The Island of Women

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We had decided to travel onwards to Isla Mujueres on Thursday instead of Friday as it seemed most of our companions at Rio Playa were leaving. The Korean girl was off to Cuba, and our Swede friends and 2 more Swedes we met the previous night were all destined for Isla. We had originally decided to spend our last day in Playa on the beach, and as it had started raining we definitely decided it was time to move on. So we packed our bags with heavy hangovers, discarding many unrequired items, as we knew the journey was going to be tough in the heat.

Before leaving Playa we went for one final meal at our favourite taco place with Martin, Andre and the New Zealander. The four of us including the Swedes then trudged in the heat for about 10 minutes to the bus station (but it felt like an hour). Upon arrival at the bus station Katie decided she would have to discard more when we reached Isla, because the 3 or 4 Kilos she had already had to get rid of was not enough. We boarded our bus to Cancun which was an uneventful journey lasting around an hour.

When we reached Cancun we found ourselves in the downtown area. We asked for directions to the bus stop which could take us to Puerto Juarez (the port where we would get the ferry) in broken Spanish, and in turn received directions in broken English. However, we managed to find it quite easily using numbers and hand signals. We like how cities are designed in a grid format here, and that the roads have numbers instead of names. It is much easier to give and receive directions than at home. Anyway, we ended up catching a collectivo with wooden benches instead of seats, a door that was constantly open, and a wild driver. In all not a good combination, but the rush of wind was a good hangover cure, and it was fun.

We arrived at the port, but were pretty disappointed that we seemed to be at the tourist port when we had wanted to go to the locals' ferry port. We were too hot and bothered to go elsewhere, so decided to catch this ferry anyway which was 70 pesos each (£3.50) each way- and a hell of a lot quicker than the other ferry. It also had live entertainment on the top deck which we enjoyed on the 20 minute journey across.

From the boat Isla Mujueres looked like another picturesque honeymoon paradise. It had beautiful beaches, scattered multi- couloured buildings, and palm trees lining brick paved streets. We got off the boat and proceeded to ask for directions to Pok'Na hostel, where we had a reservation for 3 nights. Directions were provided by locals using hand gestures, and we managed to find the hostel with ease. We had found so far that hostels seemed to have the most amazing locations, and this one did not disappoint. The hostel owned part of the beach, which had coconut trees, and hammocks were suspended from them. All of the rooms were set around common areas such as an open dining room with beautiful lanterns decorations, an internet cafe, an open stage area which played live music every night, and massage tents. Because of Pok'Na's beautiful location, and how it promoted socialising, it seemed to us to have become a second home for some of the guests, a bit of a hippie hang out. Some people had been there for months, loving the chilled out atmosphere and the reggae reggae Ska style live music bands at night, and beach parties after. We guess we may have felt differently about this place had we not have arrived on a hangover, but it was a little overwhelming. The place was packed and there must have been about 200 beds. Our Swedish friends had tried to check in the previous week but it had been fully booked.

When we arrived we walked out to the beach area and saw our other Swede friend Olof and an Israeli from our last hostel. Together we went for a walk around the headland of the island (Pok'Na was on one side of the island and on the other side was Playa Norte- the main beach). The distance between the two (i.e. the width of the island) was about 1km at a guess. We did some more snorkeling at Playa Norte but there was nothing to see again, only a few more flounder fish by the pier. However, the water was clear and the beach was another paradise with restaurants and sunbathing beds along it.

After the beach we returned to Pok'Na to shower and get ready to eat. We had noticed that there was very little street food available on the island, and that a lot of the food outlets were closed for most of the day, only opening during the evening. The six of us went out to eat at a place advertising 'pub grub' where Luke had burger and wedges and Katie had macaroni cheese. The food was real good but we forgot that we would have to pay service charge, what a bummer considering the service we recieved was terrible. We waited around half an hour for 'la cuenta' even though we were the only table in the restaurant.

The following day we woke up pretty early and attempted to cancel our reservation for the final night. We had been for a walk the previous evening and had concluded there was not a lot to see on Isla, and that we would be ready to move on soon. We managed to sort out the booking after a LOT of hassle as the receptionist kept trying to overcharge us. Eventually the manager spoke to us and resolved the issue, providing us with two free drink vouchers for all of the bother. We then visited the internet cafe in the morning and decided to rent some bikes in the afternoon.

After lunch (of an amazing torta with chicken and cheese) we set out to rent some bikes. The previous day we had inquired into the price of renting bikes at the rental shop outside our hostel- they quoted 20 pesos per hour. Obviously when we returned today they denied all knowledge of this and the price had gone up to 30 pesos. We refused to pay on principle, and they didn't even change their minds even though it was out of season, and the island was pretty quiet and we were refusing to give them business. We went to another bike shop down by the front which was renting out golf buggies that loads of American tourists were racing around the island in. We didn't want one of these we just wanted push bikes, but the owner told us his bikes were better quality than the bikes by our hostel, so he would charge more money. As we left the shop a young Mexican boy who worked there followed us and told us he would rent us out some bikes for a good price. We agreed and followed him to the bike shop by our hostel. He told us that the owner of the shop that we had just been to also owned this shop. The bikes looked the same to us. Was it just because he could charge more down at the front that he tried to charge more? We think so. Anyway, we got our bikes for 100 pesos for two hours, still a higher price than we had been originally quoted but we guessed it was a fair price. We do not want to try and get the best prices around at the expense of the local people. We just don't want to be overcharged because we are so clearly tourists.

We rode our bikes to the southern peninsula of the island, hoping to see some of the beaches shown on the map. Along the way a few stray dogs snapped at our heels which was a little bit scary, but in all the ride felt safe. On the way to the beaches we spotted a floating island that we had seen advertised on the wall of our hostel. It was an island in a lagoon, which had been constructed on plastic bottles. It was all very bizarre. We decided to dismount and take the guided tour, as we were interested to meet the man who built and lived there. He turned out to be British. His name was Richard and he was from York. He told us in no uncertain terms that he was visited by aliens whilst on a trip to Germany. Shortly after this escapade an idea came to him that he should build a floating island, using other people's trash and turning it into a home. He was convinced that these two separate events were interlinked, and that the aliens had provided him with this little piece of a genius idea.

Anyway so he built this one floating island a few years back in Cancun which unfortunately got blown onto land during a typhoon. It took him a few years to get over that and back on his feet, then he decided to build his next on Isla Mujueres. Isla Mujueres means island of women, and the Mayan ladies used to visit the island to pray for a successful pregnancy. This is why Richard decided to build his new island here. He envisages the island as being the shape of a fish, and he had built the island where he believed the fish's womb would be. He dragged some bottles from his previous island to form part of his new island and this was the sperm.

Fortunately our bikes were due back at the rental shop so we were soon back on the floating boat along with Richard's co-captain and were destined for the shore and the land of the sane. The island was a good idea in principle; he was using solar cooking, and was promoting the growth of mangroves and other plant life. However, we did question the safety of constructing the outdoor concrete bath above the bed in the master bedroom. After all, the whole structure was only built out of bags of trash.

We walked down to Playa Norte to watch the sunset over the beach. We had the intention of having a drink in a coconut shell which we had seen someone drinking the previous day. However we were told that the coconut man had gone home. That was a shame but the sunset was still beautiful.

We went out to eat again, this time we shared nachos. After, Luke had fish and chips at a British style take away which also sold fried chicken, and Katie had 2 crepes with nutella and peanut butter. Yum. We went back to the hostel where the party was in full swing as always and we could not hear each other talk. The Swedes had been winding us up about our British reputation for being alcoholics, so we had decided not to drink for a few days. We went to the games room and watched a film, where Katie fell asleep on the sofa again.

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Comments

[Zena]

Amazing!!
Looks like you are really enjoying yourselves! The photos are amazing, especially the beaches. I am such a beach girl, it makes me jealous!! All fine down this end, got halloween party at the SQ tomorrow - the usual! Im going as the girl from the Grudge haha! Miss you xxxx