It's been a whirlwind since we got back to Akumal. We got to have dinner with our downstairs neighbors our first night and then they left for Canada. We ended the evening at the local beach bar on Karaoke night! It was pretty slow by the time we got there but I think it was even funnier, late in the evening = more drunk = funnier!

The only remaining palm tree in front of our deck died from hurricane Dean. They haven't taken it down yet, you can see it here. The previous ones died from hurricane Wilma. More are planted but for now, we have a really unobstructed view of the water. It's kind of nice.

We had new tile put in this fall and the floor raised about 6 inches. That has created all kinds of other problems which I'll get to. First though, I love the new tile. No more white tile!

The floor was raised because the deck was raised before we bought the condo and it was higher than the living room. During hurricanes and even just heavy rain, water poured in under the sliding glass doors. Now, the living room is a little higher than the deck and water no longer comes in. That's good.

Not so good is that the banco or built in concrete sofa, is only a couple inches off the floor. It makes a great dog bed but not so good for humans. Also, the stairs up to the bedrooms were not done so we are in the process of getting that finished. The front door had to be cut down and now you step up into the condo from outside.

This is how we were getting to the bedroom while they were working on the steps.

The kitchen cabinets were removed, supposedly to be cut down and replaced. But no, someone thought they were being trashed and took them home. I'm not wanting to spend a lot for new wood cabinets when I intend to rip out the kitchen next fall and redo it. So, I went to WalMart and Sam's and bought plastic drawers and put those under the counters. Yesterday I picked out some fabric and I'm having curtains made to cover the openings. Oh, and the counters? They reach about mid-thigh on me and even the very short Mayan maid has to bend over to wash dishes in the sink.