2001-09-06-isla-mujeres-quintana-roo-mexico.md (9136B)
1 +++ 2 title = "Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, México" 3 date = "2001-09-06T00:00:00Z" 4 slug = "isla-mujeres-quintana-roo-mexico" 5 tags = ["Mexico", "Travel"] 6 +++ 7 8 {{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-lancha.jpg" alt="A small 'lancha' boat floats in the crystal-clear blue waters of the Caribbean, moored a few metres offshore a white sandy beach." >}} 9 10 > Lo que tu eres, yo fui 11 > Lo que yo soy, luego serás 12 > _—Inscription on the pirate Mundaca’s Tomb_ 13 14 Many, many years ago, a pirate by the name of Fermin Antonio Mundaca de 15 Marechaja landed on Isla Mujeres and fell in love with a young lady whose name 16 has been long forgotten. Today, she is known only as *La Trigueña* (The 17 Brunette), the name by which he referred to her. In order to win her love, 18 Mundaca built an elaborate hacienda, erected archways and laid paths throughout 19 the gardens. He had trees and plants brought from all over the world to plant 20 in the gardens. Unfortunately, before he finished this masterpiece, she ran off 21 with another islander and got married. Today, his house lays in ruins in the 22 middle of what remains of his fortress. And if you look carefully, you can 23 faintly work out the words *La Trigueña* carved into the stone archway. Mundaca 24 eventually died of the plague in Mérida, but his small tomb can still be seen 25 among the headstones of the small cemetary near the north beach of town. 26 Adorned with an eerily grinning skull and crossbones, it bears no name, but 27 carries the inscription: 'As you are, I was. As I am, you will be.' 28 29 With a couple weeks before school and work starts, we decided to visit Isla 30 Mujeres (lit. The Island of Women), a small island that sits about 11 km off 31 the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, in Quintana Roo. A few hours east of 32 Mérida, the island is surrounded by the turquoise, bathtub warm, crystal clear 33 waters of the Caribbean, and is the site of some spectacular snorkeling and 34 diving. 35 36 Isla Mujeres is tiny—about 8 km long and between 300 and 800 metres wide—and 37 has a population of 7000 residents. The main part of the town sits on the 38 north-west tip of the island, but there are some smaller *colonias* in the 39 central Salinas area, as well as on the south end. Although it was once a 40 fishing town, the main business today is tourism. Unlike Cancún, however, Isla 41 Mujeres has a much more relaxed, laid back pace of life, and it hasn’t yet 42 turned into a party town full of drunken gringos. The locals appear to want to 43 keep it this way, and the local San Francisco store stops selling alcohol at 44 8:30 or 9:00 in the evenings. 45 46 {{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-sunset.jpg" alt="In the distance, the silhouette of a lancha passes through the shimmering reflection of the setting sun's light on the ocean." >}} 47 48 From the downtown Cancún bus station, we grabbed the Route 13 bus north along 49 Avenida Tulum to the Puerto Juarez ferry terminal, then hopped on a boat for 50 the 30 minute ferry ride to the island. We spent the whole ride locked in a 51 psychological battle trying not to jump off into the gorgeous blue water; it 52 was sheer torture. Apparently we weren’t the only ones—as soon as the boat 53 pulled alongside the Isla Mujeres dock, one 40 year old passenger jumped 54 overboard and swam to shore.We spent the next few days wandering around the 55 island on foot. Like a lot of touristy places in Mexico, there are thousands of 56 people trying to sell you anything and everything on the street. Fortunately, 57 the city is small enough that all the hawkers seem to be packed into two blocks 58 along Avenida Hidalgo between Av. Abasolo and Av. Lopez Mateos. Unfortunately, 59 that’s the easiest way to get to the beach. Fortunately (yet again), it’s 60 easily bypassed by taking the scenic route. 61 62 The best times of day for the beach are sunrise and sunset. The boatloads of 63 tourists from Cancún aren’t there, and the beach is nearly empty. The water 64 stays warm 24 hours a day, and the sunsets and sunrises are spectacular. During 65 the afternoons, the beach is packed with people and the sun is intense enough 66 that if you don’t fork over the 60 pesos ($10 Canadian) for a beach umbrella, 67 you’ll fry like bacon, even with the SPF 50 they sell at the super market. 68 There’s a reason most Mexicans swim in shorts and a t-shirt. 69 70 There are a lot of other things to do on the island. One of the most 71 interesting is the Sea Turtle conservation park. This is the only facility in 72 Mexico dedicated to preserving endangered sea turtles, such as the Hawk’s Bill 73 Turtle, which grows to over 100 kg, and lives to around 120 years old. The sea 74 turtles have been hunted to near extinction because of world-wide demand from 75 for their meat and shells. At the conservation facility, the turtles are bred, 76 cared for, then released back into the wild. There are no railings on the 77 walkways above the huge walled off section of ocean where the largest of the 78 turtles swim, and according to the guy who showed us around, if you fall in, 79 'te comen!', 'they eat you!'. 80 81 {{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-skeletons.jpg" alt="Four small hand-carved wooden skeleton toys playing musical instruments and wearing sombreros sit on the step of a storefront with their feet on the sidewalk. A small wooden armadillo wanders by." >}} 82 83 The ruins of Mundaca’s fortress are in the central part of the island, and if 84 you want to be eaten alive by mosquitos (there are Dengue Fever warnings all 85 over the place on the Yucatán Peninsula, by the way) it’s a great place to go. 86 No wonder the object of Mundaca’s affections ditched him for another man. Any 87 sensible pirate would have built his fortress on the beach or at least within 88 walking distance. Mundaca built his in the marshiest, grottiest, most densely 89 jungled part of the island. On the bright side there is, however, a sort of 90 small zoo in his gardens, with alligators, monkeys, a deer, and apparently a 91 jaguar, though we never got to see it, because the mosquitos drove us out 92 first. By the twentieth or thirtieth bite, we’d had more than enough of 93 Mundaca’s place.On the south side of the island, there’s Playa Garrafón, which 94 is part of a national park, but seems to have been recently turned into an 95 expensive tourist trap, complete with all-you-can-eat restaurants, zip lines, 96 'underwater adventure' and more construction, all for the low, ubeatable price 97 of $35 US a day! I believe they even translated that price into pesos 98 underneath in small type. We actually went next door, paid 20 pesos (about $2 99 US) and had the whole beach to ourselves. We snorkeled around the wharf and a 100 small reef, then Pablo and Armando, who ran the place, took us out to a reef 15 101 minutes out by boat, where we saw sharks, a sting ray, and a ton of live (and 102 dead) coral. Unfortunately, it seems like a million and one other people go out 103 to the same reef, and most don’t know how to swim. This means you’ll end up 104 spending an hour getting your head kicked in by screaming hoardes of 105 life-jacket wearing, water spitting drowners. I did get rammed in the legs by a 106 nurse shark though. It felt like sandpaper and was among the creepier 107 sensations I have experienced in my life. 108 109 {{< figure src="/post/2001-09-06-nativity-scene.jpg" alt="The gazebo at the centre of the Isla Mujeres plaza decorated in an underwater-themed nativity scene. The virgin mary stands at the centre, her hands in prayer. Fishing nets filled with starfish, tropical fish, and multi-coloured Christmas lights surround the gazebo." >}} 110 111 There are also some Mayan ruins at the south tip of the island, though there’s 112 very little left of them. Most of the ruins have been hurled into the ocean by 113 various hurricanes, but what’s left sits on a small point overlooking the 114 crystal clear blue water. My favourite part was the hand painted sign that 115 reads 'IGUANAS-No los tire piedras-Cuidelas', 'Please do not throw rocks at 116 the iguanas-take care of them!' Two English ladies who now live in Kentucky 117 were kind enough to pick us up on their rented golf cart and haul us back into 118 town, saving us a taxi ride/sunburn.During our stay on the island, we ran into 119 a small herd of beach cats. They appeared to be completely starving, which I’m 120 sure is all part of their little ploy to get food from unsuspecting tourists. 121 In fact, I’m sure that if a study were done, they’d probably find that this is 122 a behaviour that beach cats have evolved over centuries of tourism, sort of 123 like pigeons that pretend to be one-legged to get sympathy points from old 124 grannies in parks. In any case, these poor things ended up rounding up enough 125 sympathy to get some canned tuna… twice. Most of the time, though, I we watched 126 it digging holes on the beach, which I don’t really want to think about too 127 much. We also saw it kill and eat cockroaches, which no matter how disgusting 128 it is, I have to admit is actually sort of mezmerising. 129 130 All in all, it was a great vacation before everything gets crazy here. We hope 131 we’ll have time to go back at some point for another visit. The place to stay 132 is definitely the Hotel El Marcianito; the guy who runs it is totally friendly, 133 and gave us a ton of advice on places to see.