Akumal Bay
Akumal Bay, looking south
CEAMonday, May 26, 2008
hot, hotter, hottest
Yesterday I got quite a sunburn. I had sunblock on (maybe not enough?) but I think I must have forgot my left arm. Yes, my stomach and my left arm hurt most of all. I had to sleep in the dorm and not the condo because the condo only has fans and I really felt I needed the cooler temperature for my flaming skin. I'm reminded of that song about the roof being on fire (or is the room? I could never figure out whether it was the roof or the room). Well, yesterday my skin was on fire and I was quite upset with myself for allowing this to happen. I bought an aloe gel that contains lidocaine (I couldn't find Solarcaine at the convenience store). After about an hour of lying in bed last night, the pain subsided (tylenol helped too). Man, I really underestimated the intensity of the sun. I was so determined not to burn here. But everyone has such beautiful tans, even the Dutch guys!. But they've been here for almost 4 months. They must have been my colour when they got here, right?? As I sat under a beach umbrella by the pool at Club Akumal Caribe (I had the whole pool to myself!), I'm pretty sure the sun was still burning me through the umbrella (that's what I think now, but yesterday I thought I was safe). Well, I've learned some kind of lesson here. And I'm staying out of the sun for the next two or three days!
The other health problem I've encountered here is that the pompholyx rashes (on my feet and hands) that I get sometimes at home are flaring up here. I think it may be because of excessive sweating. Some of the itchy patches on my feet are probably also due to insect bites, but the itch feels more like pompholyx (and the lesion that comes up after looks particularly hideous, insect bites heal faster). I have two on my left arm that I've covered so people don't think I have so kind of strange tropical disease!
I'll have some photos posted here soon (not of my skin, don't worry). I find it's a major hassle to take the camera everywhere I go, so I don't have many pictures yet, (and it drives me crazy that the thing only stays powered up for a short period of time, even with rechargable batteries). Now that I've purchased a block of internet time, and they have a little device I can put my memory stick into, I don't think it will be a problem to get some photos up on this blog. As the Mexicans tend to say, "It's possible".
I'm going to work now. Y'all might be wondering if I actually do any work while I'm here. Well, "more or less". :- )
I'll fill you in on how I'm progressing with my "work" in another blog entry.
Cheers,
Tam
The other health problem I've encountered here is that the pompholyx rashes (on my feet and hands) that I get sometimes at home are flaring up here. I think it may be because of excessive sweating. Some of the itchy patches on my feet are probably also due to insect bites, but the itch feels more like pompholyx (and the lesion that comes up after looks particularly hideous, insect bites heal faster). I have two on my left arm that I've covered so people don't think I have so kind of strange tropical disease!
I'll have some photos posted here soon (not of my skin, don't worry). I find it's a major hassle to take the camera everywhere I go, so I don't have many pictures yet, (and it drives me crazy that the thing only stays powered up for a short period of time, even with rechargable batteries). Now that I've purchased a block of internet time, and they have a little device I can put my memory stick into, I don't think it will be a problem to get some photos up on this blog. As the Mexicans tend to say, "It's possible".
I'm going to work now. Y'all might be wondering if I actually do any work while I'm here. Well, "more or less". :- )
I'll fill you in on how I'm progressing with my "work" in another blog entry.
Cheers,
Tam
Saturday, May 24, 2008
World Turtle Day
Yesterday was World Turtle Day. Groups of school children from Akumal Pueblo descended on CEA for the day to participate in several planned events beginning at 8am. The first event was a clean-up of the stretch of beach to the south, in the direction of Tulum (not that we walked all the way to Tulum... this isn't exactly possible!) The kids and volunteers picked up garbage and separated plastics from glass (the majority of waste was plastic). It was the windiest day its been since I got here May 6th. There were large white caps out in the distance and the beach "shrunk" because the sea water came further inland when it hit the shore. It was an awesome morning for a beach walk; the children really enjoyed the waves and the 'treasure' hunt. My biggest find was a green plastic lawn chair. I thought I was going to have to walk all the way back with it (about 1-2 km), but we were able to leave all the bags at the end of a laneway, to be retrieved later by truck. After the beach clean-up there was a contest to see who could build the best 'turtle' out of sand and CEA had lots of swag for the winners.
In the afternoon, I went looking for a nearby hotel that might not care if I had a little dip in their pool. Sure enough, Club Akumal Caribe had a pool I could access from the beach. There were only two tourists sunning nearby - no staff or lifeguard to be seen. One of the American women told me that this hotel does not mind if non-guests use their pool (although the posted 'rules' clearly indicated that this was not the case). I figured that I was 'good advertising' for their hotel if potential guests came by while I was swimming... the pool would obviously look so much better with someone in it! It was very refreshing, and this pool was deeper and more rectangular (=cool water and ideally shaped for laps) than the pool I was in last tuesday (north, up the road on Half Moon Bay).
Speaking of Half Moon Bay, it is also a turtle nesting area (Green turtles and Loggerheads). The Turtle Watch volunteers visit this beach every night, to watch for females coming to shore to lay their eggs. When I was there on tuesday, I saw one nest close to where we were sitting. It's really impossible to know that the nest is there, but that is one of the volunteer's tasks: if they see the turtle lay eggs, they mark the area with a little white sign. Apparently, if people walk over nests, this can pack down the sand and make it more difficult for the hatchlings to emerge later. When they do hatch, they use the light reflected off the sea from the moon to find their way into the water. Sometimes, hotels and businesses have used too much light [projected outward toward the beach]: this confuses the hatchlings and they head off in the wrong direction!
I discovered a very tasty Mexican drink this week. It's called a banderita. It is served in three shot classes, each being a 'colour' of the Mexican flag (sort of... green, white and red). You drink the 'green' first (lemon), then the 'white' (tequila) and last, the 'red' (sangrita...I think, which is a kind of spicy tomato juice). The combination takes the edge off the strong alcohol taste in the tequila. I would definitely have it again.
Today is cloudy, but I don't expect it to rain. It just doesn't feel like rain. And it just never rains here. Maybe in June it pours? I guess I'll soon find out. I have to go to Playa del Carmen this afternoon because I am completely out of pesos again and I would like to use the Scotiabank I know is across from the bus station. I could always use the bank machine in the convenience store here but the surcharges are likely to be through the roof.
I will write again in a few days.
Tam
In the afternoon, I went looking for a nearby hotel that might not care if I had a little dip in their pool. Sure enough, Club Akumal Caribe had a pool I could access from the beach. There were only two tourists sunning nearby - no staff or lifeguard to be seen. One of the American women told me that this hotel does not mind if non-guests use their pool (although the posted 'rules' clearly indicated that this was not the case). I figured that I was 'good advertising' for their hotel if potential guests came by while I was swimming... the pool would obviously look so much better with someone in it! It was very refreshing, and this pool was deeper and more rectangular (=cool water and ideally shaped for laps) than the pool I was in last tuesday (north, up the road on Half Moon Bay).
Speaking of Half Moon Bay, it is also a turtle nesting area (Green turtles and Loggerheads). The Turtle Watch volunteers visit this beach every night, to watch for females coming to shore to lay their eggs. When I was there on tuesday, I saw one nest close to where we were sitting. It's really impossible to know that the nest is there, but that is one of the volunteer's tasks: if they see the turtle lay eggs, they mark the area with a little white sign. Apparently, if people walk over nests, this can pack down the sand and make it more difficult for the hatchlings to emerge later. When they do hatch, they use the light reflected off the sea from the moon to find their way into the water. Sometimes, hotels and businesses have used too much light [projected outward toward the beach]: this confuses the hatchlings and they head off in the wrong direction!
I discovered a very tasty Mexican drink this week. It's called a banderita. It is served in three shot classes, each being a 'colour' of the Mexican flag (sort of... green, white and red). You drink the 'green' first (lemon), then the 'white' (tequila) and last, the 'red' (sangrita...I think, which is a kind of spicy tomato juice). The combination takes the edge off the strong alcohol taste in the tequila. I would definitely have it again.
Today is cloudy, but I don't expect it to rain. It just doesn't feel like rain. And it just never rains here. Maybe in June it pours? I guess I'll soon find out. I have to go to Playa del Carmen this afternoon because I am completely out of pesos again and I would like to use the Scotiabank I know is across from the bus station. I could always use the bank machine in the convenience store here but the surcharges are likely to be through the roof.
I will write again in a few days.
Tam
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
gatos y perros
On the weekend, I had the opportunity to volunteer with a different group of people. A vet clinic was held in Akumal Pueblo for cats and dogs in the area to be spayed, neutered and vaccinated for free. (If the owners only wanted vaccinations, but not spaying or neutering, there was a charge). Vets from Meridia came to town to do the procedure for anyone who brought their animals to us for the day. It was held in two classrooms of a secondary school (which I found out is not high school, but grades 7, 8 and 9... high school is in Tulum). One classroom was the operating room and the other was the recovery room (there was supposed to be an intake room too but this wasn't made available, so intake was kind of done outside and in the recovery room). We didn't have the canopy set up until very late Saturday, so we got extremely hot working outside in the sun, registering the animals and getting them into kennels. On Sunday, everything went according to plan and it was very organized. The women that runthe clinic live nearby and I'm quite certain they are all from the U.S. originally (some live here part of the year, others make Akumal their permanent home). Four or five times a year they run clinics in different places in the Yucatan. On Saturday, I helped in the recovery room. The animals (mostly dogs... the cats were done later in the afternoon and four of us took off for a break while the cats were recovering!) needed to be monitored, ice applied to the incision area (sometimes), IVs taken out (I let the more experienced people handle this), heads stroked, ticks picked out, ears cleaned (if they were really dirty), and claws clipped.
On Saturday, my job was to tend to the kittens that were dropped off (no one really knew their story or where their mother was). One kitten was only about 2 weeks old (at most). They brought formula which I fed her from a bottle through the day (they need to be fed every 3 hours). It's kind of tricky to position the bottle/nipple just right to make sure it is going down properly and not into the cat's lungs. Three other older kittens (6 weeks maybe) were feral so Jen took them out (hissing prefusely and trying to scratch) in a small towel and put them (one at a time) on my lap. For about 3 hours, I was holding one feral cat with the littlest one. The younger one fell asleep but I'm pretty sure the feral cat never totally relaxed. One of the ferals was a beautiful calico with really cool markings. It takes several days of handling to make these kittens become used to people, but eventually they become tame. Apparently, you can adopt two cats under 8 weeks of age and take them aboard most U.S. airlines (in the passenger cabin). I can't imagine subjecting an animal to hours in a cargo hold, but some airlines have a special area set up for animals, and someone to check on them too. At the end of the day, I was convinced that I would adopt the littlest one (although there was no way I could foster it back at the dorm in a room with 7 other people!), but I have to think about Scooper and how it would affect her. I don't think it would be wise.
I finally went to town (Playa del Carmen) and bought batteries for my camera. I will take them to the office today with the charger to see if there is anywhere to plug it in and get them charged. My dorm has one outlet, but everyone has their electronic equipment plugged into it (possibly overloading the circuitry, but maybe it's ok).
There is a good chance that I will be cutting back the length of my trip by 2 or 3 weeks. I'd love to stay on and everything is going well, but now that our dorm is full, life has become more stressful. If I do catch an earlier flight home, I will spend up to a week in Playa del Carmen in a hotel room where I can unwind alone. I knew it would a challenge to share a room with other people, but now that I'm really doing it, I've discovered just how hard this situation is for me. And it isn't the people; these are the nicest bunch of university kids you'd ever want to meet (they came in from Mexico City on Sunday night). I spent the day shopping with them and they're amazing. Very intelligent and a lot of fun.
The only thing I want to make sure I do before I leave the area is check out Tulum and Copa (where there are ruins). Tulum is just 20 minutes away (opposite direction from Playa del Carmen). There are "colectivos" that pass by the highway outside Akumal every ten minutes and they are cheap (15 pesos to Playa)! I wish Hamilton had colectivos; the ride to work would be a dream instead of the nightmare that it is. (A colectivo is a comfy minivan with a/c that seats 10 passengers). And I've never seen so many taxis in one small place. They are not cheap, but ideal if you are sharing a ride with others.
Ok. I guess I should go to the office and do some work... oh, maybe not... I just got an invitation to go to someone's pool! (Maggie helped on the weekend, and she is also the director of the public library in Akumal). Yay! This will definitely cheer me up. :-D
Tam
On Saturday, my job was to tend to the kittens that were dropped off (no one really knew their story or where their mother was). One kitten was only about 2 weeks old (at most). They brought formula which I fed her from a bottle through the day (they need to be fed every 3 hours). It's kind of tricky to position the bottle/nipple just right to make sure it is going down properly and not into the cat's lungs. Three other older kittens (6 weeks maybe) were feral so Jen took them out (hissing prefusely and trying to scratch) in a small towel and put them (one at a time) on my lap. For about 3 hours, I was holding one feral cat with the littlest one. The younger one fell asleep but I'm pretty sure the feral cat never totally relaxed. One of the ferals was a beautiful calico with really cool markings. It takes several days of handling to make these kittens become used to people, but eventually they become tame. Apparently, you can adopt two cats under 8 weeks of age and take them aboard most U.S. airlines (in the passenger cabin). I can't imagine subjecting an animal to hours in a cargo hold, but some airlines have a special area set up for animals, and someone to check on them too. At the end of the day, I was convinced that I would adopt the littlest one (although there was no way I could foster it back at the dorm in a room with 7 other people!), but I have to think about Scooper and how it would affect her. I don't think it would be wise.
I finally went to town (Playa del Carmen) and bought batteries for my camera. I will take them to the office today with the charger to see if there is anywhere to plug it in and get them charged. My dorm has one outlet, but everyone has their electronic equipment plugged into it (possibly overloading the circuitry, but maybe it's ok).
There is a good chance that I will be cutting back the length of my trip by 2 or 3 weeks. I'd love to stay on and everything is going well, but now that our dorm is full, life has become more stressful. If I do catch an earlier flight home, I will spend up to a week in Playa del Carmen in a hotel room where I can unwind alone. I knew it would a challenge to share a room with other people, but now that I'm really doing it, I've discovered just how hard this situation is for me. And it isn't the people; these are the nicest bunch of university kids you'd ever want to meet (they came in from Mexico City on Sunday night). I spent the day shopping with them and they're amazing. Very intelligent and a lot of fun.
The only thing I want to make sure I do before I leave the area is check out Tulum and Copa (where there are ruins). Tulum is just 20 minutes away (opposite direction from Playa del Carmen). There are "colectivos" that pass by the highway outside Akumal every ten minutes and they are cheap (15 pesos to Playa)! I wish Hamilton had colectivos; the ride to work would be a dream instead of the nightmare that it is. (A colectivo is a comfy minivan with a/c that seats 10 passengers). And I've never seen so many taxis in one small place. They are not cheap, but ideal if you are sharing a ride with others.
Ok. I guess I should go to the office and do some work... oh, maybe not... I just got an invitation to go to someone's pool! (Maggie helped on the weekend, and she is also the director of the public library in Akumal). Yay! This will definitely cheer me up. :-D
Tam
Friday, May 02, 2008
Recent Akumal Photos
1. A Cenote at Selvatica & 2. Akumal Bay(photos courtesy of "Staniam's Akumal Adventure"), Akumal forum / locogringo.com
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