Mexico 2008

Mexico was fantastic! Since I was the one delegated to making the reservations, sight unseen and with no personal recommendations, I was a bit nervous to find out exactly what we would get. Luckily, our accomodations looked like the photos we had previewed and the condo was roomy, clean and, as I had hoped, really right on the beach! It's approximately in the middle of the photo above. Below you can see more of Half Moon Bay (Akumal) which had a beautiful, white sandy beach. I was disappointed not to find more shells but this particular bay has lots of coral and is the place where the sea turtles come to lay their eggs (unfortunately we missed the July-Sept timeframe).
Akumal is about an hour south of Cancun and is a small town - not like the mega resorts you see lined up along the highway from Cancun. It's very popular with divers. Our condo was within easy walking distance and was convenient to a few restaurants, handicraft shops and two small grocery stores. I snapped this cute guy outside one of the stores - I'm sure this is how many visitors may feel after drinking those Mexican beers!

More views from the condo balcony: - note there were two very comfy hammocks that were used often!

Part of the crew spent one day snorkeling at the Yal-Ku Lagoon which was less than a mile from us. The water was so beautiful and clear.

We also explored the ancient Mayan ruins at Ek Balam - here you can see some of us in mid-climb

and Coba. Despite my fear of heights, I actually managed to climb both with only minor aches the next day! I now wish I had counted those steps! Going down is far worse than going up as you can see from the second photo, but at least I didn't end up going down on my bottom like many people did.

And this lineup shot of several of my kids shows what we did most!