October 2008  Issue 70

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INTRODUCTION

Thankfully, September 2008 is history.  Akumal dodged all the Tropical Storms and Hurricanes, and in the last few days of the month, we received the well needed rain; some may say “too much”.  All-in-all it was a fairly quiet month, and at The Akumalian’s headquarters we went two weeks with no renters on either side.  And, Ryan Fredette celebrated his 15^th birthday on September 27th in MA, albeit without his grandparents, who are heading that way a bit later.
     Onto October.

IMPORTANT OCTOBER FACTS

In Latin, octo means "eight".  October was also the eighth month in the Roman calendar until a monthless winter period was divided between January and February.  October has always had 31 days.

Libra - September 23 - October 22
Scorpio - October 23 - November 21

 October Birthstone: Opal
Australia produces about 95% of the world's opal supply.  The aborigines of that country say that the opal was created where a rainbow touched the earth.  This certainly explains the cascade of color in fine opal specimens.  (Black opal rivals the price of diamonds for very fine specimens.)  While the black opal isn't really black, it does have a dark base color.  Given their shimmer and fire fine Black Opal Jewelry is particularly exotic.  

October Birthday Flower: Marigold
The golden colors of autumn are displayed by the marigold, which makes them the ideal flower for October birthdays.  Marigolds have come to be associated with affection.
 

OCTOBER BIRTHDAYS

Birthdays and Anniversaries

4          Stefanie Fredette
14        Denny Mahan
17        Alison Keegan
19        Verana Titze
25        Stefanie & Robert Fredette Anniversary
27        Joy Colt

There must be more than this.  Let’s hear about YOUR birthday before it happens. 

Missed September Birthdays / Anniversary

Looks like we got them all.
 

CONSEJO DE DESARROLLO DE AKUMAL

The Fall General Assembly meeting for the Akumal Council was held on Friday, September 26, 2008, all things considered, there was quite a good attendance.  Required by-law, changes and other legal matters were on the agenda.  One of the big items was fine tuning the By-Laws on some administrative issues.  There was a presentation by some people from CAPA, and some members of the Police were there too.

The Akumalian could not stay for the whole meeting, and there is no attempt here to report even informal “minutes” of the proceedings.  There is no need for The Akumalian to this any more, because the new Akumal Council BOD has brought the Akumal Council web site at www.akumalcouncil.com back to life, and the minutes, along with lots of other pertinent information can be found there.

However, here are some photos from the meeting.
 

THE 18^th FIRST ANNUAL IG NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY

The 18th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony honors achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. This year’s ceremony is being held at the Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts on Thursday, October 02 at 7:30 PM.  The ten new winners will be revealed on stage.  Genuinely bemused Nobel Laureates will hand them their Prizes.  The theme of this year's ceremony: Redundancy. 

Also featured: the Win-a-Date-with-a-Nobel-Laureate Contest; and the premier of the mini-opera "Redundancy Again."  Organized by the Annals of Improbable Research (www.improbable.com )

The 18th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony will announce and introduce the ten new Ig Nobel Prize winners.  The winners are traveling to the ceremony, at their own expense, from several continents.  The Prizes will be handed to them by a group of genuine, genuinely bemused Nobel Laureates, all before a standing-room only audience of 1,200 people.  Full details and action pictures will appear in the Nov/Dec 2008 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research.  The ceremony also includes other wonders.

 In addition to the awarding of the Prizes, the ceremony will include a variety of momentously inconsequential events:

·        A pre-ceremony concert (at 7:15 pm) featuring Paul and Storm

·        The 24/7 Lectures, in which several of the world's top thinkers each explains his or her subject twice:

o       FIRST: a complete technical description in TWENTY-FOUR (24) SECONDS

o       AND THEN: a clear summary that anyone can understand, in SEVEN (7) WORDS.
 
The lecturers and their topics:
·        Benoit Mandelbrot: Fractals
·        Anna Lysyanskaya: Cryptography
·        Steven Pinker: The Human Mind
·        Dany Adams: Biology
·        William Lipscomb: Redundancy
·        and others to be announced

MLB POSTSEASON STARTS OCTOBER 2nd

The 2008 Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason is tentatively scheduled to start on Wednesday, October 1 when the Division Series starts with the best 3-of-5 going onto the League Championship which starts on October 9.  The World Series is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, October 22^nd; The Akumalian Staff knew there was a reason for being in the Boston area at that time of the years.

To date, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, and Tampa Bay Rays have clinched a spot in the American League, while the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers have clinched in the National league.

Now, there definitely are some readers who question the designation of this event as the “World” Series, when only 30 teams – all but Toronto being from the United States – are eligible to even be considered.
 

COMINGS AND GOINGS

            September was one busy month dodging Tropical Storms and Hurricanes named Gustav, Hanna, and Ike.  With loads of people coming and going, and even in the middle of the month, there were tourists all over the place. 

 Comings:

• Pat Murray and Oteka Brab, with two guests, Terry Chambers and Marianne Haverlin from Louisville, KY, were at Casa San Francisco August 10 - 19,.
• Dave & Diana were back in their corner unit at La Sirena for a couple of weeks in Sept.
• Macon & Susan Gravlee have returned to South Akumal for a short break.
• David & Nancy Poor, along with ‘Charlie’, are back for the Akumal Council meeting.
• Frank Hatch & Lennie Maietta are back at Casa del Sol on the lagoon.
• Hurley Hackler has also returned to Akumal after a fairly long absence.
• Richard & Arlene Pargot arrive back in town on October 3^rd.
• Jim & Jackie Power will be returning to Jade Bay sometime this month.
• Isabel Schober should be returning soon from her extended stay in Colorado.

Goings:

·        Paul Sánchez-Navarro Russell took a quick holiday to southern France in early September.

·        Maggie McKown was vacationing in Texas in late September.

·        Gerardo Dominguez is returning to Argentina to run in the Buenos Aires Marathon

·        Ingrid & Steve Clouther are heading back to MA for a Fall vacation.

ROBIN’S BEST SHIRT AWARD, OCTOBER 3^rd

Come one, come all, to the Beach Bar, where we’ll have a ball.

It’s time for another “Best Shirt Award”, which is held on the first Friday of each month during Happy Hour at the Lol Ha Beach Bar. 

This award is based on Robin’s penchant for good, classy Beach Bar shirts, and his sister, Mary, is ready to once again be the judge and jury as she selects the “Best Shirt” for October.  And, as we go to print the criteria are still somewhat nebulous, and they seem to be changing as we move into Fall.

The September competition drew another large crowd of brightly shirted contestants.  Phil Webb was the winner in a very tight contest.  The photos are located at Best Shirt Award 9-7-2007.

See All the Past Best Shirt Award Winners
 

WHAT’S NEW AROUND TOWN?

AKUMAL

Wine Reception for Victor Arqaez
       On August 4th, Gabriella Herbert hosted a wine reception for the well known Yucatan artist, Victor Arqaez, from Buctzotz.  A good time was had by all, and many of the attendees left with some of Victor's art.

Then, a few weeks later, on August 28, Annette Bartsch hosted another reception for Victor Arqaez at La Lunita.  This also was very well attended by the 'locals and other artists from Akumal and Playa Del Carmen.  The press was there as well, including Por Esto.

See Wine Reception for more photos. 

September Birthday Celebration
        There were a number of local birthdays celebrated in September, and there was a small “Champagne Event” held at La Lunita on Sunday, September 14 to honor them all.  The birthday celebrants included:

• Claudia Tolentino, the 5^th
• Scott Brown, the 7^th
• Gabriella Orvanos, the 14th
• Mary Henderson, the 14th, and
• Jen Smith, the 16th.

See September Birthday Party for more photos.
 

Gerardo Dominguez Running in the Buenos Aires Marathon
     Gerardo Dominguez, originally from Argentina, will be running in the Buenos Aires 42K Marathon on October 12, and he has generously offered to use this event to fundraise for CEA.  He proposes to help raise money to buy a weather station for the CEA lab, and the goal is to raise $2,000 USD for the station equipment and computer.
  

Green Homes & Renewable Energy in the Riviera Maya - Workshop
      This three day workshop, will be held on November 6-8, 2008, at Centro Ecológico Akumal (CEA) in Akumal, Mexico, 70 miles south of Cancun.  Whether you want to "green" your home or business in the Riviera Maya or anyplace else in the world, you'll gain invaluable insights from two exceptional green building and renewable energy professionals.

This is hosted by CEA and co-sponsored by Yucatan Environmental Foundation; RENEW Wisconsin, a non-profit promoting renewable energy; and Just Imagine Website services.

More details can be found at Renewable Energy Workshop and CEA Workshop.
 

Bridge(s) Over the Highway MX 307
By Laura Bush

I was invited by the Municipality to a presentation of the project to build a bridge for car traffic between Akumal and Akumal Pueblo.  This project has already been approved and started.  The meeting was meant to inform the town of the project and the particulars during the construction phase.

I was able to the meet with the head of the construction company responsible for the project a few days afterwards to discuss how it will affect the entrance to Akumal.  They will be building the two access roads first, and maintain the existing road open until they are ready. They will rebuild the sidewalk on the North side.  The dimensions are 3 meters wide and 1.5 meters of buffer which they will replant.  They said all existing plants that CEA wants to try to save, that they should go ahead and take.  Also, any materials that are there, lights, etc, should be taken if they can be reused.

The access roads will be 5 meters wide each, and the bridge will be 8 meters wide.

I asked them to make a sidewalk on the South side, and they agreed.  Dimensions available are 1.5 meters.

They will have illumination included for the entrance road.         

On the Pueblo side they were not going to have a round about “glorieta” so that cars coming from Cancun could go in to the Town and use the bridge to cross over to Akumal.  I asked them to consider it, and they said they would put it in, so that we give guests to Akumal two choices to get in to Akumal.  They could still go past Akumal and do a RETORNO or use the bridge.

On the Akumal side, there would be no, room nor would it be advisable, to have traffic enter in order to get to Akumal Pueblo.

They have already started and say the latest they will finish is May 2009.  This means construction throughout high season.

They assure us that proper signage will be put on both sides of the highway and that the traffic will be reduced to two lanes at some point.  They assure us the Police will be especially vigilant to direct traffic when needed.

The issue that we are dealing with now is that the signs we constructed will both be demolished.  The one on the South side is no longer on IPAE property, because it was sold to Carlos Ortiz, owner of the Akumal Beach Club.  That is why it has been painted over.  But the sign on the NORTH side is still ours, and along with Las Casitas we pay the permits to have a sign on the highway.

I have asked them to rebuild the sign in two places that will be seen from the SOUTH and the NORTH. The design would be modified to fit the space.  We are working on getting written assurance that this will be done as this is what distinguishes Akumal, and we must have new signs that will help Akumal stand out.  They said I could propose the new design.

             Bridges are also being built over the highway at Puerto Aventuras, Chemuyil, and Xcaret.  They are working on the access roads and median strip pillars.
 

Xcaret Tourist Booth
            Xcaret has taken the initiative and moved into Akumal (uninvited) with its own portable Information Booth.  It seems to keep moving from one spot to another around the Akumal entrance area before the gate, and this photo was taken on Friday, September 26 when it was situated at the entrance to the parking lot, just before the Akumal Council’s office building.  The Akumalian has never seen it open, and that seems to be the consensus of others as well.

DIA DE LA RAZA (COLUMBUS DAY), OCTOBER 12^th

In Mexico, October 12th is a national holiday known as Día de la Raza or Day of the Race.  This date is honored in other countries as Columbus Day and under other names; but the event it commemorates and the way in which it is observed have become quite controversial.

In the fifteenth century, an obscure Italian seafarer named Christopher Columbus became convinced that it was possible to reach the East from Europe by sailing westward across the Atlantic and that this route would be shorter than traveling around Africa; he underestimated the size of the Earth and overestimated the size and eastward extension of Asia.  After eight years of negotiations, he convinced Queen Isabella of Spain to support his enterprise.  He finally set out in three small ships and, on October 12th, 1492, he landed on an island in the Bahamas inhabited by the Taino or Arawak tribe, thinking that it was India.

            Although Christopher Columbus was perhaps not the first to discover America, as has so often been claimed, he was the one to bring about the first real contact and interaction between Renaissance Europe and the American continent with its various civilizations; and that has shaped and changed world history in countless ways.  Over 500 years later, this date is still celebrated, lamented, and debated.

One of the main consequences of this contact, was the imminent conquest of the new world by the old.  In writing of his discovery, Columbus noted how he and his men were greeted with gifts and said: "As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts".  And, generally speaking, this was to characterize relations between the old world and the new: Europeans sought wealth and to impart (or impose) their culture.  The indigenous people befriended them and were dominated by armies from abroad.

Less than 30 years later, in 1521, Hernán Cortés landed on the shores of Mexico. He too was received with gifts, and he proceeded to conquer the vast Mexica empire, which is Mexico today.  Relations between the indigenous population and the conquerors of Mexico during the 300 year colonial period were complex.  Spain sought riches in the new land, but also converts for Catholicism. Missionaries traveled with the soldiers.  Some of them were greatly impressed by native cultures and are responsible for the preservation of many codices and documents regarding the period.

When Mexico celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of Columbus' landing, in 1892, the country was ruled by Porfirio Díaz, who remained in power for over thirty years and was a great admirer of European culture, especially the French.  At that time, the government prepared a celebration of "The communion of all peoples in sentiments of justice and admiration for the past, noble aspirations and glowing hopes for the future" for October 12, 1892.  As in most of the world, this event praised Columbus for his skill as navigator, for his Discovery of America and for bringing European culture to this land, although all of these things have since been questioned and re-examined.

In 1918, philosopher Antonio Caso took October 12th as an opportunity to praise the "Mexican mestizo race", La Raza, the rich mixture of Spanish and indigenous cultures which characterizes MexicanS.  He was perhaps the first to coin the term La Raza, which has now been adopted by Latinos from all across the continent.  Ten years later, the Día de la Raza was declared an official national holiday by Congress, after only minor debate.

As early as 1836, Oaxacan historian Don Carlos María de Bustamante began the "first vitriolic Mexican commentary on the Columbian event".  For him, October 12, 1492 was "the most villainous day there could ever be in America; the day its slavery was established".

            Columbus Day is on Monday, October 13 in the US.
 

FULL MOON, OCTOBER 14^th

The Full Hunter's Moon is on October 14, 3:04pm ADT.  With the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt.  Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can ride over the stubble, and can more easily see the fox, also other animals that have come out to glean and can be caught for a thanksgiving banquet after the harvest.  
 

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME (DST), OCTOBER 26^th

In Akumal and Europe, DST ends on Sunday, October 26.  Do not forget to turn the clocks back one hour.

        For the U.S., and only the U.S., DST ends on the first Sunday in November – November 2 – as the clocks are set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1:00 a.m. local standard time.  

Remember, On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005.  This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S.  Beginning in 2007, DST will begin on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November.  The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress.  Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.
 

REPORT ON HURRICANE IKE FROM BRAZORIA, TEXAS

            As most of you know, Chris, Butch and Francys moved back to the Gavelston, Texas area from Akumal several years ago, and then they eventually moved to a nice place in Brazoria, about 20 miles north of Gavelston and the Gulf of Mexico.  They were in the direct line of fire for Hurricane Ike in September, and what follows is some excerpted material from Chris’ e-mails.

 By Chris McClasland

9/10 - We are packing now to evacuate AGAIN, for the second time in 4 years, friends in Austin.  It looks like a direct hit on us this time.  Two cars, three people, one dog, 10 cats, and as much stuff as we can pack between now and sometime tomorrow.  I have had enough of this fun.  I honestly don't expect to find a house when we get back, since this house is just a tin can, and since a light summer breeze will take down one of these oaks.  130 mph should be really devastating; just a routine day for us!

9/11 - Just minutes ago they called for a mandatory evacuation of Galveston.  Yesterday they had opened shelters in Galveston and people were already going to them, and now this!  It does seem to be slowly going more east, which is good for us, worse for Galveston.

9/18 - We are back home, and we are all fine.  We got electric service 24 hours after being back, so we only had to spend one night here in the dark, and a cool front came in, so it was not even that hot.  I just now got my internet service back on.  We did much, much better than any of the surrounding towns; we were just east of it enough.  All of the towns around here are still in limited operation with curfews.

Our evacuation was not so bad.  We were in Austin, went out at night to fun restaurants, and at the height of the disaster we were at a bar overlooking Lake Travis listening to a live band, drinking margaritas.  While in Austin we watched the Saturday Night Live skit with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.  She looked just like her!!  We almost left Francys in Austin with our friends, because we were afraid we could be without services for weeks possibly, but at the last minute decided to chance it and now are glad we did.

Our drive up and back was easy, although we were turned back on hwy 36 at Sealy, and had to go south on 71 to El Campo and sneak back up north to Brazoria on county roads to get home, but we made it.  Many, many trees are down, but not one hit the house, or the garden house or the studio.  There’s just tons of clean up of trees and branches, so we consider ourselves to be very lucky.

Galveston is still another story.  My best friend there has 5 houses in Galveston.  His west end house got damaged, and he lost a lot of antiques and stuff on his ground floor.  He will have to re-roof, but the things inside the house were spared, and there was little damage to his east end homes.  He and his girlfriend rode out the storm there.  He said it was hideous, with 100 mph winds for 12 hours.  Much is lost in Galveston: the Balinese Room, Murdock's bath house, all the fishing piers, everything that was right on the water.  The Galvez Hotel was seriously damaged.  The entire downtown was under 8-9 feet of water, and all of the shops on the strand were under water: the Tremont Hotel, everything downtown.  They still do not have electric service.  Nothing is open. They can leave the island but will not be allowed to return, so they are there.  It was a very hairy situation for them.  They had their guns loaded to prevent looting, were siphoning gas from abandoned cars for gas, draining neighbor's hot water heaters to get clean water; really a bad situation, and it still is for Galveston, but we dodged another bullet.

So, back to 'normal', whatever that is!  So, we all, all of us and the 11 pets made another little road trip to Austin and back and had no damage, but we have had about enough of this evacuation fun....two times in 4 years!!  No Mardi Gras this year.  No homes tour, No Dickens on the strand. 

9/18 - We are looking at some property in the hill country now, near Austin, maybe the arty little community of Wimbery.  I was looking at property in the hill country on several websites today, and the prices are hideous.  There are houses I would be afraid to spend the night in that are over a half a million dollars.  The Texas hill country is one of the hottest markets for real estate there is.  All sorts of people from California are coming there.  Lots of NFL people have bought out near Lake Travis.  There is an area there that was just bikers and hippies 30 years ago, that now have those huge awful quasi Mediterranean McMansions now worth millions.  There are some movie stars out there; Mathew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock live out there somewhere I think.  Austin is a great place to live, but it is expensive.
 

OKTOBERFEST 2008

The 2008 Oktobefest opened on Saturday, September 20 and runs until Sunday, October 5, so you still have time to get to Munich, Germany to enjoy this year’s festivities and drink ein Mass or two.

Oktoberfest started as a wedding celebration party.  Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, who was later crowned King Ludwig I, wanted the people of Munich to share in the celebration of his marriage to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810.  He organized a horserace, offered copious amounts of beer and food, invited all the people of Munich and voila!  Oktoberfest was born.

The festival was such a success that Ludwig decided to hold it again the following year in conjunction with the state agricultural festival.  In 1816 carnival booths were added and in 1819 the town fathers of Munich decided that the festival should be celebrated every year.  Over time, the length of the festival was increased and the date moved backward because of the great weather at the end of September in Bavaria.

While we all know it as Oktoberfest, the actual German term for Oktoberfest is die Wiesn - a contraction of the word "Wiesen" which literally translated means meadow or field.  The original Oktoberfest was held on the fields in front of the city gates which were later renamed "Theresienwiese" (Theresa's fields).  Today, you may be confused if you go to Germany and don't know the term die Wiesn - put it in your vocabulary.

Since its beginnings the Oktoberfest has thus been canceled 24 times due to war, disease and other emergencies.  By 1960, the last year that horse races were held, Oktoberfest was already a world-famous festival.  People from all over the world started attending Oktoberfest in droves; 6 million visitors every year.

Six Munich breweries, Löwenbräu, Spaten, Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner and Hacker-Pschorr, brew a special beer just for  the Oktoberfest.  The beer, Wiesnbier is slightly darker and stronger than a normal Pils.  It is served in a one-liter-tankard, ein Mass. This year the cost for ein Mass is 7.50 euros.

 Fun Oktoberfest Facts:

• 30% of the year's production of beer by Munich breweries will be consumed in the two weeks of Oktoberfest.
• 12,000 People are employed at the Oktoberfest.  Of these, 1,600 are waitresses.
• There is available seating for 100,000 people.
• The six Oktoberfest breweries sold 6 million mugs of beer in 2005 (5.5 million in 2004).
• Roasted oxen: 88
• Sausages: 220,000 pairs
• Roast chickens: 460,000

 Proist Harry & Ingrid, Franz & Petra, and Harry & Margot.
 

HALLOWEEN, OCTOBER 31^st

Halloween is an annual celebration, but just what is it actually a celebration of?  And how did this peculiar custom originate?  Is it, as some claim, a kind of demon worship?  Or is it just a harmless vestige of some ancient pagan ritual?

The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church.  It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve.  November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints.  But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31.  The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year. 

One story says that, on that day, the disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year.  It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife.  The Celts believed all laws of space and time were suspended during this time, allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living.

Naturally, the still-living did not want to be possessed.  So on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes, to make them cold and undesirable.  They would then dress up in all manner of ghoulish costumes and noisily paraded around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible in order to frighten away spirits looking for bodies to possess.

Probably a better explanation of why the Celts extinguished their fires was not to discourage spirit possession, but so that all the Celtic tribes could relight their fires from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning in the Middle of Ireland, at Usinach.

The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840's by Irish immigrants fleeing their country's potato famine. At that time, the favorite pranks in New England included tipping over outhouses and unhinging fence gates.

The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling.  On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants.  The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors.  At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven.

The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore.  As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree.  Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree.  Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree.

According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil.  Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness.  The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer.

The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally.  But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips, so the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember.
 

HIGHWAY SIGN SURVEY

     The Staff of The Akumalian would like to thank everyone who participated in this survey to approximate what highway sign would fall down first, as well as how and when.  The response was so overwhelming we had to stop taking submissions.  The results are:

1. Which of the two signs will fall first?
80%        CANCUN-AKUMAL SIGN

2. How do you think it will fall down?
46.7%     Hit by a bus or truck
26.7%     Hurricane or TS winds
26.7%     Natural inertia of leaning

3. What month do you think it will fall down?
26.7%    November 2008

4. What week of the month will it fall down?
33.3%    Week 1 and 2

EVENTS

Besides the usual Robin’s “Best Shirt Award”, September saw numerous other “Events” which have been recorded in The Akumalian’s Photo Gallery under Events.

See September Birthday Party for more photos.

See Gabriella’s Wine Reception for more photos.

 Return to Top    Events Home Page