We ended up spending 5 days at Maya Bell, we enjoyed the ambience, the people watching, the music from the restaurant and the many birds. I have read about a type of music from Veracruz recently and had been thinking that we needed to spend some time there so I could hear it. It's called Son Jarocho and I didn't know from reading whether I had ever heard it or not. The first night we were there, a band started up and I loved the music. I walked over to the restaurant in time to hear them introduce themselves as from Veracruz and the music as Son Jarocho! Odd that something I'd been thinking about going to hear had come to me. I like it, it is kind of a call and response singing with a strong Caribbean beat. If you remember the Richie Valens song 'La Bamba', that is an old Son Jarocho song.

There was a little red dog that appeared when we arrived, she seemed to really like Hombre and followed him around. Every night she slept curled up on the mat in front of our door. We didn't feed her (well maybe one or two treats) or let her in or really pay much attention to her but she attached herself. She was in pretty good shape for a street dog, clearly young still and as sweet as could be. The man that worked there threw rocks at her and chased her off whenever he saw her but she would come back. I asked and he said she had a house across the street but the only thing across the street was a funky mexican rancho that allowed tent camping in some really minimal conditions, I didn't believe him.

When Patty and I were up at the museum on the day we left she appeared there, about a mile or so up the road, scrounging under tables at the cafe for food. An hour or so later back at the Maya Bell when we were ready to leave she was back sitting at our door. After a discussion, we opened the door and she eagerly leaped inside.

OK, we dognapped her! I knew that healthy though she appeared now, in a year she would be skinny and sick from too little food and too many puppies and we wanted to give her a chance at a better life. The people who own the condo underneath us in Akumal lost their dog recently and the wife really likes Chica and has said she wants another dog. Our hope is that she will fall in love with this sweet little girl and give her a home in Canada.