Festival de la Tortuga Marina, Oct. 16-18, Akumal & Tulum

Friday, Oct. 16, 16:00–19:00, Casa de la Cultura de Tulúm: Opening – Murals – Drawing Contest – Sea Turtle Season Information – Cultural Performances – Quelonios Ak, Visual Art Exposition

Saturday, Oct. 17, 07:00–14:00, Playa Pescadores, Tulúm and Akumal Bay: Beach Clean Up – Sand Sculpture and Kite Contest. 18:00, Xcacel: Live Music – Performance – Fire Dance – Symbolic Hatchlings Release. Parking at Xel-Ha.

Sunday, Oct. 18, 10:00–20:00, Akumal: PET Contest – Drums – Mayan Ceremony. 19:00, Symbolic Hatchlings Release.

For further information please contact:
Alma D. Boada S. Comunication Coordinator.

Help Friends and Family in Akumal and along the Riviera Maya

I have called Akumal my home away from home, and the Riviera Maya has been my playground since I first laid eyes on it. And to many I am still a relative “newcomer”. My first trip to the area was 1998 and I walked under the arch in 1999. I knew the moment I saw it, like so many others, that this was a special place. It only took returning once to make me realize not only was the place unique but the people were unusually friendly. You are a stranger but once in Akumal. That is what makes it so totally different from many other places. That is what I have heard oh so many say over the years.

My question is this. If we so love to call Akumal home, and the people we visit there friends and in many cases even family, then isn’t it times like this that we should be asking ourselves what we can do to help? We in the States have been hit hard with this new economy and money is tight. There is no denying that. But there is a definite trickle down effect and it has touched our beloved Akumal and the Mayan Riviera.

On top of tighter budgets and less people traveling the Riviera Maya has had to defend themselves against a media that has painted all of Mexico with the same brush scaring those of us who should know better about crime wars and flues.

I think now more than ever we need to help our friends and family. Airfares are great. And your visit has never been more needed. This past spring many businesses felt the impact of 80% of their reservations canceled, that includes hotels, transportation, tours, restaurants and stores.

If you can’t afford to book your next trip, then help us out by sharing your stories, photos and memories. Help us to rebuild the reputation our beloved home and home away from home had in easier times. And by doing so maybe we can in some small way reach out and help those who have brightened our life. Whether you call it pay back or pay it forward. It is a simple and fun way we can all help. Now is not the time to be grumbling about a time that has past, and how it use to be; nor is it a time to be trying to negotiate the best deals. Now, in this writers opinion, is the time to show our loyalty and support.

Won’t you please help?

Slide shows and music – Akumal

Akumal’s 50th was an incredibly wonderful 3 days of a multitude of events. We now have a report with slide shows for those who want to relive it or unfortunately missed it. AND hear the new song by Caribbean Soul, Akumal!

AKUMAL’S 50th UPDATES!!!

Akumal’s 50th Celebration is gearing up to be a fabulous festival. The committees met Wednesday evening at Lol-Ha to report on the status of each event. Small meetings were arranged and the group dined at Lol- Ha Restaurant to celebrate everyone’s hard work and enjoy the calm before things really got rocking and rolling. The minute you drive in to Akumal your know there is a party to beat all parties in the works – signs, posters, fliers are everywhere.

Laura Bush announced that many government VIPs have been invited to attend the festival and a Travel Channel from South America that covers 20 Latin countries was here filming, that was perfect timing The hope is that there will be lots of advertising spin off from the Celebration which will bring much needed tourism dollars to our beloved Akumal. There is talk, depending on how successful this year’s celebration is, it could become an annual event, so if you missed out this year, cross your fingers for the future.

We thank all the folks who have worked so hard to create this celebration – but its success depends on everyone’s participation so come join in the fun. If you are anywhere in the area be sure to check out the schedule of great events. There will something for everyone, every age.

Avoid tourism greenwashers

From The Green Life published by the Sierra Club:

It’s wonderful that many travel providers are “going green” but when making reservations, be wary of the many that are using the term as a shallow, unsubstantiated marketing ploy. How can you tell who’s walking the walk and who’s just talking the talk? Read good guidelines here, here and here (PDF) to learn how to weed out the ‘washers. A brief summary for the time-pressed: Have a healthy dose of skepticism, ask lots of questions, trust your common sense (any claim of an eco-friendly golf course, for example, borders on the oxymoronic), and look for certification.

Save money, cut pollution, take a colectivo

TravelYucatán.com offers an overview and good advice on using colectivos:

A colectivo is a form of transportation in Mexico that is generally geared towards moving the population around Mexico’s vast labyrinth of roads and highways. Quite often the colectivo is a mini-van.

In tourist zones such as the Mayan Riviera the colectivos are new vans with air-conditioning. Get out of the tourist zones and some of the vans are pretty reggae-muffin.

In some places they are called “combis”. In the Chiapas on many roads in Zapatista territory the colectivoes are blue pick-up trucks with a tarp on the back. The “old-style” colectivos are still in use in Chiapas, Campeche and Chetumal but not in the Mayan Riviera.

Even “beach tourism” needs nature

From an article titled “Can Ecotourism Be More Than an Illusion?” by Stephen Leahy on Tierramérica:

Tourism has a paradox at its core: it has revealed natural wonders that humanity realizes it cannot allow to disappear, but at the same time humanity has put those very natural wonders in danger, say experts.

QUEBEC CITY, Mar 23 (Tierramérica).- But others wonder if tourism can be truly sustainable when it involves flying thousands of kilometers to reach some “carbon-neutral” eco-lodge in the jungle.

Climate change is a major concern and air transport makes a significant contribution, sustainable tourism expert Costas Christ, told more than 500 attendees of the International Symposium on Sustainable Tourism Development, Mar. 16-19.

However, Christ said, it is also important to tell the public that international tourism has played a major role in preserving biodiversity and in conservation in general.

“Without tourism, the Pantanal (in South America), the world’s largest wetland, would have just turned into a major cattle feed-lot for McDonald’s,” said Christ, a former board chair of The International Ecotourism Society.

If it weren’t for tourism, Africa would not have its game parks and nature preserves, and the Coral Triangle (which encompasses the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste) would have been devastated by overfishing, he continued.

“Tourism is not the problem; the challenge is how to do tourism right,” Christ told Tierramérica in an interview.

As an industry, tourism has made many mistakes over the years, but has come to realize that with climate change and other environmental concerns there is no future for tourism without becoming more sustainable, he believes.

Indeed, the very essence of tourism is selling culture and nature, and those must be protected or there will be no industry — “Business and political leaders have to understand this,” he said.

Even mass-market tourism – sometimes called beach tourism – depends on nature, although he believes people are moving away from that type of vacation in general.

Santa Elena, Yucatan Pueblo

From a post on TripShake:

This last weekend, we escaped the city of Merida and drove one hour south to stay at the Flycatcher B&B in Santa Elena. We might as well have traveled in a time machine. The Flycatcher, owned by an American-Mayan couple, Kristine and Santiago, is a lovely collection of rooms and casitas that are clean and have all the modern amenities. But stepping outside the door of our little casita moderna was like going to another place in another time.

The town of Santa Elena is mostly on the northeast side of the road that leads to the Mayan archaeological zone of Uxmal. The Flycatcher is on the other side of the road, mercifully distant from early morning crowds of crowing roosters and late weekend night fiestas in the center of town. After a quiet morning watching birds and a grueling day ruin-hopping, we took a nap and then ventured across the road to explore the town itself.

The town is laid out on a grid that mostly expands from the foot of a hill, which is topped by a very large church, freshly painted when we were there in a rich colonial red. The church can be seen miles outside of town… it dwarfs the buildings around it. A series of concrete landings leads up to the church from the main square, and at the top, huge stone pave the courtyard in front of the church that were placed here hundreds of years ago.

Akumal library needs summer interns

From Hekab Be Library:

The library offers one or two Spanish-speaking summer internships to assist with Hekab Be Summer School from July 6- August 9, 2009. Summer school students are 5 to 15 year olds. The person selected must be fully fluent in Spanish, with a documented record of volunteer activities with children, and able to live on their own in an economically diverse environment. Maturity (18 years old minimum) and 3 non-relative references required. Serious inquiries only. If interested please send a resume with references to: akumallibrary@gmail.com

Responsible Tourism Conference, Riviera Maya & Belize, May 18-22

From Rod Mader at Planeta:

The third International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations takes place in Belmopan, Belize May 18-22, 2009.

The programme in Belize is expected to be preceded by a related workshop in Cancun or Tulum organised with Mexican government on “Making Mass Tourism More Responsible” on May 17th. On May 18th there will be coach transfers to the opening ceremonies for the Third International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations in Belize in the afternoon.