Akil 30

On the drive back, with no more stops, B and I decided that it was time we left and headed back to the island. We had had enough adventure now for awhile. Besides, we had had to put the house remodeling on hold while we were gone and we were anxious to get that going again.

We told Juan that night that we were going to leave in the morning. Since it was a long drive back and we needed to keep in mind the times the ferry left back to the island, we told him that we were going to be on the road no later than 10 am. He talked to Maria and told us that they were ready to go back to the island also so we would all leave in the morning together. We were happy to hear this, since otherwise we would have had to find our own way back and I wasn’t too sure of my ability to do that without a leader or at least a map.

We spent a pleasant evening with the kids lounging on the sofa watching TV and B, Juan and I sitting out front with the relatives, having our last night of beer drinking contests while anybody who could tried to make the best Margarita for B’s enjoyment. We fell into bed later, a little tipsy and totally exhausted from a long, arduous day.

Not surprisingly, B and I were up and at ‘em quite early. I made coffee and we did our now normal routine of sitting on the back porch in the morning sun. Enjoying our breakfast of coffee and cigarettes, planning what we wanted to do when we got home and just waiting for the family to get up and going.

By 9 am, with nobody yet stirring for our 10 am departure, B and I started to pack the Jeep. The noise awoke Juan and Maria, in the bedroom across the hall from us, and they got up. We were getting concerned about facing yet another delay but I was determined, family or not, to be on the road by 10 am. We needed to be if there were to be any chance of catching the 5:30 pm ferry back to the island. The next and last one for the day would be at 8:30 pm, much later than we wanted to return. We told Juan he had better wake up the kids so they could start to get ready if we were going to leave on time. It was then that he told us that they had decided to stay another day. They still had some unfinished business with Tony’s school and lodging in Merida and wanted to take care of that first. We totally understood and continued with our packing the Jeep.

I asked Juan if he could draw some kind of map to get us back to Mexico 180, which would take us straight into Cancun. Even better, he went next door and borrowed Jaimie’s driving Atlas to loan to us. It was from 1995, but a welcome gift that clearly showed the route we needed to take. He showed us the route, which appeared direct and easy, back to Mexico 180.

With the Jeep fully loaded with our backpacks and the stuff we had purchased on our adventure, the family, including all the relatives from both sides, gathered to see us off. It was a series of hugs, handshakes and invitations to please come visit again. We promised we would and only 15 minutes later than planned, we bid farewell to Akil and headed back home.