AKITA DOG to the YUCATAN Part 2

Except for a couple that I met on the plane who had just traded in a Dobie for an eight-week old Akita and another couple that I met at Tellum from South Carolina who had just traded in a Pit Bull for an Akita, no one I met had seen a dog quite like an Akita, so I spent a lot of proud moments expounding on the merits of the Japanese imports.

He was so well-received in fact, that the desk clerk volunteered to babysit Saki while I was scuba diving and at every ruin someone was always anxious to hold him whenever I went into areas where dogs weren’t allowed. Twice a Mexican girl would come up to me, hand me a camera and stand by Saki while I took her picture. Several people asked me how they could get in touch with Akita breeders in the U.S.A.

I rented a Volkswagen Bug from the resort which was perfect in size and durability. Saki, the camera gear and I made for a loaded Bug.

Even in February, the heat and humidity on the coast was fairly high and Saki, not being able to take off his winter coat that fast, was pretty uncomfortable, so every attempt had to be made to keep him from extremes. However, climbing forty-six meter pyramids was one extreme that could not be avoided.

It didn’t take long for Saki to find that the only cool place in the Yucatan was in the water, so his main thing became swimming, and swim he did. We would swim out to the reefs or around the lagoon at Xel-Ha and, while I was observing the beautiful coral and the magnificently-colored sea life, Saki would swim along for a while, then circle around and come in broadside and try to disengage my snorkel. His buoyancy was great and I was impressed with the Akita’s ability to swim as it seemed he could have swam forever. But, oh, the matting that salt water did make!

We climbed the walls of the coastal Mayan ruins of Tulum, explored the trails through the jungles at Coba and viewed the endless panorama of the Yucatan jungle from the temple atop Nohoch Mul, towering above the dense jungle roof, highest of all accessible pyramids in the region. Finally, we were awed by the ugly beauty of Chac Mool, the life-sized Jade-studded Panther hidden in the inner Temple of the great Castillo at Chichen Itza, traveled the back roads to observe the local lifestyles, played the part of unauthorized Ambassador for the Akita Industry, met a lot of great people, swam and swam and then the week abruptly came to an end and it was time to pack.