After breakfast in Valladolid and a quick tour of the central market, we're off to Coba and the Monkey Reserve. Coba has some fully restored ruins which we visited 28 years ago when it was way off the beaten track. We wanted to preserve that old memory so we went north instead to a monkey reserve. It is about 10 miles from Coba near a small town of Punta Laguna. Punta Laguna has a population of about 150 people, consisting of about 7 families. Everyone knows everyone. Also, everyone either works at or is supported in some way by the Monkey Reserve. The Reserve was started by 3 fellows who originally were looking for a place to grow chicle (the chewing gum ingredient). These guys began to worry about the declining monkey population as a result of over-harvesting by the local Mayans. So, they formed this 10,000 acre reserve. It provides a safe environment for several hundred spider and howler monkeys. We paid our admission and hired a guide for an hour. It turned into a 2 hour tour. We "hunted" and found several families of spider monkeys. What fun. Our guide called (squawked or squealed) to the monkeys and several times they responded! This is real dense jungle and we only walked in a 1/4 mile of so. No howlers, but we certainly weren't disappointed. We ended our tour by the lagoon. It was huge! Our guide was awesome. We are true believers now in hiring a guide whenever they are available.
Now we had to make a decision: travel slow and overnight in Playa to catch an early moring ferry or travel pretty quickly and catch the late evening ferry to Cozumel. We decided on the latter so we moved on to Akumal. Akumal was our first Mexican vacation together 29 years ago. It took awhile to find the right road but, there it was- Akumal beach and Las Casitas. Certainly lots of development around the area, but the Casitas and other beach buildings were as we remember. A quick stop but a memorable one. Fun memories such a dinner at the first "knife and fork" sign up the road! A restaurant with no electricity and the freshest fish ever. And the submerged Spanish canons in the water right outside our casita. And our friends, Ed and Roxanne. And Peggy's parents, Jamie and Adrienne.
A hour there and then off to Playa to find the car ferry!
The fruit and vegetable stands are a work of art.
We're guessing these are pretty fresh, free range chickens.
We needed our friend D. Ann to take photos that would do the monkey reserve justice.
Monkeys apparently can eat in any position. Again, sorry for the poor quality of photo.
A cave where the monkeys go during a hurricane.
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