The view outside my window

We arrived in Kailuum just at sunset, exhausted and a little nervous about what we would find. The last 5 hours had been tedious, driving a nearly straight two-lane highway through miles and miles surrounded by jungle infrequently opening to tiny, dismal looking villages. We had been traveling for over 12 hours, starting our day at 4 AM at the Buffalo airport. After making our way about 9 kilometers down a sand-dirt road, we drove up to find a group of barefooted people playing volleyball. We were checked in by our smiling, and also barefoot host Ivan and escorted to our tentalapa. We just had time to quickly unpack our necessities and take a quick look around before the sun had disappeared and we were left in darkness. Kailuum has no electricity: none, nada. We lit our candle lamps inside our tent to finish, then blew them out and made our way to the dining hut, where pineapple daquiries and an excellent meal soothed our tired souls. We were in bed by 8:30 and slept like the dead.

We woke to our first Kailuum morning and didn't even have to get out of bed to see the sand, sky and water. We were happy. That first day, all we did was alternate lounging in our beach chairs or hammocks, with occasional barefooted forays to the dining hut to procure a cold beer. In short, we did pretty much nothing at all. Perfect. When the sun set, one of the workers ran across the beach, torch in hand, firing the beach torches to light our way to the dining hut where we shared our exhausting day with our fellow Kailuumers.

Over the week, we managed to make our way to some Mayan ruins and wandered into town to bargain with the local merchants over variously cheesy and lovely merchandise. We drank and ate, read and slept and made friends with the Kailuum dogs, Cito, Esperanza and Blanca. One day, we walked about a mile down the beach, where we ate ceviche and fried grouper fish at the local "restaurant" in Rio Indio. It was basically a shack with plastic tables and chairs on the beach, exactly as a Mexican beach cafe should be. The limited menu was based on that day's catch; it was fresh and fabulous. We met up with some local children who showed us the tiny fish they had caught in the water. And so it was we fell in love with Mexico.

We are already planning our next trip to Kailuum. We are also, somewhat seriously, discussing what it would take to buy some property down there for retirement. Guess I better start brushing up my Grade 8 Spanish.



Kailuum Photo Album