Beachmutts

We were so lucky to stay!

We got back to San Francisco on December 21st, just in time for Christmas.

We left Akumal on December 11 and had a good trip back. I'll report in on our missing 3 months in Akumal, and the trip home... lots of adventures and funny stories and of course, lots of dog stuff!

We are going back to Akumal on Tuesday, February 12th, for three weeks. Couple of purposes for this trip:
1) Centro Ecologico Akumal (CEA) Festival, Save the Seas, on February 20th & 21st
2) Bob's 40th anniversary of his 21st birthday on February 23
3) Visit with some friends: Cheryl and Donny Hall, and Lydia and Mike Pontius, and Connie Smith and her husband Alan, and of course, all of our friends that live in Akumal - Jen & Bart, Didier, Marcia, SueBeth, Paula, Sandy, Donna & Mike, Laura & David, Charlene, Mary & Derby, Maggie... I know I'm forgetting people, don't be upset!

Stay tuned for updates... sorry about the delay in posting about our Fall in Akumal but we were just having too much fun while we were down there for me to spend hours on the computer. Writing isn't the hard part, it's finding and resizing the pictures to post with the stories...

The dogs are all fine, but they really miss being beachmutts in Akumal! The beach here is COLD!!!!

The days drift by

They don’t have names

None of the streets here look the same

There aren’t many reasons I would leave

Cause I have found me some peace

And I have found me a home

I have found me a home

You can have the rest

Of everything I own

Cause I have found me a home

I Have Found Me A Home – Jimmy Buffett

Time flies when you’re having fun!

We have settled into life in Akumal pretty effortlessly! We honestly have to check our watches to see what day of the week it is, and the date. We have been here a month now – arrived on September 12, which was four weeks ago, yesterday. Tomorrow will be the 30^th day if you count on the calendar. All of that is too much work for us.

A little routine has been established, much to the satisfaction of Mr. Cejas, Man of Routine. Not having a daily schedule had been a little unsettling to him and making him nervous. So, now we sleep until about 8:00 or so (sometimes a little earlier if our bladders tell us so!) and Cejas and Bella go for the first walk shift of the morning. We walk on the road up to La Buena Vida, which is half a mile. And then we either walk back on the road, or walk back on the beach, depending on how hot it has gotten. If it’s really hot, we take the road. More shade. We also take the road if I am just not in the mood to deal with Bella constantly pulling me toward the water. She loves to swim and wants to go in the bay as soon as she sees it. Sometimes I let them run off leash on the beach, being careful to keep them out of the way of the boys that are raking the sand. Bella got a rake thrown at her on Akumal Playa about two weeks ago, and the poor boy is probably still shaking in the sand. Needless to say, he got a lot of yelling from me. Bella gets to go in the water if I have the time and the patience to clean up after her afterwards. Not only does she get dripping wet, but her favorite method of drying off is to roll in the sand and to cover as much of her body as she can. After Cejas and Bella finish their walk, it’s Missy’s and Vina’s turn. Vina LOVES her little harness and dances and prances as soon as I pick it up. Missy doesn’t use a leash because she usually just follows right behind me. We go up the road too, sometimes as far as Buena Vida, but other times just to Playa Caribe. They have a fun time sniffing and exploring and looking for cats that aren’t afraid of them and just stare them down.

After our walks, we come back to the condo and I have my coffee and try to check emails. We have not been having very reliable internet access, so it’s been frustrating and difficult to email, respond, or stay in touch – or update the blog! Bob went up to the Telmex office in Playa this morning so hopefully we will have our line connected (after only two years of paying for it and having it still run to another condo!) and he can have the DSL activated and get our wireless router and I’ll be back in business! Although, it’s hard to sit at a computer and type when the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the turquoise blue Caribbean is twinkling and sparkling right before you! Like now…

After coffee and giving up on email, we then decide what we are going to do for the day. Some days, it’s the beach. Some days, it’s the pool. If Victoria, our camarista (maid) is coming to clean, then it’s pack all four dogs into the car and go to Tulum or somewhere to visit. We have to get them out of the condo for her to clean. We also have to sweep (with a broom) the condo and wash all of the dishes before she comes because we don’t want her to have to clean up after us. I think we are her favorite clients.

Now, it’s time for lunch. We have been eating in the condo, so sometimes Bob will fix something light for us for lunch – quesadillas, tacos, etc., or we will have some leftovers that I am constantly getting “para llevar” when I can’t finish all that I have ordered at a restaurant. And sometimes we go up the beach to La Buena Vida and have lunch there and look back at our condo and listen to see if we can hearing Bella howling (we haven’t so far.) Sometimes we take Solavina up with us so she can visit where she used to live. After that, she is always very affectionate and cuddly with us! Probably scares her that we are going to leave her there again.

In the afternoon, we either go to the beach or to the pool, and Bob usually has a siesta around 3 or 4. Then it’s time for Happy Hours! There is a happy hour every night in Akumal, and if there isn’t, then we have our own here. It’s fun to go out and see the other “locals” and to visit with people that we meet who are here visiting on vacation.

Sometimes we have dinner following happy hour, or come back and Bob fixes something here. After dinner, it’s time for another dog walk – this time just around the complex, since it is getting darker earlier, and we want to avoid Perre, who is out walking around the block with her owners around 6:00. After our night walk, it’s dinner time for the doggies – much excitement there! They each have their own color coded bowl, that matches their color coded nametags – Missy is red, Cejas is blue, Bella is green and Solavina is yellow. I got them nametags in CA before we left and brought them down and they all have their names (with their last name Anders too) and their address here: Iguana 4 Akumal, and then their Mexican phone number (which doesn’t work YET) and then their US phone number. They are metal tags and jingle and jangle and they were all very excited to put them on their new turtle collars, with matching leashes of course!

After dinner, we read books or sometimes I do some stuff on the computer. We sit in our beach chairs in front of our window on our “lanai” and look at the stars and watch the waves roll in. When the moon was full, we could see clear across the bay as clearly as if it were daylight. The last couple of weeks, there have been big thunderstorms, so we have sat and watched the light show.

It probably sounds boring, but it’s a peaceful, quiet existence. We do go out and do other things – shopping, exploring, visiting. But for the most part, our days are spent enjoying our condo and our complex and our dogs and ourselves.

Most nights, I fall asleep in the my beach chair and Bob has to wake me up to go get into bed. Bob falls asleep on the futon, watching the lightning or reading his book. Bella has decided that she will allow Bob and me to share the bed with her, so she stays right smack in the middle of us. Missy curls up at the bottom, right near my feet. She is my loyal, constant white shadow. After Bob vacates the futon, Vina sleeps there. And Cejas sleeps on one of his dog beds, usually the one in the dining room, but sometimes on the one in the bedroom. He takes his guard dog duties very seriously.

In the morning, the first rays of the sun start filtering through the mist that has been cloaking the bay from the rains, and the birds begin their morning chorus. Cejas comes and cuddles in bed with me, and even Vina has started joining us too. I sing “There are six in the bed and the little one said, roll over, roll over” to myself in my head, and can hear Mimi singing along with me… I enjoy it as long as I can, until somebody moves, the dogs jump off and our day begins all over again.

It’s not a bad life.

Ok, I am off to the pool!