Saturday-Friday 19-25 July 2003
Unfortunately the paradise island “Islá Mujeres” is also a magnet for tourists with restaurants side-by-side and loud music from different sources. At mentioned before, Mexico is noisy and loud music is played on the streets, in busses and in restaurants. Here we actually found a restaurant with live performing piano music, which was a pleasant experience. This is not a place to expect genuine Mexican folklore and we realized that we had been lucky only to meet tourists at the archeological sites. Now we felt that all tourists were gathered here.
We rented a scooter even though the fare of USD 25 seemed a bit overpriced. Anyway, it turned out to be a brilliant way of transportation as the island only covers 8 km. We also rented snorkel equipment and felt prepared for the beaches and the clear water.
It was so cool to tear along the roads on the scooter with windy hair. We went along the island and looked for a nice little beach. We searched in vain as the coast was covered with houses and hotels all over. We stopped by a tiny, but expensive hotel and as everybody is in right to access the beaches, the staff led us through the hall to the beach. Later we learned that is hospitality was not common for the Indian Mexicans, which was a rather unpleasant surprise to us.
We got into the water but did not find anything particular to dive for. We found another small hotel in the opposite end of the island and saw small shoal of fish under the bathing jetty, but not a rich and colorful wildlife. After a while, a large 40-fod sailing boat arrived and we asked the crew about the boat and their nationality. They turned out to be local Mexicans from Cancun, and shortly after they invited us onboard for a glass of white wine. We had a long talk in the sun and were happy finally to meet some Mexicans who understood English.
While some of the crew went into the water for a swim, we talked with an elder lady who told us about everyday life in the country. We learned about the vast amount of corruption and the fact that only half the population actually pays their tax. Once again we could tell about the Danish well-fare system that compare to this sounds perfect, even though we pay more than 50% in tax.
Later when rest of the crew returned, they invited us to lunch at the neighboring beach restaurant. We hesitated as we would be importunately to them, but accepted when learned that the restaurant accepted our credit card.
Here we sat 15 people around the table, getting delicious fresh fish courses and Mexican beer. It was nice to eat lunch after a long day in the heat. At 4pm we decided to leave the company and go snorkeling again. When we asked how to pay, the crew insisted on paying our lunch. We absolutely had to experience the Mexican hospitality. So we did.
And it did not stop here. One of the families had sailed from Cancun on two Jet Ski’s and when they heard that we went to snorkel, they immediately offered us a ride on the Jet Ski’s to the reef. We had to experience the beauty of the Caribbean Sea. We were not slow to accept that offer, as we previously checked the prices for diving excursions to the reef, but dropped the idea because the high rates.
It was an amazing experience to snorkel on the reef. We saw countless, colorful fish and surprisingly also a stingray. The family pointed out good spots and where very attentive on our security. After almost an hour in the water, we returned to the beach and I got the opportunity to sail the Jet Ski. Great!
Back on “Islá Mujeres” we realized the consequence of spending the day in the sun. Despite high-factor sun block, our backs were dark red and we got a bit queasy because of it. Fortunately we had after-sun lotion, but it of course restrained the next day activities and caused us to wear T-shirt all day even in the water. We were exhausted, after all the body uses a lot of energy when sun burnt. Fortunately we weren’t in a hurry.
We re-rented the scooter for additional two days and experience more of the small island. We got ourselves a nice dinner at a beach restaurant and enjoyed sitting by the tables with our bare feet in the sand while having cold beer and delicious fish.
On Tuesday the days began to be alike, and we felt a great contrast to the previous three weeks of hectic travel activity. We sensed that our voyage soon would end and within our heads we slowly started to plan the travel back to Denmark. We did rush more than we were able to enjoy the place, taking a lot of photos and swim the clear blue water.
At the most idyllic white beach with azure blue water, I finally proposed marriage to Ane on my own “cautious way” as she expressed it. I could not image a better place and fortunately she answered, “Yes!” and thus the day was perfect to us.
The travel back to Denmark was a bit chaotic. We took the chance and counted on finding a budget hotel in Cancun even though we did not have a reservation. It turned out to be much harder than expected to find accommodation and only in fifth attempt, out friendly taxi-driver succeed in finding room for us.
Next morning when we arrived in the airport, just to realize that we had arrived one day in advance. Apparently we had calculated the schedule wrongly when leaving Valladolid Friday afternoon instead of Saturday as planned.
In our eagerness to keep track on economy, schedule and timing, we had reconfirmed ourselves that we were on track, even though our schedule was one day ahead. That error cost us additional USD 200 at Lufthansa airlines, but on the other hand we got an extra day off at home before starting to work again after the holiday.
We got some stressful hours in the airport before we were able to lean back in the seats and enjoy the flight to Denmark with a smile and lots of nice memories of sunny California, Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.