Moon Bay one morning when I noticed a woman in a dressy linen pants outfit approaching with a group of people.  All dressed up with no shoes on walking on the rough pavers.  So weird!

Maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy now.  (When was the last time you heard that word!)

The Akumal Report

Well . . . at least part of it! Lots of folks want to know what we thought about Akumal.  How did it compare to Isla Mujeres?

Here are some of the pro's:

If you love snorkeling, you can wade right in off the beach and go for it.  The snorkeling's good in Akumal Bay, Half Moon Bay, Ya Kul Lagoon, and probably many other spots we didn't investigate on down the coast.  Craig saw turtles every time he snorkeled in addition to all the colorful fish.  He could literally just grab his gear and step into the water right in front of the condo building.  And it's a safe place to snorkel without a lot of boat traffic.  Since the bays are snorkeling tour operators' bread and butter, they're watching for people in the water.  And the bays are beautiful.

The shopping's unique.  Akumal has some galleries (a little pricey) with art and crafts that are a cut above the usual souvenirs.

It's quiet!  Muy tranquilo, especially on Half Moon Bay where we stayed at Playa Caribe condos.  The shoreline's mostly occupied by expensive homes (more like estates) and condos. The beach down below our condo had some palapas with loungers, and only one or two were occupied on any given day.  A woman next door spent her day painting the scene with watercolors.  The only sound was the waves hitting the shore.  No party boats, no A.I.'s with loungers blocking the sand and shoreline, and no people putting towels or flip flops on loungers at 7 a.m. to save a place.  (That's my pet peeve in paradise!  Keep me away from those people!)

That condo was like heaven -- an infinity view from the living area and bedroom. We were even greeted with a large gift bowl of fruit and assorted snacks.  The building had its own state-of-the-art filtration system which made the water totally safe to drink.  Being the untrusting soul that I am, I still drank bottled water, but Craig drank the water with wild abandon and had no problems.  And I used the ice, so that water system was a miracle in Mexico!  (Actually, we stayed at a penthouse in Bucerias, Mexico in 2010 that had the same luxury, but the owners provided a water garrafon for wary people like me.)  And don't give me any guff on this next one.  A sign in the bano noted that the toilet paper was biodegradable and the condo was set up to flush away.  A property manager was onsite during the day to rent bikes and handle any questions.  We were on the third floor and the building had 24/7 security, so we relaxed to the sound of the waves with sliders open the entire stay.  It was cool enough that no A/C was needed.

 View off the balcony at Playa Caribe.

 Gorgeous sunrises every morning.

 View north from the condo on Half Moon Bay.  Notice the uncrowded beach!

Master bedroom in the condo.

Kitchen/dining room area.

 View south down Half Moon Bay at sunset.

Oceanfront condos seem a little more affordable in Akumal as opposed to Isla Mujeres, probably because there are more of them!

It was a great base location for exploring the Riviera Maya.  Tulum and its ruins and beaches are just a short collectivo ride down the road, and from there you can venture on to Coba, Sian Kaan, and other points beyond.  We used a collectivo to get to Tulum, then a bus from Tulum to Coba.  The transportation once you got out to the main highway was cheap and efficient.  Thinking back on it, our fellow passengers on the collectivos were almost all locals and the drivers did not speak English, but we managed to communicate (very poorly) where we wanted to exit.

The beach side of Akumal's very clean.  Notably clean!  We never saw a single pile of dog poo the entire time, and there was no trash on streets or beaches.

Par for the course in my tropical travels, calamity struck the first full day in Akumal.  Literally, I fell (more like was thrown) off my rental bike onto the asphalt road.  Loose handlebars.  They showed no signs of being loose until I ended up on the pavement.  I landed on my hip and knee and feel fortunate that I didn't land on my head or break any bones.  (Wonder what age a person stops bouncing?)  The hip was so bruised and sore that literally, I couldn't sleep on that side.  If that wasn't bad enough, on Day 2 I stumbled in a huge street pothole down by Akumal Bay and once again landed flat in the road.  This time the exposed rebar in the pothole broke skin on the knee and we limped the mile plus back to the condo with blood streaming down my leg.  The condo, of course, was equipped with a fabulous first aid kit, so I was able to use alcohol to thoroughly clean the knee and bandage it.  Basically, the rest of the planned activities were cancelled for me because I was too swollen and bruised.  I also think the moist air (as opposed to dry Phoenix) played a part in the degree of aches and pains. Fortunately, the snorkeling was great right out front and Ya Kul was a short walk down the road, so I liked that Craig could still easily find ways to entertain himself for the remainder of the trip. And really, who could possibly complain about being marooned on a lounger on a balcony with this view! 

Now here are the con's:

The food choices in Akumal aren't anything like Isla Mujeres.  We found a few restaurants that we really liked and stuck with them.  I'm sure that perception would change a little if we'd had a rental car and ventured up and down the highway to restaurants in neighboring areas.  But Isla Mujeres definitely wins the restaurant competition for great food and easy accessibility, but truthfully, I think Isla Mujeres is very unique for its number and variety of great food choices.  Maybe it's not fair to compare other places to Isla in that category.

Transportation can be a problem in Akumal.  Let's just say it's a place where transportation isn't made easy for you if you're a traveler without a car.  Taxis don't circulate much beyond the main Akumal gate.  The easy solution would be to stay in the central part of the village, or to rent a car if you're staying beyond Akumal Bay.  If I hadn't gotten banged up early on, it wouldn't have been an issue for us.  We planned on using bikes during the daytime and walking after dark.  I will say that the road through Half Moon Bay had some very dark areas with few street lights, so the condo's flashlight came in handy! I'm telling you, that condo was equipped!  The dark walk down a deserted road in Mexico would be a little worrisome/spooky for a single woman, but almost every estate and condo building along the road has night security guards on duty.  So we felt safe.  But if I was a singleton in Akumal, especially a woman, I'd stay in the Akumal Bay area close to the village and restaurants.

We loved the fact that Akumal was quiet for the first few days, but then all that solitude started to wear on us.  It's VERY quiet.  Craig and I aren't party people, but the streets in Akumal roll up in the evening.  Maybe it's a little livelier in high season?  Unlike Isla Mujeres, Akumal doesn't have an El Centro with a bustling village. 

The beach side of Akumal's also fairly gringo.  I don't mean that as an insult, but it's probably a little too sterile for our tastes.  The resort side of town is mainly populated by ex-pat's and tourists.  Most of the signs are in English.  Finding someone who speaks English is not a problem. That being said, the pueblo side of Akumal on the other side of the highway is where the locals live and shop.  We rode our bikes there the first day (the scene of the accident) to stock up on groceries.  We took one look at the shelves of the two supermarkets in the main resort area (a lot of the items on the shelves were unmarked?) and decided to head across the pedestrian bridge to a tienda on the other side.

Would we go back to Akumal?  I'm sure we will!  Snorkeling snorkeling snorkeling!  Craig loves it, and it is superior there!  It was an extremely relaxing place to hang out, but we probably wouldn't spend more than a few days.  Our take is that Akumal would be a great place to retire if you're looking for a very peaceful ocean side place in Mexico within easy reach of shopping, airports, medical, etc....

I'll just say we once again ventured further afield in search of greener pastures, but as always, we'll be back to Isla.  Soon!  (At least I hope.)

I'll be posting more photos of Akumal in the next few weeks. More to come!