Last day in Mexico

Denver-can you believe they had this sculpture of you?

New Beige at the Playa

Grateful Dead bar in Akumel

Monday, March 19 2012

Today was our last full day in Mexico and also Jon’s 31^st birthday.  We left Tulum for Akumal this morning after cleaning out the truck a little and packing up.  We had heard from our Grateful Dead fan snorkeling guide yesterday that Jerry use to hang out in Akumal and there was a GD bar called Buena Vida.  I had also read in the Lonely Planet that there was a really interesting lagoon for snorkeling called Yal-Ku so we decided to go snorkeling and check out the Dead bar.  We also thought that we might try to swim out and look for some sea turtles because the name Akumal is actually a Mayan word meaning place of the turtle. 

The lagoon snorkeling was great and we saw tons of fish.  It was also very protected and we didn’t get thrown around very much in the waves.  There were a lot of rock formations and crevices to explore but the water was very greasy looking.  I thought it was my goggles but it turned out that it must have been that there was sunblock in the water from all the tourists which kind of sucks for the habitat but us whiteys got to wear our sunblock.  Especially, me.  There was a garden surrounding the lagoon with lots of sculptures and there was one of a naked man playing a flute and it made me think of Denver. 

After snorkeling we went to check out the GD bar.  It was in an excellent location and had interesting tables. Some where up a pole in a crows nest type place and you got your drinks sent up to you in a bucket with a pulley.  Other seats were actually swings at the bar and they were all overlooking the bay.  It was a little pricey and there were lots of tourists there but the food was good and there were huge portions.  I was kind of beat at this point and we didn’t think that any turtles would come into the bay area where we were going to snorkel so we decided to keep driving to the border town of Chetumal to head into Belize early tomorrow.

We got a clean room with an excellent internet connection and a hot shower and took care of some paperwork business to get ready for tomorrow.  I found out that we don’t have our original copy of our title to our truck, which apparently we need.  However, we were supposed to need it to get our Mexican vehicle permit and we obviously got that without it.  Either that or the lady at the Mexican office kept it and I didn’t realize it.  So, we are going for it anyway and if they don’t let us in then well have to come back to this hotel and hope that Jon’s family can send us the title asap from our file cabinet or else order another one.  Wish us luck. 

A few things that I found out recently; One, I have become accustomed to the local culture and have started taking afternoon siestas.  Two, the Belizean government apparently blocks skype in their country so I might not be able to talk to my family.  We’ll probably only be in Belize for about five days so its not a huge deal but my mom’s not going to be happy.  Three, they speak English in Belize.  I hope I don’t forget everything I learned in Spanish. 

Hopefully our first border crossing goes smoothly.  We aren’t allowed to bring meat, vegetables or liquor across the border, so we have to hide a few bottles of mescal and other various liquors.  Oh boy.  Talk to you again from another country hopefully.