Week 1 - Quintana Roo, Mexico

leaving from the Miami airport

(no idea who the guy in the orange shirt is....)

when the plane landed in Cancun

we knew to be ready for the hard sell transportation people

I hate that about the Cancun airport

but even we were amazed at how aggressive they had gotten

telling us we had to have a transportation plan to leave the airport

we walk out with them still yelling

then to find out outside that the price had doubled for a cab to Akumal

well we'll walk I say
I can hear them calling senora senora no es possible as I walk away

well we just walked to the corner and a real cab (not an airport one)
picked us up and took us to Akumal for almost the same price as last year
(which is still plenty high)

it is not about the money but about being ripped off
did I tell you about the empanada lady?

well years ago when the kids and I were renting a house in Mulege, Baja
the lady next door made empanadas to sell in the market
I loved her empanadas and so did the kids
I bought several everyday - she said I was her best customer
then one day she says the price of empanadas has gone up
how much - double?  really
how many do you want she says
none I say
what - you love my empanadas
I explain how it was uncool to double the price on a good customer
she went away muttering,  but she loves my empanadas.....

 *******


I am starting to question if I just don't have the patience for travel anymore....


***********


we stayed at Nai Na in Akumal

(found on airbnb - I love airbnb!!)

and I love that place - I stayed there last year

(so cool what they do with the towels - everywhere in the yucatan they do this)

it has a great cool and shady patio to the jungle 

and a lovely bedroom

the snorkeling was first class this year, clear water, lots of fish

first  we snorkeled at Akumal Beach
which means beach of the turtles in Mayan

they have restricted the beach even more this year
they are cutting back the area for free swimmers
and making the good areas for people who go in a group with a guide
so many more people this year....

 we did swim with a few turtles though

(obviously too good to be my photo...)

and we scared ourselves when we swam over a gigantic ray
I mean giant!
we were sure it was a sting ray but now looking at photos on line I am not sure
except it was huge and had a very long tail
and it was like breath stopping scary

that was enough for one day....

next day we snorkeled Yal Ku lagoon

we swam over to the beach and Willi found this amazing fossil
it was big and heavy and hard to swim back but we wrapped it in W.s shirt
and tied it on me

the lagoon is one of my favorite places to swim

so many kinds of fish

easy access - and those are rocks you can stand on, not coral
(everyone knows it is not good to stand on coral)

our friend who lives up stairs took us on a tour

he has a good car in his life now and wanted us to see a small temple
hidden far into a development

Puerto Adventuras

 it was ugly, crowed and a blight on an otherwise nice spot

everything past the last red dot on the left - was off limits

but our friend knew the guards and we sailed in

it was all just being developed only the roads were in

see the lagoon on the left surrounded with green

ok now see a little dot on it

that little dot is this small Mayan building
it is hard describe how powerful a place that was
on this beautiful pristine caleta
(which is what they call a lagoon)


I was reading a wonderful book that week

from one of my favorite authors

it was  historical fiction set in the Caribbean island of

Saint Domique ( current day Haiti) in the late 18th century

  

it was hard to leave but Belize was calling

gracias para toto mi amigo

on to Bacalar

an easy 3 hour ride south, just north of the Belize border

our first view of the lake is from the town, it was a little cool and rainy
which did not stop us from having a great fish dinner

they do call this a lagoon and it is about 50 miles long, north to south
and the second largest freshwater lake in Mexico

we stayed about 2 miles north of town at  a place called Ecotucan

http://www.ecotucan.com/en/

we did not see any toucans, though they say they are there
- we did see them later in Belize

which had adorable little cabanas

with very comfy beds

and great geometic tile in the bathroom

next day we were on the lagoon

  the white sandy bottom of limestone made the water a wonder turquoise

 it was so calm

 right here we found several potshards
looked like a good place to get water

coconuts just wash up and sprout

it was a great kayaking day
swimming in the lagoon later
a great dinner
I could have stayed there all month......



oh but on to Belize - next blog

xxoo

left yesterday on the 7 am chicken bus from Bermudian Landing, Belize, Belize

got home 16 hours later

and yes, of course I am going to tell you all about it soon

xxoo

one month later to the day

the Being Places blog 

is back by popular demand

that is 

the secret (mine) number of friends who had to beg me to blog again

has been reached

so welcome back and I missed you too!!

this is a good design for the blog

cause I am going places this year!

so first let me catch you up on the my last trip

New Mexico and Portland, Oregon

odd combination but it made sense at the time.......

I went to Abiqui, New Mexico to stay in a little cabin on the mesa

for a sort of soul retreat

I was totally happy with my planning -

fly into Albuquerque, rent a car, stay in an adorable cabin in someone's yard 

(Airbnb I love you)

right near the food coop where the next morning I could load

up a cooler with good food before heading out

the best part of Albuquerque was having breakfast with an old friend

and meeting her adorable family

so proud of her

after a long day in the saddle

well ok actually a nice rental car

we come to Prado Valley Ranch

 I had never been there before and I was nervous about the road

the road followed the river and it looked like the river

had recently taken over the road

 several culverts had washed out

I asked what time of year this river runs - 

it doesn't was the answer,

only when it rains

and about a month before I got there they had a record monsoon

about a mile in is the gate, so far so good

then this steep up hill with a curve at the top

holy crap

I took tons of photos cause I knew no one would believe how scary it was

and none of the photos show how scary it was

to the left is a drop off and the ruts were knee deep

really dry gravel wanting to slide you off

good thing I had SUV

(side story - I did not want an SUV

I wanted the car I had reserved but they did not have it

balloon festival in Albuquerque and they only had one

red SUV left - they gave it to me for the same price)

I could not have made it up with a regular car

it is one of those examples of the universe giving you what you need

instead of what you asked for....

there

 ahead in the golden distance are the cabins

2 adorable 200 sq' hand-made papercrete cabins

http://www.instructables.com/id/I-Love-Papercrete/

  

 it was like being in a Georgia O'Keeffe painting

 I loved it right away

sunset on my first night

 this was the one I stayed in

very comfy

the walls had mica in the paint and they sparkled!

nice hand-made fireplace

the other little house was nice too

equally well crafted adobe fireplace

and view

 really powerful views 

in all directions

I loved it there

walk, read, eat, repeat

so quiet, so dark, so peaceful

but I was needed in Portland

to help a friend start moving out of her home of 20 years

due to a cruel divorce

Albuquerque to Portland, why you are almost here

she said

and that is another post.....

my deepest gratitude to those friends who care about this blog

and it's blogger

for believing in me and reviving my will to blog

I guess I just love to share

xxoo

This is my last post – I left Facebook today and the blogs are going too. 

I loved being able to keep up with old friends and acquaintances while I was isolated here in Florida.  But now it doesn't feel like a good thing. Many of my “friends” are not really my friends anymore, which hurts me and keeps me tied to the past and reminds me of grade school.  There are a handful of people that I will remain friends with – you know who you are - but the whole idea of the social media seems to be holding me back and so I am going to let it go…….my first step in disengaging from a world that is not me, a culture that is not me and a past that is no longer me.  

I am going to put my writing energy into something else.  You never know friends – one day you might recognize yourself in one of my stories…. 

 thanks for reading 

and especially thanks to the 2 friends

who kept me going with their comments and support all these blogging years

xxoo