Yalku with M & M

Off to beautiful Yalku Lagoon outside of Akumal with Mario and Murielle, who leave for Canada in just a few days.....

Big Mama greeted us at the edge of the lagoon.....

Always such a delight to go snorkel here.....

Now Murielle does not swim and has never snorkelled in her life, but Mario talked her into the water...

Miki cuddles up to Mama.......

In the water, trying on a snorkellllll

my gosh, she has her face in the water......

Can Murielle really be going snorkelling.....?????

And there she goes, folks, led by a smiling Mario.....

Amazing and wonderful.....

Yalku has added several more cabanas for rent for large groups or families...

Lovely place to lie in a hammock after snorkelling....

The sculptures at Yalku are almost as wonderful as the water and fish...

This is how I felt after swimming with all those fish for an hour or so...

and this is how I would like to have done my swimming...LOL

I joined Dinah, Jorge and a lovely gal dog trainer from Spain to attend a fundraiser in Playa del Carmen on behalf of Coco's Cat Rescue there.

It was held at The Blue Parrot Hotel in Playa.....and was very well attended!

Met lots of folks who donate, volunteer and help out with animal rescue in this area....

There was a silent auction with dozens of great things to bid on for the cause...

Dinah (right) and a friend catch up......

Coco (in the pink) started this organization just 3 years ago, and it has found homes and spayed and neutered hundreds of cats........

Not a great pic, but this is a 6 foot tall cat tree from the U.S. someone brought for the auction....!

Live band, Crazy Boy, was awesome...

Jorge, Dinah and Carlos......

Spanish dog trainer, D, Dinah and Carlos

It was a fun night, and more importantly, raised lots of money for Coco's!

Second live entertainment was a drumming trio...WOW!!

Amazing guys.......! The hotel donated all the free drinks, a catering place donated appies, and we all made as much of a donation as we were able to make. Being Playa, there were lots of well heeled gringos, so I am sure she made lots of money. Thanks, Coco, for all you do....!

Hello and goodbye......

Our friends from Surrey, Lety and Stan, just sold their house 2 streets over from us in PM to 2 gals from Quebec, Anne and France. They invited friends and neighbours to say hello to the new owners and bid the previous ones farewell.






Stan and Lety will still be coming down to visit, but we will miss their 6 month stay here, especially at Christmas time, when they put on a traditional amazing night.








Mario and Murielle came too - and were able to chat freely with Anne and France, who have very little English.........




















The gals brought their realtor and his daughter from Quebec and he had done real estate in the area many times, so was able to show them the lay of the land....
















Lots of chatting, wine, and an amazing dessert.......















Irma, Alain and Christine came to welcome the new owners........












Owners old, new, and their realtor.......
















Cynthia and her lovely kids came by.......





















and a friend of Oscar and Roy's from Cancun...





















Irma, Miki and Roy catch up.....

















Have to say, it felt a little weird being at this house we have spent so much time in, and they sold it completely furnished, down to the last detail, so it was the same....but different......









Anne, Oscar and Alain, both of whom speak French, were able to have a great visit...

We are sad to see Stan and Lety go, but happy to meet Anne and Frank, who will be down occasionally until they retire from nursing in 5 or 6 years.

Party at the casa........

Another gathering of friends old and new - Diane and Michele from Ontario, Murielle and Mario from Alberta........















Robin, Scott (from Ontario), and Tom and John from Vermon........














Jim (Ontario) and of course Steve and Robin (New York, via Paris, and now PM residents)......















Diane and Miki.......
















the party dog gets in on the act.........


























....and he loves his friend Mario - and visa versa.......























Drinks and appies at our place, followed by a walk out to La Luna Llena for dinner......Pedro's first ever group reservation......










Everyone really enjoyed their meals........





















Pedro took this one of the whole gang......













Diane, Scott and Robin, advertising the menu.....what a good plug for one of our favourite places......


















Chef Pablo from the Little Mexican Cooking School is a neighbour too, and a friend of Pedro, so dropped in with his daughter for a visit........














The boys ham it up..........
















Our wonderful host and owner, Pedro....originally from Switzerland, French speaking, but married to a wonderful Mexican artist and they have 2 great kids and also live in our hood.......












Diane was able to drag herself away from unpacking (we just moved her on Tuesday) and join us for dinner at least.........














Best friends Michele and Jim share a laugh.......





All in all, it was a fun time and people made some new friends.....!