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1 <!doctype html> 2 <html lang="en"> 3 <head> 4 <meta charset="utf-8"> 5 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> 6 <title>Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, México - Chris Bracken</title> 7 <link href="/css/site.css" rel="stylesheet"> 8 <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/favicon/apple-touch-icon.png"> 9 <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/favicon/favicon-32x32.png"> 10 <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/favicon/favicon-16x16.png"> 11 <link rel="manifest" href="/favicon/site.webmanifest"> 12 <link rel="mask-icon" href="/favicon/safari-pinned-tab.svg" color="#140f42"> 13 <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon/favicon.ico"> 14 <link rel="me" href="https://famichiki.jp/@akande"/> 15 <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#603cba"> 16 <meta name="msapplication-config" content="/favicon/browserconfig.xml"> 17 <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"> 18 </head> 19 <body> 20 <header id="header"> 21 <div class="site-title"> 22 <h1><a href="/">Chris Bracken</a></h1> 23 </div> 24 25 <nav class="site-navbar"> 26 <ul id="menu" class="menu"> 27 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/">Home</a></li> 28 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/about/">About</a></li> 29 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/code/">Code</a></li> 30 </ul> 31 </nav> 32 </header> 33 <main id="main"> 34 <article> 35 <h2 class="post-title"><a href="https://chris.bracken.jp/2001/09/isla-mujeres-quintana-roo-mexico/">Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, México</a></h2> 36 06 September 2001 37 <figure><img src="/post/2001-09-06-lancha.jpg" 38 alt="A small 'lancha' boat floats in the crystal-clear blue waters of the Caribbean, moored a few metres offshore a white sandy beach."> 39 </figure> 40 41 <blockquote> 42 <p>Lo que tu eres, yo fui<br> 43 Lo que yo soy, luego serás<br> 44 <em>—Inscription on the pirate Mundaca’s Tomb</em></p></blockquote> 45 <p>Many, many years ago, a pirate by the name of Fermin Antonio Mundaca de 46 Marechaja landed on Isla Mujeres and fell in love with a young lady whose name 47 has been long forgotten. Today, she is known only as <em>La Trigueña</em> (The 48 Brunette), the name by which he referred to her. In order to win her love, 49 Mundaca built an elaborate hacienda, erected archways and laid paths throughout 50 the gardens. He had trees and plants brought from all over the world to plant 51 in the gardens. Unfortunately, before he finished this masterpiece, she ran off 52 with another islander and got married. Today, his house lays in ruins in the 53 middle of what remains of his fortress. And if you look carefully, you can 54 faintly work out the words <em>La Trigueña</em> carved into the stone archway. Mundaca 55 eventually died of the plague in Mérida, but his small tomb can still be seen 56 among the headstones of the small cemetary near the north beach of town. 57 Adorned with an eerily grinning skull and crossbones, it bears no name, but 58 carries the inscription: ‘As you are, I was. As I am, you will be.’</p> 59 <p>With a couple weeks before school and work starts, we decided to visit Isla 60 Mujeres (lit. The Island of Women), a small island that sits about 11 km off 61 the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, in Quintana Roo. A few hours east of 62 Mérida, the island is surrounded by the turquoise, bathtub warm, crystal clear 63 waters of the Caribbean, and is the site of some spectacular snorkeling and 64 diving.</p> 65 <p>Isla Mujeres is tiny—about 8 km long and between 300 and 800 metres wide—and 66 has a population of 7000 residents. The main part of the town sits on the 67 north-west tip of the island, but there are some smaller <em>colonias</em> in the 68 central Salinas area, as well as on the south end. Although it was once a 69 fishing town, the main business today is tourism. Unlike Cancún, however, Isla 70 Mujeres has a much more relaxed, laid back pace of life, and it hasn’t yet 71 turned into a party town full of drunken gringos. The locals appear to want to 72 keep it this way, and the local San Francisco store stops selling alcohol at 73 8:30 or 9:00 in the evenings.</p> 74 <figure><img src="/post/2001-09-06-sunset.jpg" 75 alt="In the distance, the silhouette of a lancha passes through the shimmering reflection of the setting sun's light on the ocean."> 76 </figure> 77 78 <p>From the downtown Cancún bus station, we grabbed the Route 13 bus north along 79 Avenida Tulum to the Puerto Juarez ferry terminal, then hopped on a boat for 80 the 30 minute ferry ride to the island. We spent the whole ride locked in a 81 psychological battle trying not to jump off into the gorgeous blue water; it 82 was sheer torture. Apparently we weren’t the only ones—as soon as the boat 83 pulled alongside the Isla Mujeres dock, one 40 year old passenger jumped 84 overboard and swam to shore.We spent the next few days wandering around the 85 island on foot. Like a lot of touristy places in Mexico, there are thousands of 86 people trying to sell you anything and everything on the street. Fortunately, 87 the city is small enough that all the hawkers seem to be packed into two blocks 88 along Avenida Hidalgo between Av. Abasolo and Av. Lopez Mateos. Unfortunately, 89 that’s the easiest way to get to the beach. Fortunately (yet again), it’s 90 easily bypassed by taking the scenic route.</p> 91 <p>The best times of day for the beach are sunrise and sunset. The boatloads of 92 tourists from Cancún aren’t there, and the beach is nearly empty. The water 93 stays warm 24 hours a day, and the sunsets and sunrises are spectacular. During 94 the afternoons, the beach is packed with people and the sun is intense enough 95 that if you don’t fork over the 60 pesos ($10 Canadian) for a beach umbrella, 96 you’ll fry like bacon, even with the SPF 50 they sell at the super market. 97 There’s a reason most Mexicans swim in shorts and a t-shirt.</p> 98 <p>There are a lot of other things to do on the island. One of the most 99 interesting is the Sea Turtle conservation park. This is the only facility in 100 Mexico dedicated to preserving endangered sea turtles, such as the Hawk’s Bill 101 Turtle, which grows to over 100 kg, and lives to around 120 years old. The sea 102 turtles have been hunted to near extinction because of world-wide demand from 103 for their meat and shells. At the conservation facility, the turtles are bred, 104 cared for, then released back into the wild. There are no railings on the 105 walkways above the huge walled off section of ocean where the largest of the 106 turtles swim, and according to the guy who showed us around, if you fall in, 107 ’te comen!’, ’they eat you!'.</p> 108 <figure><img src="/post/2001-09-06-skeletons.jpg" 109 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."> 110 </figure> 111 112 <p>The ruins of Mundaca’s fortress are in the central part of the island, and if 113 you want to be eaten alive by mosquitos (there are Dengue Fever warnings all 114 over the place on the Yucatán Peninsula, by the way) it’s a great place to go. 115 No wonder the object of Mundaca’s affections ditched him for another man. Any 116 sensible pirate would have built his fortress on the beach or at least within 117 walking distance. Mundaca built his in the marshiest, grottiest, most densely 118 jungled part of the island. On the bright side there is, however, a sort of 119 small zoo in his gardens, with alligators, monkeys, a deer, and apparently a 120 jaguar, though we never got to see it, because the mosquitos drove us out 121 first. By the twentieth or thirtieth bite, we’d had more than enough of 122 Mundaca’s place.On the south side of the island, there’s Playa Garrafón, which 123 is part of a national park, but seems to have been recently turned into an 124 expensive tourist trap, complete with all-you-can-eat restaurants, zip lines, 125 ‘underwater adventure’ and more construction, all for the low, ubeatable price 126 of $35 US a day! I believe they even translated that price into pesos 127 underneath in small type. We actually went next door, paid 20 pesos (about $2 128 US) and had the whole beach to ourselves. We snorkeled around the wharf and a 129 small reef, then Pablo and Armando, who ran the place, took us out to a reef 15 130 minutes out by boat, where we saw sharks, a sting ray, and a ton of live (and 131 dead) coral. Unfortunately, it seems like a million and one other people go out 132 to the same reef, and most don’t know how to swim. This means you’ll end up 133 spending an hour getting your head kicked in by screaming hoardes of 134 life-jacket wearing, water spitting drowners. I did get rammed in the legs by a 135 nurse shark though. It felt like sandpaper and was among the creepier 136 sensations I have experienced in my life.</p> 137 <figure><img src="/post/2001-09-06-nativity-scene.jpg" 138 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."> 139 </figure> 140 141 <p>There are also some Mayan ruins at the south tip of the island, though there’s 142 very little left of them. Most of the ruins have been hurled into the ocean by 143 various hurricanes, but what’s left sits on a small point overlooking the 144 crystal clear blue water. My favourite part was the hand painted sign that 145 reads ‘IGUANAS-No los tire piedras-Cuidelas’, ‘Please do not throw rocks at 146 the iguanas-take care of them!’ Two English ladies who now live in Kentucky 147 were kind enough to pick us up on their rented golf cart and haul us back into 148 town, saving us a taxi ride/sunburn.During our stay on the island, we ran into 149 a small herd of beach cats. They appeared to be completely starving, which I’m 150 sure is all part of their little ploy to get food from unsuspecting tourists. 151 In fact, I’m sure that if a study were done, they’d probably find that this is 152 a behaviour that beach cats have evolved over centuries of tourism, sort of 153 like pigeons that pretend to be one-legged to get sympathy points from old 154 grannies in parks. In any case, these poor things ended up rounding up enough 155 sympathy to get some canned tuna… twice. Most of the time, though, I we watched 156 it digging holes on the beach, which I don’t really want to think about too 157 much. We also saw it kill and eat cockroaches, which no matter how disgusting 158 it is, I have to admit is actually sort of mezmerising.</p> 159 <p>All in all, it was a great vacation before everything gets crazy here. We hope 160 we’ll have time to go back at some point for another visit. The place to stay 161 is definitely the Hotel El Marcianito; the guy who runs it is totally friendly, 162 and gave us a ton of advice on places to see.</p> 163 </article> 164 </main> 165 166 <footer id="footer"> 167 <div class="copyright"> 168 <span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#"> 169 The content of this site by 170 <a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="https://chris.bracken.jp/about"><span rel="cc:attributionName">Chris Bracken</span></a> 171 is 172 <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0">CC BY 4.0</a>. 173 </span> 174 </div> 175 </footer> 176 </body> 177 </html>