Isla Mujeres

We had a great three nights on Isla, walking for miles, exploring shops and beaches and eating. It is a nice little island with the population all centered on the North end. Daytimes are much busier with the boatloads of tourists from Cancun there to spend the day while night time is reserved for those living and staying on the island. There are many restaurants to choose from and we picked one on the pedestrian only street that featured grilled tuna. This is one of my favourite dishes in Mexico. It was grilled to perfection, very rare. We had an early night as we were up early.

Saturday morning we had breakfast and, after thinking about renting a $500 peso golf cart, decided on a taxi to the south end of the island instead. There we found the Zama Beach Club. This is a beautiful beach with a restaurant/bar, changing rooms, beach chairs and a pool. For the price of lunch and / or a drink you can enjoy the private beach all day. It is a perfect alternative for those of us too cheap to rent one of the very expensive beach front hotels. After sharing a guacamole salad with an ice cold cervesa for me and a glass of wine for Norma, we put on our bathing suits and went swimming. The water was clear and very salty. I was able to float on my back so easily, I could have gone to sleep. It was a beautiful day and after three hours, we caught another cab back to the hotel.

After a rest we headed out to a fish and chip restaurant on a dock on the west side of the island. The fish was grouper and it was very good with the Tamarind sauce recommended by the waitress. A very good feed and only $65 pesos. We walked for a while and stopped in at a salsa dance spot for a nightcap. We were too early for the salsa dancing but did get to enjoy a treat Mexican couple on guitar and traditional Mayan instruments. This was fantastic music using, among many other instruments, a Rain Stick much like the one we bought near San Migual de Allende.

Sunday morning we finally met Wayne of the Blog Isla Mujeres: Gringo in Paradise He is a great guy with a lot of knowledge of the area (and a 30% discount at the restaurant)! We missed one thing though. When I checked my email there was a message from John Calypso telling me to be sure to ask Wayne to show us his new leg tattoo! We missed our chance!

After breakfast we headed back to the hotel to pack and make our way to the ferry for another beautiful voyage across the Caribbean to Puerto Juarez.

Now those are poached eggs!

The West beach and some Mariachis:

North Beach (Many were topless but try as I might)… and the East Beach – 100 KM to Cuba

Zama Beach Club and Croft’s new “Sand…als”:

The Hotel Carmelina: