We Found Paradise In Mexico, And Its Name is Akumal

We had never been to the Cancun area before last month. Truthfully, we were never really excited by the long lines of towering hotels, or an Americanized Mexico experience, replete with spring breakers.  Little did we know that it was all just a smokescreen, a cleverly blinding decoy, hiding one of the great places on the planet -- Akumal Mexico.

Two perfect, adjoining half-moon bays, less than 20 miles from Tulum, where the Mexican government brilliantly refuses to allow buildings over two stories high.  White sand beaches, protected by a kaleidoscope of fish-filled reefs, containing a placid bay so accommodating that giant sea turtles call it home, happily swimming away with the snorkelers that come to see them.  If that is not enough, the reefs hold the remains of a sunken spanish galleon, its cannon still clearly identifiable, though encrusted within the reef. Warm sun beats down in February at a steady 80 degree clip.  The water temperature is just a bit lower -- enough to cool you off, but warm enough to bask in all day long.

Finding it hard to believe that such a place exists? So did I, but trust me, I have been there, and it exists. I have the pictures to prove it :-).

The first thing you notice about Akumal is the birds -- at least, it was the first thing we noticed.  You see, there is a price to pay for finding paradise, and for us, it was a long slog to get there.  Maybe if we hadn't travelled on Valentines' day, which just happened to be the Friday before President's day weekend, security and customs lines wouldn't have been quite so long. And maybe if I had chosen another rental car company, I would not have found myself listening to Gerardo pitching me a time-share opportunity for forty-five minutes while they "checked on" my car.  In any event, despite a 7:00 am flight from Salt Lake, with a stop-over in Houston, we did not start the hour and a half drive from Cancun to Akumal until sunset, arriving exhausted well after dark.

So what does that have to do with noticing birds, you ask?  Well, in Akumal, they begin to sing well before the sun comes up.  That might seem like a bad thing when you are tired after a long day of travel, but the sounds were so varied, so different, so tropical, that upon waking you knew, before even opening your eyes, that you had been transported somewhere exotic, green, warm and wonderful.  Then, you step out onto the balcony, and see this:

So of course you head straight down to the beach to see where you are, and where you will spend the next 6 days.

You can see our balcony from this spot, the upper window on the right, and the chairs where we would plant ourselves as often as possible in the week to come. Safe to say I have woken up in better places . . . NOT.

The place we stayed was called Las Casitas Akumal (the "little houses" of Akumal, entry-way above)--two bedroom, full kitchen, big living room places, whose only downfall was mattresses whose picture is in the dictionary next to the word "firm." Putting that aside, you would be hard pressed to find any fault in this place.

Five steps out the back sliding door of your unit, you are greeted by this:

which steps down to a path like this:

which leads past casitas that look like this:

and ends up with views like this:

If you snorkel, which we did every single day as often as we could, this is where the magic really begins. Straight out from these cannon, about a third of the way to the boats, lies the remains of a spanish galleon, its cannon scattered amongst the coral by waves and time, crewed now only by fish having every color and shape imaginable.  Just under the yellow and turquoise boat in the distance, we found a sting-ray who makes the shadow of that boat his regular home.  And to the left of the last boat out, sea turtles munch contentedly on underwater sea grass all the day long. I wish I had underwater housing for my camera, but since I don't, I'll have to leave all of that to your imagination.

When we weren't in the water, it was all sandcastles and casual reading, with the sounds of a gentle breeze through palm fronds, lapping waves and laughing children accompanying scenes like these:

We even had a full moon while there, showing that this little place is spectacular even in the heart of the night.

Akumal town itself is small, a great mix of ex-pats, locals and tourists, who all eat at the same half-dozen restaurants, all within walking distance, and most of which have pretty good food.  As an added bonus, the local library has a couple of nice walls that can be used as the backdrop for family pictures :-).

It is no wonder that the family in the casita two doors down (whose son instantly became best friends with ours) had been back for 10 years straight, or that the family next door (also with a son our boys' age) was on its eighth visit.

With superhuman effort, we did manage to tear ourselves away for adventures in Tulum, Coba, Valladolid, Chichen Itza and Ek Balam, which we'll post about later, but next time, we may not leave at all.

Anyone care to join us?  In case you need more convincing, I'll close this post with the farewell sunset from our last night there.

Paradise indeed, now lost in the pressing blur of life, but it will never be forgotten.