Que Onda Hotel Akumal

... ceiling but we all really enjoyed it. Afterwards we went back to the hostel for lunch and decided to head to the beach. This time Ian decided we should walk the 2.5 kms to the beach which we did and even managed to get a ride on the shovel of a earthmover for part of the way (which I know the taxi drivers weren't happy about!!). When we finally arrived at the beach we all ran into the beautiful turqoise water and enjoyed the amazing Caribbean. A bit later I left the boys and went to the ...

... time swimming in more of the Caribbean and the following day I took a ferry out to Cozumel and hired a scooter to take me around the island. The eastern side has even better beaches and took my leave to thoroughly enjoy them. I even ventured back around to the western side to a bar I was recommended to go to called the Money Bar where you can sit and enjoy drinks ...

... tacky Mardi Gras parade), they had to walk the catwalk like a sexy model. Of course, each challenge was properly demonstrated by a capable member of the staff. Finally, each contestant had to sweet-talk a female staff member, in a language other than their own. One spoke in "Arabic", one in "Japanese", and the other 2 in animal noises. It was all too funny. In the end, the contest finished in a tie. The winners get a complimentary T ...

... was scarier than I thought. That's when I decided to jump in and try my luck in catching one from behind. A few minutes later, I found one feeding on the sea grasses. Without a thought, I dove in and grabbed its shell near its neck. As expected, it swam ahead. With a slight tilt, I had it swum straight to the surface. Ha! I thought...this is easy. I soon realise that the turtle was actually half my size, weighing at least a few hundred pounds!! The worse was that the boat ...

... in one area. In other words, you have to cover quite a bit of ground there. Therefore, we did what the ancient Mayans did and rode mountain bikes around. They rent them for pretty cheap (though they are rudimentary machines, but adequate for the task), and it's the popular method of transport. Actually, the popular method of transport is to get some other schmuck to do the pedaling for you. Frenquently seen around the Yucatán ...

... don?t fight against the government or notice is because the government provides us with things to get distracted with (aka nice malls, facilities, electronics, games, etc etc). Third world countries on the other hand don?t have the same recourses as we do, so the people feel it more, and as the people get more and more pushed around by the political situation they begin to unite and we see social uprisings, such as the zapatista uprisings in chiapas ...

... awards presentation in the main bar. Sumi said the prize would make it worth coming, but at that point the prize isn't what mattered... We went into town and shopped a bit at Super Chomak and the other shops. Then we had dinner at the ABR Mexican restaurant. The service was super and the food was really good. We ordered the tortilla soup, followed by fish and pork pibil. All the appetizers were great too. We went to check out the evening entertainment, a female duo singing ...

... about it had I taken the tour.... Touchy subject - let's not go there :) To me the most beautiful place in Tulum is on top of the clifs, looking at the ruins & the ocean. The watercolor is just amazing. It looks out of this world. You'll probably see some sort of ruins on any vacation, but the location just makes this particular one so special to me. By ...

Woke at 7am and had a quick breakfast, so we were on the road by 0740 or so. Drove to Tulum and arrived at 8am promptly. Car park was deserted, and the vendors were just opening shop. We walked through the plaza, fearing that our guide book had misled us. But the Park indeed opened at 8am -- so we walked down the road to the entrance, chatting with a grandmother and granddaughter from Madison, WI as we walked. Nice new entry building to Tulum. When they have those, it ...

Kyla wrote: Today we went to a Mayan city called Tulum. We saw temples of all sizes, large, small, medium. We only went to small and medium sizes. Larges were closed off. Bummer! I did tumbles!

Ardice wrote: Another quiet day. The wind had died down but it was still overcast. Long morning walk on beach … the soles of my feet are turning raw. Coffee while watching ...