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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 <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#603cba"> 15 <meta name="msapplication-config" content="/favicon/browserconfig.xml"> 16 <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"> 17 </head> 18 <body> 19 <header id="header"> 20 <div class="site-title"> 21 <h1><a href="/">Chris Bracken</a></h1> 22 </div> 23 24 <nav class="site-navbar"> 25 <ul id="menu" class="menu"> 26 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/">Home</a></li> 27 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/about/">About</a></li> 28 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/code/">Code</a></li> 29 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" rel="me"href="https://bsd.network/@cbracken">Fediverse</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> 45 </blockquote> 46 <p>Many, many years ago, a pirate by the name of Fermin Antonio Mundaca de 47 Marechaja landed on Isla Mujeres and fell in love with a young lady whose name 48 has been long forgotten. Today, she is known only as <em>La Trigueña</em> (The 49 Brunette), the name by which he referred to her. In order to win her love, 50 Mundaca built an elaborate hacienda, erected archways and laid paths throughout 51 the gardens. He had trees and plants brought from all over the world to plant 52 in the gardens. Unfortunately, before he finished this masterpiece, she ran off 53 with another islander and got married. Today, his house lays in ruins in the 54 middle of what remains of his fortress. And if you look carefully, you can 55 faintly work out the words <em>La Trigueña</em> carved into the stone archway. Mundaca 56 eventually died of the plague in Mérida, but his small tomb can still be seen 57 among the headstones of the small cemetary near the north beach of town. 58 Adorned with an eerily grinning skull and crossbones, it bears no name, but 59 carries the inscription: ‘As you are, I was. As I am, you will be.’</p> 60 <p>With a couple weeks before school and work starts, we decided to visit Isla 61 Mujeres (lit. The Island of Women), a small island that sits about 11 km off 62 the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, in Quintana Roo. A few hours east of 63 Mérida, the island is surrounded by the turquoise, bathtub warm, crystal clear 64 waters of the Caribbean, and is the site of some spectacular snorkeling and 65 diving.</p> 66 <p>Isla Mujeres is tiny—about 8 km long and between 300 and 800 metres wide—and 67 has a population of 7000 residents. The main part of the town sits on the 68 north-west tip of the island, but there are some smaller <em>colonias</em> in the 69 central Salinas area, as well as on the south end. Although it was once a 70 fishing town, the main business today is tourism. Unlike Cancún, however, Isla 71 Mujeres has a much more relaxed, laid back pace of life, and it hasn’t yet 72 turned into a party town full of drunken gringos. The locals appear to want to 73 keep it this way, and the local San Francisco store stops selling alcohol at 74 8:30 or 9:00 in the evenings.</p> 75 <figure><img src="/post/2001-09-06-sunset.jpg" 76 alt="In the distance, the silhouette of a lancha passes through the shimmering reflection of the setting sun's light on the ocean."> 77 </figure> 78 79 <p>From the downtown Cancún bus station, we grabbed the Route 13 bus north along 80 Avenida Tulum to the Puerto Juarez ferry terminal, then hopped on a boat for 81 the 30 minute ferry ride to the island. We spent the whole ride locked in a 82 psychological battle trying not to jump off into the gorgeous blue water; it 83 was sheer torture. Apparently we weren’t the only ones—as soon as the boat 84 pulled alongside the Isla Mujeres dock, one 40 year old passenger jumped 85 overboard and swam to shore.We spent the next few days wandering around the 86 island on foot. Like a lot of touristy places in Mexico, there are thousands of 87 people trying to sell you anything and everything on the street. Fortunately, 88 the city is small enough that all the hawkers seem to be packed into two blocks 89 along Avenida Hidalgo between Av. Abasolo and Av. Lopez Mateos. Unfortunately, 90 that’s the easiest way to get to the beach. Fortunately (yet again), it’s 91 easily bypassed by taking the scenic route.</p> 92 <p>The best times of day for the beach are sunrise and sunset. The boatloads of 93 tourists from Cancún aren’t there, and the beach is nearly empty. The water 94 stays warm 24 hours a day, and the sunsets and sunrises are spectacular. During 95 the afternoons, the beach is packed with people and the sun is intense enough 96 that if you don’t fork over the 60 pesos ($10 Canadian) for a beach umbrella, 97 you’ll fry like bacon, even with the SPF 50 they sell at the super market. 98 There’s a reason most Mexicans swim in shorts and a t-shirt.</p> 99 <p>There are a lot of other things to do on the island. One of the most 100 interesting is the Sea Turtle conservation park. This is the only facility in 101 Mexico dedicated to preserving endangered sea turtles, such as the Hawk’s Bill 102 Turtle, which grows to over 100 kg, and lives to around 120 years old. The sea 103 turtles have been hunted to near extinction because of world-wide demand from 104 for their meat and shells. At the conservation facility, the turtles are bred, 105 cared for, then released back into the wild. There are no railings on the 106 walkways above the huge walled off section of ocean where the largest of the 107 turtles swim, and according to the guy who showed us around, if you fall in, 108 ’te comen!’, ’they eat you!'.</p> 109 <figure><img src="/post/2001-09-06-skeletons.jpg" 110 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."> 111 </figure> 112 113 <p>The ruins of Mundaca’s fortress are in the central part of the island, and if 114 you want to be eaten alive by mosquitos (there are Dengue Fever warnings all 115 over the place on the Yucatán Peninsula, by the way) it’s a great place to go. 116 No wonder the object of Mundaca’s affections ditched him for another man. Any 117 sensible pirate would have built his fortress on the beach or at least within 118 walking distance. Mundaca built his in the marshiest, grottiest, most densely 119 jungled part of the island. On the bright side there is, however, a sort of 120 small zoo in his gardens, with alligators, monkeys, a deer, and apparently a 121 jaguar, though we never got to see it, because the mosquitos drove us out 122 first. By the twentieth or thirtieth bite, we’d had more than enough of 123 Mundaca’s place.On the south side of the island, there’s Playa Garrafón, which 124 is part of a national park, but seems to have been recently turned into an 125 expensive tourist trap, complete with all-you-can-eat restaurants, zip lines, 126 ‘underwater adventure’ and more construction, all for the low, ubeatable price 127 of $35 US a day! I believe they even translated that price into pesos 128 underneath in small type. We actually went next door, paid 20 pesos (about $2 129 US) and had the whole beach to ourselves. We snorkeled around the wharf and a 130 small reef, then Pablo and Armando, who ran the place, took us out to a reef 15 131 minutes out by boat, where we saw sharks, a sting ray, and a ton of live (and 132 dead) coral. Unfortunately, it seems like a million and one other people go out 133 to the same reef, and most don’t know how to swim. This means you’ll end up 134 spending an hour getting your head kicked in by screaming hoardes of 135 life-jacket wearing, water spitting drowners. I did get rammed in the legs by a 136 nurse shark though. It felt like sandpaper and was among the creepier 137 sensations I have experienced in my life.</p> 138 <figure><img src="/post/2001-09-06-nativity-scene.jpg" 139 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."> 140 </figure> 141 142 <p>There are also some Mayan ruins at the south tip of the island, though there’s 143 very little left of them. Most of the ruins have been hurled into the ocean by 144 various hurricanes, but what’s left sits on a small point overlooking the 145 crystal clear blue water. My favourite part was the hand painted sign that 146 reads ‘IGUANAS-No los tire piedras-Cuidelas’, ‘Please do not throw rocks at 147 the iguanas-take care of them!’ Two English ladies who now live in Kentucky 148 were kind enough to pick us up on their rented golf cart and haul us back into 149 town, saving us a taxi ride/sunburn.During our stay on the island, we ran into 150 a small herd of beach cats. They appeared to be completely starving, which I’m 151 sure is all part of their little ploy to get food from unsuspecting tourists. 152 In fact, I’m sure that if a study were done, they’d probably find that this is 153 a behaviour that beach cats have evolved over centuries of tourism, sort of 154 like pigeons that pretend to be one-legged to get sympathy points from old 155 grannies in parks. In any case, these poor things ended up rounding up enough 156 sympathy to get some canned tuna… twice. Most of the time, though, I we watched 157 it digging holes on the beach, which I don’t really want to think about too 158 much. We also saw it kill and eat cockroaches, which no matter how disgusting 159 it is, I have to admit is actually sort of mezmerising.</p> 160 <p>All in all, it was a great vacation before everything gets crazy here. We hope 161 we’ll have time to go back at some point for another visit. The place to stay 162 is definitely the Hotel El Marcianito; the guy who runs it is totally friendly, 163 and gave us a ton of advice on places to see.</p> 164 </article> 165 </main> 166 167 <footer id="footer"> 168 <div class="copyright"> 169 <span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#"> 170 The content of this site by 171 <a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="https://chris.bracken.jp/about"><span rel="cc:attributionName">Chris Bracken</span></a> 172 is 173 <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0">CC BY 4.0</a>. 174 </span> 175 </div> 176 </footer> 177 </body> 178 </html>