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Published: January 31st 2009
Isla Mujeres (Island of Women) is an idyllic island just off Cancun. There are several theories as to its name, but our favourite (and the least probable) is that it is where pirates left their women when they left to raid the mainlands.
We took a bus from Merida to Cancun. Everyone says that Cancun is a terrible place to stay unless you're at a resort, so we wasted no time there. The beaches are all public, but they are lined with hotels which don't let you through to the beach unless you are a guest. How terrible and commercial! Thus, we hopped on a collectivo to the port, and got straight on a boat for Isla Mujeres. It was nightfall as we chugged towards the island, and a guy with a guitar serenaded us for 25 minutes with Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan. He was pretty good, but the best part was the stars. There are so many of them, and the constellations are all in different places!
We checked into our hostel, which is the hippiest place ever but opens on to the beach with a beach bar and volleyball court. We then went to food -
Laura ordered crabs, and we then spent two hours figuring out how to eat them. This was our favourite restaurant, with cheap and good seafood and tables on the beach, feet from the water. After dinner, we walked past a bar with blues playing inside... and buckets of corona for 60pesos! (This is about $1 per beer.) Inside, we were the youngest patrons, but we sat directly in front of the band playing blues and rock covers and felt at home. What a great night.
This island has some spectacular beaches, with perfectly clear water, sand bars and perfect waves. We spent the next day lazing about and worrying about tan lines. We are the whitest people here!
In the next couple of days, we met up with the english kids again. We also made some new friends - Simon and Lorenzo, who are also english. We call them the cherubs, as they are slightly younger than the rest of us. With this gang we have been exploring the island, beaching it up and eating mostly. At night our hostel becomes the hottest spot on the island, it seems, as they have loud music, fruity drinks, and dancing
Biking
Simon, Laura, Judie, Alice, Lorenzo, Laura.at the beach bar surrounded by palm trees. This party is also right next to our room, which is unfortunate, but as long as we tire ourselves enough during the day, we can sleep through most things.
On our last day here, we rented bikes from our hostel to explore the rest of the island, away from the town. This was not a good choice of bikes, as some had chains that would fall off at the slightest bump or hill. We perservered despite these obstacles, and cycled in the heat and golf cart-dominated roads in a little bike convoy. We visited a sea turtle santuary at the other end of the island. Here they claim to protect the eggs of turtles who come to breed, and the subsequent baby turtles until they are old enough to survive bird attacks and such. They had a fair amount of large turtles in big tanks too though, which was very cool but puzzling - will they be let go? Hard to say.
We will now travel with the cherubs, Simon and Lorenzo, for a little while. We are headed to Tulum.
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