Isla Mujeres - Finally the Caribbean

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  Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Thursday, June 19, 2008

Well, I have finally reached the Caribbean side of Mexico and the water is FABULOUS.  My brief stop in Merida was a bit of a non-event mostly by my choosing.  It was inland, had a million people and lots of city pollution.  I did spend two days in a cheap and beautiful renovated old mansion, and sampled some of the food of the Yucatan, but overall was ready to get towards Cancun and my destination off the coast, Isla Mujeres. 

After my more off the beaten track destinations, the resort town of Cancun was exactly what I expected.  Noisy, lots of traffic and too many ugly Americans.  But, I knew that before arriving and that is why my destination was to ultimately be the "island of women" about 30 minutes off the coast. 

I found a cheap and clean place just a stones through from the ferry and quickly started walking the downtown area of the island

Iguana? Lizard? Who knows.....

.  Very honky tonk, very 50's sort of feel to it.  There are tons of day trippers from Cancun, giving it more of a touristy feel than I ususally like, but I have to give a huge thumbs up on the beach on the North part of the island.  The water wasn't very deep, but the temperature and clarity of the water was amazing.  I spent one entire day just wallowing like a big old manatee and loved every minute of it. 

I rented a bicycle another day and circled the island in about 2 hours.  There were more fancy resort like destinations on the southern part of the island, but still sort of low range on the size perspective.  There was a waste water treatment plant on that end of the island as well that had a pretty nasty odor eminating from it.  Word is it smells like that all the time.  Tough for the higher end homes up there.  I stopped several times to take in the view and saw lots of these iguana like creatures every time I did (photo included herein).  Very different and fun to see. 

Aestetically the island is beautiful, but there are still very visible reminders of Hurricane Wilma that passed through here about a year or so ago and did some seriuos damage.  I got up and watched a sunrise one morning and loved the quite and color of it all.  The sunsets were as you would expect an island sunset to be.....But the thing that I loved the most about it all was the tremendous amount of sky you could visually take in on the northern beach

Isla Mujeres fabulous view

.  Literally a 270 degree view of open sky along one side and over to the other on the tip of the island.  Like being in the Southwestern corner of the U.S. -- big sky country.  Very beautiful. 

As I make my way South about 2 hours to Tulum and then another 4 to the border of Belize, I am sort of forced to consider what has transpired over the last half a year.  Can you believe I have been in Mexico just shy of 6 months now?  Holy crap.  I feel as if I am the luckiest gal on the planet.  As my friend Moisés says, "for sure there is enough reason to be happy."   To have the opportunity to sit back and contemplate my past, my future and my present without the confines of traditional responsibility and obligations is a gift I wish you all are some day able to give yourselves.  I am not sure where this adventure will find me when I finally plant myself for a while, but you will be the first to know when it happens.

Lots of love and wishes from the Mayan Riveria...

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Ocean view from Isla Mujeres to Cancun

Yet another fabulous sunset

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