I'm settling into life in Akumal. Neither of us can remember what day of the week it is, and have to look at our watches to find out. Forget about the date! And now, I can barely remember what we did a week ago...
Sunday we just hung out around the condo. Monday we took Bella up to CEA to see Paul, but he wasn't back from his trip yet. Cejas had to tag along, so we took the two of them with us for lunch at Turtle Bay Cafe. Jennifer and Dani were just coming back from taking their dogs to the beach, so it was a big doggy reunion at the bakery! Cejas and Colonel have called a truce and no one's table was upset! Bella and Daisy remembered each other but Bella wasn't allowed to run around with her just yet... after she gets more used to being here. Jessie curled up in the corner right behind us, and Jersey came over for some loving. Dozer and Kikitun, Dani's dogs, came over to Cejas and greeted him back. After a delicious lunch, we went back to the condo and then to the pool.
On Tuesday, Bob and I made a delivery of 300 pounds of dog food to Mahahual. This is where Dean made landfall and it is the area that has had the most devastation and destruction. We had never been to Mahahual, but had seen pictures and read about it and knew that it was a beautiful, tiny, little beachfront town. A cruise ship pier had been built there a couple of years ago and the cruise ships were coming in to port there on a regular basis. The town was supposed to be growing. It was supposed to be the next hot spot. There had been a big feature article on it in the Sunday Chronicle back in SF in August. We had planned on going there during our stay here - but not like this.
We left Akumal about 9:00 with Bella and Missy with us, while Cejas and Solavina stayed in the condo. Bella got to go because she barks a lot when we aren't home and we didn't want her barking and annoying people all day. Missy got to go just because she is cute!
We loaded up the bags of dog food - four in the back of the truck and three on the floor in the back seat, so it was more evenly distributed and we weren't dragging our behind!
Our first stop was the San Francisco grocery store in Tulum to get some groceries for the caretaker at our friend Whitney's house in Mahahual. I got a bunch of food - mangoes, bananas, limes, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, rice, beans, tortillas, oranges, cheese, apples - for about $50. I told Bob that we needed to come back to this store to do our grocery shopping.
The drive to Mahahual is pretty easy. Straight down 307 and then turn left onto the road for Mahahual. We headed down the road and soon were in our familiar travel mode. It seemed like a long time since we had been on our big driving adventure, and then at the same time, it seemed like it was just yesterday that we were getting in the car each day for a long drive. It had been a week almost since we had arrived in Akumal.
I napped a bit on the way down - it's a pretty boring ride. Jungle and jungle and jungle. We went through Felipe Carillo Puerta again and didn't get lost this time. More driving and I was looking at a Mexican road map. I told Bob that we should be coming up on the turn soon, so we started watching for road signs.
Bob saw a pretty major road that went off to the left and asked me if that was it? How would I know? I've never been here either! But, we hadn't seen any signs, so I told him to keep driving and if we came to the next town on the map, then we would know that we had gone too far. Sure enough, in about ten minutes, we came to the little town... so hung a u-ey and went back. On this side of the road, there was a sign that showed where to turn for Mahahual. We could see the sign from the other side of the road laying at the side, crumpled up like a wad of paper. And it was a BIG sign!
We headed down that road and it was more of the same - only now, jungle was ripped apart and toppled. Road signs were bent and twisted. There were road crews laying out new telephone cable and poles.
We traveled down that road for about half an hour and then saw a lighthouse on the left. Whitney had told me that her house was 11 km from the lighthouse, so I was happy to have recognized the landmark! It's kind of hard to miss though... It's tall and white. It looked like there had never even been a storm, let a lone a hurricane.
As we rounded the bend after the lighthouse, the full impact of the devastation began to hit. Buildings were toppled over. Some buildings had the fronts of them, that faced the water, just ripped right off. There was a public restroom that had been pitched over onto its side, and the toilet seats now looked like picture frames on a wall. In the second picture, the building on he left is the restroom and the wall that you see used to be the floor. The houses of the local Mexicans and Mayans were just gone. Some of them still had some sticks standing and had put a tarp over the hole that had been the roof. A lot of them had pitched tents. There were lots of people busy everywhere, cleaning, rebuilding. I couldn't bear to take any pictures of them or of any of the people. It seemed too disrespectful and imposing on their dignity.
We kept driving down the road and were now looking for the Travel In to drop off the dog food. The beach had washed out and the road was now literally just a foot or so from the surf. The whole town looked like something out of a war zone. Not that I have ever been in one, but from pictures and movies...
The road was in terrible condition. Huge ruts and holes, so it was very slow going. Plus, we didn't know where we were going! Luckily, there is only one road that runs through Mahahual - people say that they roll it out when the cruise ships come in and then roll it back up when they leave. We saw one little guy sitting at his folding table, selling tacky tourist T-shirst, like the next cruise ship was going to come in at any minute. The pier is gone - just some chunks of concrete remain.
We kept following the road and passed Margarita del Sol, which looked like a funky little resort. Finally, on the right, we saw a big red building - the Travel In. It didn't look open and it didn't look like anyone was around. I went up to the door and knocked and heard a woman calling out from up above. I went out onto the driveway and told her that I had the delivery of dog food and she came down to meet us.
Her name is Uma (I think - if not, it is now!) and she came out and introduced herself and I told her who we were and that we were delivering the food from Steve and NACER and Locogringo. There were three or four dogs that came running down with her, and they were all running around our car and yapping and barking at our dogs. It seemed like there were about ten dogs though, from the amount of running and barking and how fast they were moving! One of the dogs, a little border collie looking mix, kept jumping up on the driver's door, so we now have a nice little doggy detailing souvenir from her. Her name as Cienda and she had been found at a hancienda in Campeche. She as mostly black with a white blaze and chest and paws. Cute dog. There was another little sheltie looking dog, mostly white, with rust ears and spots on her, named Julie. And there was a pit looking boy, unneutered, who had a big black eye patch around his right eye, and the rest was white with some black ticking and dappling. His name was Pirata and he was really cute!
A young hippie guy named Gunner came out and we unloaded all of the dog food without letting any dogs out of the car and without Cienda getting into it. We asked Uma if she knew where Whitney's house was - we were worried that we had already passed it because houses down this way don't have house numbers. They put bottles on tree limbs or other creative markers so you can find them. Our house is the one that is down the dirt path that is beside the tree limb with three soda bottles and a tire hung on it...really, this is how they address things!
She knew the house by its old name - Whitney had just bought it a few months earlier - so we headed off for it. She gave us some good landmarks to look for - the Maya Palmas hotel/resort. We passed that and it looks like a really cool place to stay. It's all built to resemble ruins. One of the buildings even looks like a miniature Castillo from Chichen Itza.
As we went down the road, it got curvier and more windy and it got worse and worse condition wise. Now we were both beginning to think that we might get stuck or something... but we plugged on. The road left the beach and went off to the west, into the mangroves. There was such an awful stench coming from them that I almost gagged. The smell of decay mixed with gasoline and oil from the tide... the water was an ugly reddish brown. We rolled the windows back up and turned on the AC.
We passed a house that had a sign that said KM 10.5, so I told Bob that we were half a KM from Whitney's. Small problem, our car doesn't register KMs and neither of us have a clue as to how far one would be! We finally came to a house on the left that was the same color as the one in the pictures that Whitney had sent to me. We pulled into that driveway and I got out and called and looked around for the caretaker, but there was no one there. I went up and looked in a window but the house didn't look at all like the one in Whitney's picture - and as I turned around, I saw another house next door, through the trees. So, we turned around and drove next door and there in the front driveway was the birdbath that had been so prominantly displayed in Whitney's picture. We pulled in and the caretaker's wife, Rosario came over. I told her that we were friends of Whitney's and had some groceries for her and she called a teenage boy that was out fishing to come over. Good looking kid and very shy and polite. We gave him the bags of groceries and he took them into the house. They were so happy and overjoyed! Rosario just kept telling me gracias, gracias, gracias. There was a little brindle and white puppy there that looked like a greyhound/beagle, who was a little skitterish. Her name was Paloma, but she wouldn't let me pet her. We gave them the BIG bag of dog food and it was larger than either of them, so Bob had to carry it into the house for them. They have two dogs, and Whitney has a beach dog that hangs out at her house, so those dogs will be fed for quite a while. Everyone wonders why we are taking dog food down when there are so many other things that the peopl e of the area need, but a dog that is fed is less likely to get aggressive over food, or to start guarding food. A fed dog is not going to be wandering around looking for food, so there is less chance of ticks, diseases, etc. And a dog that is fed won't be fighting with other dogs, so less chance of illnesses being transmitted, or infections from dog fights, etc. Plus, the people there have so much to worry about and no money, so this is one thing that can be taken off of their plate. The boy, whose name is Saul, brought over his bucket of fish to show us, and he was very proud but humble at the same time. He and Rosario offered us some fish and we thanked them and told them no. I'm glad that they will be eating well for at least a week or so. The fish looked good and were pretty large. I think they were grouper, but don't ask me. I can only identify Nemo and Flounder and Chloe from Disney movies.
We finished our delivery and Rosario asked if we wanted to see the house and wanted the key. I thanked her and told her no, that we would wait to see it with Whitney when she is here next month. We got back into the car and headed back to Mahahual.
The road out seemed to go much faster than it did on the way in, but that's how it always goes. We kind of knew where we were now and how the road conditions were and where it went. As we came to the end of town, just south of the lighthouse, we saw a little palapa bar that Bob had noticed on the way in. It was open, so we stopped there for lunch. I had mole poblano chile enchilada and Bob had chuleta (pork chop) with salsa verde and we both had a Modelo beer in a can. $10. This was the BEST food that I have ever eaten! We couldn't believe the cost! We had Bella and Missy at the table with us, but they kept getting tangled up and we were really hungry and wanted to eat, so we put them back in the car. It was overcast and we had hit some rain on the way down, so it was on the cool side. I finished eating before Bob and left him at the table to explore the beach. I found some cool shells, and got some pictures. I saw a little black fish swimming at the edge of the water, and then a crab doing his sideways shuffle. There were lots of shells washed up that had survived the hurricane and were still in one piece. I marveled to myself that nature and life goes on... I looked at the town and the buildings some more and thought to myself that perhaps Nature had just saved this little town's life. The charm would be intact now, and not ruined and Disneyized by the cruise ship industry.
Then we got back in the care and were about to head for home when I noticed the bag of soap! Whitney had asked if we could deliver a bag of soap to the house, and Alvar had Raul bring the soap over the day before... I told Bob we had to go back and deliver it. He didn't want to but I finally convinced him that we had come all this way, it was stupid to take it back with us. So back to Whitney's we went, going a lot faster on the road now that it was our third time. We gave the soap to Rosario, whom I was calling Paloma, which was the dog's name, but she didn't seem to notice, mind or care. As I was going back to the car, I glanced over at Whitney's house and spotted her beach dog, Phantomo, on the porch! I had asked about him and Rosario had told me that he had been there in the morning. He is a cute dog, blonde, but has ears like Cejas. Actually, he looks like a blonde Cejas! Then back in the car and back up the road. We left Mahahual and went to the Pemex station to fill up for the ride back to Akumal. There were two little dogs there - one a white hound mix with tan ears and markings and the other a tan and white Jack Russell mix. Both were very cute and friendly and came over for pats and spent most of the time shoving and crowding the other one out so that they could get all of the attention. I asked the girl in the store if they lived at the station and she told me that they belonged to one of the workers and he brought them in to work each day with him. They looked pretty healthy and neither seemed to be pregnant, so I figured that they are being taken care of. It was tempting to pick them up tho...
We got back to Akumal about 6:00. Neither of us was hungry after our sumptious meal that afternoon, and we had eaten kind of late, so we both just had some snacks, a glass of wine and watched the waves and the sun set. We fed the dogs and then we all cuddled up for the night.
Mahahual was the saddest place that I have ever seen in my life. The Red Cross is taking donations, and Locogringo has coordinated a donation effort as well. If any of you are interested in making a donation, and need some info, let me know. That little town will never be the same (which might not be a bad thing!) but the people there are going to need help for quite a while.
