 Punta Bete is on the Mexican Caribbean coast south of Cancun. We've vacationed near there, in Puerto Morelos, before. But for this trip we decided to stray even a little farther off the beaten path and head down to Punta Bete for a week and then spend Dave's birthday week back in Pto. Morelos. We had a 100 degree day the day we arrived, -14 at home and 86 in Punta Bete. It's surprising something didn't crack - like us. All in all, the weather was great the whole 17 days we were there and we dearly enjoyed being able to vacation with our friends Mary & Trent, and being able to visit our pals Roger & Teresa at Cabañas Puerto Morelos. |
 Punta Bete used to be coconut plantations. Now there are a few small hotels, but this is still the kind of place where you can pitch your tent and sleep on the beach. Try doing that in Cancun.
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 Xcalacoco (two coconuts), is a great beach just south of Punta Bete. |
 Gelina soaks up some sun.The sand is made of coral, so it never gets too hot. |
 We relied on this Caribbean stop watch to know when to turn over. |
 In Punta Bete we stayed at Coco's Cabanas. They are 5 small bungalows and a bar/grill run by by Helmut and his wife Silvia. |
 This montage shows the circular palapa-roofed cabanas. The food is great, the rooms are nice, and the margaritas are deadly. |
 Trent, our buddy the cabaña boy, provided drinks and comic relief. |
 Gelina relaxes on her floating lounge chair. |
 On of the local dogs had week-old puppies. Here's Gelina with the one we'd named El Blanco. |
 The gardens at Coco's were gorgeous. |
 The pool was a great place to cool off after coming back from the beach. |
 At night the whole place glowed and we had a blast sitting around after dinner talking. |
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 Kids playing on a fishing boat that one of the restaurants brings their catch of the day in on. |
 The beach in front of Los Piños, a small restaurant where we usually had lunch. |
 We would hang out under these palapas, just up the beach from a great cove for swimming. |
 Coconut graffiti - Nicolas and Antonio, the owner's children, have their names carved on this coconut. |
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 We took a walk up the beach one day to this KaiLuum II and Posada del Capitan Lafitte resorts. This is the restaurant at KaiLuum. |
 These little cabañas at Lafitte are so darn cute. |
 They also had some double units right on the beach, each with their own terrace and hammock. These were far enough away from the resort itself that they could be a lot of fun. |
 Their pool was a nice, but a too stuffy for our tastes. We hung out on the beach instead. |
 Beer delivery the Laffitte way. |
 They had this little burrow all dressed up and rigged to carry a couple of cases of beer up and down the beach. |
 We took a day trip to Crococun, a little zoo north of Punta Bete. Gelina gets up close and personal with a lizard. |
 Dave and Gelina, the mighty Croc hunters - not! |
    What else - Parrot Heads! |
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 Gelina Gets to hold a river Crocodile. |
 One of the many spider monkeys at Crococun who work for peanuts. |
 This baby spider money that was by far the wildest and most interesting of the bunch. |
 The original taco dog (literally). Mexican hairless dogs where kept for both pets and food. Mmmmmm, tacos. |
 We took a day trip in to nearby Play del Carmen to do some sight-seeing and shopping. It's been almost 5 years, but this is the kind of view that always brings us back here. |
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 Sleepy fishing village? Not by a long shot. Playa has grown so much since we were last there that we could barley recognize it. |
 You just can't beat the Mexican way with color. Who would ever guess that this was a bank? |
 Things you'd rather not see in Playa. The town is full of of stuff like this that it's getting harder and harder to see the beach, the real reason for being here. |
 Oh and the beach scene is a absolute hoot as well. Here a guy is digging a hole to bury a topless women in (or something like that). |