Mahahual Mexico (Costa Maya) Our kind of Place

Mahahual Mexico (Costa Maya) Our kind of Place

Every time we come here we seek a different place for accommodation, this time we are staying at the Posada Pachamama Hotel, which is a quaint clean place with about 6  rooms.  Max, the owner is from Italy, as are several of those with businesses here in Mahahual.

The hotel is situated in the center of the old town Mahahual, one street back off the malecon.  It’s a little dusty from the sandy lane in front and unfortunately, another hotel is being built between the Posada and the sea, thus losing their once lovely view.

It’s nice to wake up and walk about a half block to the coffee shop, which is just a small hole in the wall, grab a coffee and head to the beach to watch the sun come up over the Caribbean Sea.

As I sip my coffee sitting on one of the malecon benches, the solitude of the beachfront becomes a scurry of activity.    Just off in the distance, to the north of the lighthouse you can see the cruise ships in port that have arrived during the night.  Restaurant and shop owners, vendors; everyone is bustling about, setting up their chairs and tables, beaches getting raked and the vendors setting out their wares for the busy day ahead.

Grabbing another coffee for Cindy and a refill for me, I head back to the room to see if Cindy is up and ready to go for breakfast.  Our walk from the hotel to our favorite place for breakfast is about 4 blocks away at the Paridiso Restaurant.  Very simple; outside under vines and palm trees with plastic tables and chairs and beautiful hosts: Reggie, Adrianna and their parrot.  We are always greeted with open arms and feel like we are at home again. We order our usual (Adrianna’s refried beans are the best!) and adjust our chairs to watch the steady stream of taxis bringing the ship people into town. The golf cart tour, jeep tour and bicycle and snorkel tour cruise by.  Days like this always make for interesting people watching.

Since it’s our first day in Mahahual, relaxing on the beach is the agenda for the day and of course snorkeling.  We say goodbye to Reggie and Adrianna and walk back to the hotel via the malecon.    Everyone is set up by now and the ship’s tourists are starting to trickle into town.   After a quick change into our bathing suits, we grab our gear and walk south down the beach towards the dock.  It’s quieter here and a little more private.   Snorkeling is fantastic, the water is calm and warm as the second largest reef in the world (Mesoamerican Barrier reef) is just a couple hundred feet off the beach.  I can spend hours snorkeling and watching the underwater world going about it’s business.  The visibility is awesome and we’ve seen everything from rays to seahorses along with a whole lot of jellyfish in the warmer months of July and August.  We’re never disappointed.

After several hours in and out of the water, it was time for lunch and drinks, so we head to ‘The Nacional Beach Club’, owned by Evan and Anna.  Their newly opened restaurant and guestrooms are brilliant!  There’s a small pool situated on their ‘deck’ to sit in, while enjoying your drinks under the hot sun.   There’s a rivalry here between Fernando and Evan over who makes the best margaritas.  We like to try both and still haven’t decided whose are the best, but its always fun trying.  By far, though, their hamburgers are the best in town, made fresh daily, by hand.  Since Evan is from Texas, he knows how to make good old fashioned burgers.   This is the place to come for a little taste of home.   Anna always has something different to offer from her home country of Chile as well.  This time she makes us her special lobster roles.  Absolutely delicious!  Totally stuffed and completing every morsel, we head back to the beach to get a few more rays.

At about 4 o’clock the beach has emptied, as all the touristas have to get back on board their cruise ships, so we leisurely make our way over to our friend’s restaurant on the beach to say hello and have a beer. Mika and Douglas have just opened the restaurant and are finding it hard to keep staff, so things are pretty busy for the both of them. We envy them for trying, nothing like having to work in paradise. After a couple of cervasa’s we say goodbye and make our way back to our room to shower and dress for dinner. 

Our choice for dinner this evening is the Luna de Plata. It’s an Italian restaurant on the beach just south of town.  It’s still considered in town, but there isn’t a whole lot of businesses set up down this way yet.  We’ve stayed in their guestrooms several times in the past and really enjoy their hospitality and is by far the best place for Italian food to date.  We order the large spiced salami pizza and a glass each of Mexican red wine to finish off the evening.   Life is good!

What’s to come; Chacchoben Mayan ruins, Chetumal and more.

Ruins, Roads, Market and more Road in the Yucatan

Ruins, Roads, Market and more Road in the Yucatan

It was the best sleep we had had in days; waking up in such a comfortable bed made getting up hard to do. From under the duvet and fine linen sheets, the sunrays beamed through the wooden window slats.   Awesome, it was going to be another beautiful day.

Today was going to be a long day in the car. From the Hacienda Temozon we are going to drive cross-country, heading southeast to Mahahual and hopefully make it before dark.  So after a quick shower, we decide we better get some breakfast before hitting the road. Walking the uneven stone path from the room to the restaurant takes some skill in flip-flops, but we make it. Sitting down and reviewing the menu prices, we decide to share toast and orange juice.  No we’re not on a tight budget, but the prices are quite ridiculous.

We finish breakfast and proceed directly to check out (choking on the cost, but you only live once, right?) we pay our nights stay and food purchases at the reservation desk next to the restaurant.  Strolling back taking pictures as we go, we find our car is waiting for us and the porter is bringing our bags to the car. What service!  I tip the porter and we leave this oasis in the middle of the Yucatan.

The roads for the most part are very good. Heading southeast we have a few towns to drive through, always making things interesting, as every road that leads into town takes us directly to the town’s square.  But finding the right road out of town is always difficult.

Passing through a particular village, we saw this abandoned Hacienda just off the road, we stop to get a picture, it would be cool to explore but time is a factor so we continue on.  

      As we enter Ticul, we pass by an un-restored ruin that is so big it takes up about a city block.   The narrow streets are lined with brightly colored yellow buildings and as we approach the main square, we notice horses and brightly colored buggies parked under the huge trees staying as cool as they can in the heat.

We decide to park the car down a side street, making sure not to park against any yellow lines, as we have heard the police will remove your license plate for parking illegally.  Walking to the square, you can see the villagers eagerly anticipating our business.   We choose the blue buggy, negotiate a fair price of about 100 pesos with Migual and proceed to begin our tour of the town and ruins.   Unfortunately with our limited Spanish, it was difficult to understand everything he said, but it was neat to see the ruins right in the middle of the town!   There are several artisan shops in this town as well and although it would have been great to check them out, we really want to get to Mahahual before dark.  So, after about 45 minutes we’re back at the town square, back in the car and on the road again….

 We decide to make a stop in Oxkutzcab.  The reason being, right along the road near the square, we happen upon a huge vegetable and fruit market. We had to stop and look at what was being offered, since every colored fruit imaginable was available as well as vendors selling sandals, shirts and everything in between, The waft of street food was everywhere.  I ended up buying a nice button up cotton shirt for about fourteen dollars.  Great deal!   We got a lot of strange looks as we were the only white people in the whole market.  This is definitely not a touristy area.

Another 40 minutes later and we’re back on the road, but not before getting some gas.  My rule is to try to fill up the car between quarter and half full and just ask for “Docientos gasoilina”.  I have Cindy release the gas tank fill cap only when I’m out of the car so I can see the attendant set the pump to zero. It’s worked for us so far.

Now its time to make some ground as there is nothing much to see for the next two hours until we get to Felipe Carrillo Puerto.   Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of smaller towns to go thru, but winding your way thru them takes some skill and good navigation, and if we take our time, we’ll get there tomorrow and that’s not really the plan.  So we push the speed limit on the open plains that exist for miles at a time until we finely drive into Felipe Carrillo Puerto from the east. If you were to look on a map this small city is virtually straight south of Tulum. It’s a very bustling place and we always make it a habit to stop and eat at a local hotel right across from the Pemex gas station. There’s an HSBC bank machine behind the Pemex and I take out the maximum pesos allowable to help us get through the next week, as you never can trust the bank machine in Mahahual to be in service.  At the hotel we both have chicken fajitas.  Always tasty here and the prices are cheap.  With the sun starting to descend, we get onto the now familiar highway and head south with the sun.  

Next stop, Mahahual, approximately an hour and a half away. Such impressive improvements in the road since the last time we came this way in August 2009 as it’s either already been widened or is the process of being done. The vegetation is really grown back and is looking good since the hurricane swept through this area a few years ago. Passing through Limones were now getting close to the turn that heads east to the little Caribbean town that awaits us.

Arriving into Mahahual always puts a smile on our faces as we drive towards the sea and feel the moisture in the air.  It’s getting dark as we pass the Paradisio Restaurant, owned by close friends of ours’.   It’s not open for dinner, but we’ll be back for breakfast tomorrow morning.  The adrenaline starts to rush, as we can’t wait to get unpacked and have a margarita at Fernando’s 100% Agave Restaurant & Bar.  We’ve decided to stay at the Pachamama Hotel this time around.  It’s our first time; as we always try to support everyone in town whether it be eating or sleeping.  We arrive and get checked in with no problem. We quickly unpack the car and give the bed a quick glance since it looks so inviting.  Better not lay down, even though we’re exhausted because if we do, we probably won’t get back up.  So we freshen up and set out to Fernando’s. 

 We only have a few streets to walk down.  There are no sidewalks here and the sand that makes up the streets in town is the same sand on the beach and the floor of Fernando’s restaurant and bar.  With Cuban music on this evening, and the odd dog or cat wandering thru, it always makes the place feel just right.  Fernando greets us with a warm hug and we get caught up on the latest happenings in town.   He tells us things are really good now that the cruise ships have returned since the hurricane.   We enjoy our Margaritas and as always, our host brings us samplings of his latest unique homemade local appetizers for us to try.   Such unique tastes that we haven’t had before always makes for great conversation of what the ingredients are and how everything is prepared and made.   Finishing our drinks, we say good night and take a stroll along the Malecon, with the stars in the sky and the breeze off the sea.   This feels so right.  We are back at our little room and no sooner do our heads hit the pillow and we’re asleep.