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