2023 Mexico – Akumal
27th January 2023
It was another pleasant drive to our final stop at the Villas De Rosa Beach Resort in Akumal in Yucatan. We had intended to leave the car at Tulum, but it all got so complicated with transfers that we extended the car hire for an extra five days so we could use it to get to the airport on the last day. We went to the car hire office in Tulum to do the paperwork which worked out well as we could visit the ruins while we were there instead of having to make a special trip. Once again, at the entrance to the ruins there were bandidos on the road but by then I was confident enough to ignore their police officer impersonations and drive straight to the ruins. It was very hot, and unlike our other ruin visits there was no wind, so I spent most of my time looking for shade. It wasn’t that long ago that the heat never affected me but in the previous few years that seems to have changed. The ruins were much the same as any other ruins and there was very little information, but the setting was lovely and overlooked the sea.
In the car park we noticed another attraction called Mystika which we hadn’t heard of but as the reviews were very good, we thought we would give it a try. It was an exhibition by the Mexican photographer José Luis Cuevas. It consisted of a lot of his award-winning photographs and four experiences inside closed rooms. The photos were amazing although I wished he had just let the photos tell the story instead of including lots of horribly pretentious explanations beside each one.
For our first experience, a woman locked us in a dark room which was a little scary as apart from the claustrophobia, there was the danger of frostbite from the air conditioning. The lights came on and a video was projected onto a dome-shaped ceiling. It took us flying over oceans and mountains with a soundtrack that reverberated dramatically deep inside the belly. It was a great experience although I would have enjoyed it much more if they had provided blankets. The other rooms were full of mirrors with videos projected onto them with new-age music and the temperature was much more acceptable. As Federika walked towards a mirror she was split into dozens of clones, so even the smallest movement was spellbinding. One of the rooms was so good we asked to go back for a repeat performance. I think I could have spent the rest of the day in that room. 
Before leaving Tulum, we went to a large supermarket to stock up on food for our last five days. We had booked an apartment and although we were not going to do any cooking, there were always times towards the end of a holiday when we had a craving for something simple like soup or the bliss of a bacon sandwich.
Most of Yucatan was known to be horribly built up with all-inclusive hotels and non-stop parties so we were careful to find an area far away from all that. Our hotel was four kilometres from Akumal which was itself a small town. Our first-floor apartment was magnificent with a large sea-facing terrace and an even larger living room. It had a well-equipped kitchen and the only negative was our bedroom was at the back with no natural light or ventilation. For security, we were advised to keep our balcony doors closed while we were asleep, so our bedroom did get a bit stuffy.
We were in the middle of nowhere, with just a few houses down our street and no shops so we did miss walking around at night. We settled into a lazy routine and had no trouble getting sunbeds and an umbrella that was supplied by the hotel. The sea was perfect and although it was quite rough getting in and out, once we were past the breaking waves the swimming was easy. It was the rough sea that I liked the most as the noise drowned out any noise made by other guests. During our customary sunset stroll, we saw some men standing by the seashore with one of them casting a hand fishing line. It was impossible to throw very far so I couldn’t imagine what fish he hoped to catch but when we got close, I saw a bucket full of hermit crabs which I assumed were good for eating. Two kilometres from us at the end of the beach was a fairly big hotel complex which was surprising, as unlike our part of the beach it was impossible to swim because of all the shallow rocks. On our second night, I sat out on our balcony enjoying the sound of the waves and the cool night air when I was disturbed by the all too familiar sound of the “boom, boom, boom” of a bass drum from the hotel two kilometres away.
On our last morning we woke to find it pouring rain with thick clouds everywhere but by 10 a.m. it had lifted, and we had yet another beautiful day where the only thing we had to do was move the sunbeds around to catch the shade. Having the car meant we were able to go to Akumal Beach for our last dinner, so we went to another highly recommended Italian restaurant called La Taverna. We arrived early to walk around and check out the beach but were unable to find it. There must have been one there somewhere but all we could find was a row of private houses and a National Park where you had to pay to get in. The restaurant was excellent, and it wasn’t long before it was packed with tourists escaping from tacos. We had a very good waiter from Argentina who did a great job of selling us their special starter of the day which was French fries with parmesan and a few other very exotic-sounding things. It turned out to be a plate of French fries with seven grains of parmesan and garlic that could be smelt from four tables away. In fairness, they were great French fries, so I put a plate on top to keep them warm and they went brilliantly with our main course, a lovely grilled fish.
2023 Mexico
