Where the heck are we? Tourist photo-ops,

Dance troupe, whale shark statue on Isla Mujeres

We’ve all done it, posed beside a large decorative sign with a recognizable name.  The signs are memory joggers for photo buffs, those of us who snap hundreds of pictures on a two-week holiday, trying to capture all of the excitement, all of the beauty. The signs remind us of the location of a fun experience, a quirky building, or an interesting street scene.

Sunrise side of Isla Mujeres

Recently, we have seen an increase in bright, cheerful signs simply proclaiming – Isla Mujeres. 

We think the signs have been installed to help combat TCS, tourist-confusion-syndrome. Symptoms of TCS include an inability to distinguish between one city and another. Sufferers of TCS are usually oblivious to their surroundings due to the overuse of selfie-sticks and alcohol. 

Conversations with a visitor who suffers from TCS can sound something like this:

“This is my favourite part of Cancun,” the bikini-clad woman said. 

“Cancun?”  The islander asked, his eyebrows lifting, questioning. Then he noticed the woman was wearing an identification wristband from an all-inclusive resort located on the Riviera Maya.   

“Yes, we are on a day trip from the hotel zone.  This is my favourite part of Cancun.”

“Actually, this isn't Cancun.” He patiently replied, “We're a separate community. This is Isla Mujeres.”

“Oh! I’ve never heard of it,” she said.

Arriving on Isla Mujeres

If you are here on a day-trip, the first indication that you aren’t in Cancun is the enormous metal sign spread across the top of the Ultramar passenger ferry terminal – Isla Mujeres. Snap a phone pic of that one to help you remember where you were. 

Or just a few steps from the boat, at the head of the wharf, is another photo opportunity – an anchor, a painted wooden sign, and the beautiful blue ocean. During the Christmas holidays, an enormous inflatable, woolly bear complete with Santa hat and scarf sits beside the anchor. It is an ideal stop for a memory-jogging photo.

Whale Shark statue at night

If you rent a golf cart to tour the island, there will be several other visual clues that you are not in Cancun, you are on Isla Mujeres. 

There is a large whale shark statue, suspended over a sculpture of a small fishing boat, a panga. It is located about five minutes south of Centro, on the western side where the Malécon runs along the water’s edge. The statue is a popular place to stop for a touristy photo. Driving past this area can be interesting when golf-cart drivers suddenly brake and swerve to the curb, pointing excitedly at the statue with their selfie-stick.

Isla on the winter solstice, December 21st 

Back in Centro on the eastern shoreline, the sunrise side of the island, there is a newer, yet already rusting, large sign proclaiming the name of our small community: Isla Mujeres, Island of Women.  The sign is located behind the Casa de la Cultura.  Abasolo Avenue will take you right to the sign – but please remember the Malécon is a walkway.  It isn’t a place to play dodge-em with dog-walkers, joggers, and parents walking small children. The Malécon narrows and ends at a wall, leaving you, the obviously-not-an-islander, red-faced and reversing to extricate yourself from the jam. 

For the folks who are only visiting for a few hours and plan to walk around Centro, one of the newer tourist stores on the double-wide Rueda Medina Avenue, Plaza Don Agustin, has a perfect place for a memory-jogging photo inside their store. 

On the wall is a depiction of a whale shark along with the name of our community.

In the same neighbourhood is the Miramar Restaurante, located on Rueda Medina Avenue and across from the Señor Frog store. After enjoying a snack, or lunch, or perhaps a cold beverage, you can walk out on their dock for yet another Isla Mujeres photo op.

Islanders try their best to help cure TCS, tourist-confusion-syndrome.

Now, if someone could convince the souvenir salespeople to stop selling Cancun-branded t-shirts and touristy gee-gaws, maybe we could make some real progress.

Cheers, Lynda, Lawrie, and Sparky

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

or

Death in the Vineyards

Feeding time at our zoo, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

While typing out a list of ‘how to’ instructions for friends who are babysitting Sparky and our house for a few weeks, we noticed we had included several references to critters other than Sparky.  

There are a myriad of instructions on the care and feeding of our free-roaming collection of pets that inhabit our small bit of the island.

We have Geek the Kitchen Gecko, who lives behind the fridge, and gives me a loud chuk, chuk, chuk greeting every morning when I turn on the coffee maker.

Geek the Kitchen Gecko

Geek doesn’t require a lot of maintenance, except that he likes a shallow dish of clean water to be available on the kitchen counter. A few times, when he has tried to catch a drip from the kitchen tap, it has resulted in a traumatic drop into a slippery-sided enclosure with no traction for his Velcro-like feet. Rather than chase a panicky lizard around the sink, we have settled on letting him use the former-hand soap dish as a drinking bowl. 

Occasionally we pull the fridge away from the wall and vacuum his house, taking care not to suction him up with the poop. In return for our acceptance of his requirements, Geek the Gecko does his best to eliminate mosquitoes and ants. 

King of the Beach - Thomas the Cat 

Before our famous seventeen-year-old Thomas the Cat passed away in April of 2016, there was a succession of kitchen geckos who had a brief and tension-filled existence. 

We intensely miss our Tommy, but the household geckos had a disco party in celebration of his passing.

While Geek patrols the interior of our house, the larger lizards inhabit underground burrows outside. 

There is a herd of about twenty-five iguanas that mooch bits of fruit, veggies, and leftover pet food. (The collective noun for a group of lizards is a lounge of lizards!) They are similar to beach dogs, keeping a watchful eye on movements at Casa Rosa, Casa Luna, our house, Casa K’aay Há, and Punta Piedra. 

Any indication that someone

Stumpy the Iguana is about 15 years old 

might be willing to feed them, and the whole group will converge in a scurrying mass hoping to be the lucky one who gets the piece of mango, or papaya. 

They like to leave the boring broccoli or celery bits for the night-time beach-cleaning crew, the hermit crabs.

The free-roaming hermit crabs number in the hundreds. They are the most labour-intensive of our outdoor zoo critters. 

Hernando the hermit crab - we think!

Hermit crabs require a daily supply of fresh, clean water in dishes, shallow enough to be accessible to small creatures, an assortment of scraps to dine on, and a steady supply of new shells to move into as they outgrow their current domicile. 

Hermit crabs don’t create their own shells and must find larger homes on average every six months. Only certain shapes meet their requirements for comfort and accessibility. 

The black and white turbo snail shells are their favourites, but the Hermit Crabs are in direct competition with tourists who also collect the beautiful and increasingly

Hermit crab using a Pond's Cold Cream jar

 rare shells. Over the years, we have purchased hundreds of substitute shells for the Hermit Crab shell exchange program at our crab-i-tat. The crabs take one – leave one. 

We usually mark the purchased shells with red, orange, or bright pink nail polish so that we can identify our frequent visitors. And of course, since they are regularly swapping shells, it is virtually impossible to recognize a particular Hermit Crab. You can never be certain of who you are chatting with!

Regular visitors 

And then there are the birds that visit every afternoon for a drink of clean water and a feather-cleaning bath. Soon after we moved here in 2008, we swept out the natural indents in the coral rocks just in front of our house. 

The birds quickly learned to rely on us for fresh water, happily congregating for a few minutes of social time in the late afternoon before heading to their roosting spots for the night. Even the iguanas, larger hermit crabs, or passing cats and dogs drink from the pools.

Sparky star of Treasure Isla, waiting for the sequel

As for the instructions for looking after our almost-famous divo, Sparky, well, those took up three full pages of computer printing. 

We did mention he is a divo, a pampered, but we think very lovable, brat.

Being zookeepers at our house is almost a full-time job.

Hasta Luego

Lynda, Lawrie, and Sparky

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

or 

Death in the Vineyards

Love is in the air. Getting married in Mexico!

Punta Sur, Isla Mujeres

It’s a perfect place for romance – Isla Mujeres.

Sunshine, white sand beaches, palm trees, and dozens of locations where you can tie the knot, get hitched, walk down the aisle, go to the chapel, drop the anchor, or get spliced (two ropes woven into one). 

You could also celebrate your mutual weirdness or blend your families.

First, there are numerous options for the proposal, ranging in price from expensive, with the fine champagne, an enormous diamond, and dinner at a classy restaurant. 

Or a spur-of-the-moment sign on the beach using pieces of coral and shells, asking his lady love to marry him. She said, Yes!

Marry me?

 

Then there are the bachelorette parties frequently featuring the bride, maid-of-honour and bridesmaids wearing matching t-shirts. Hilariously happy, the women ricochet around the island, flitting in and out of bars, nightclubs, and restaurants, creating their own party wherever they go. 

Typically, the bachelorette bashes are the advance party, celebrating the last few days of singledom for the bride. 

Occasionally, the women celebrate for a week in paradise before returning to their northern homes for a large formal wedding.

The Bachelorette!

Guests arriving for destination weddings are recognizable by the amount of luggage and the fancy clothes draped across overburdened arms. 

They disembark the passenger ferries in chatty gaggles of parents, in-laws, assorted relatives, and close friends. The groups disembark the passenger boats heading to the host hotel, or an assortment of private homes rented for the occasion. 

Once the throng has settled into their accommodations, they start the social whirl of gatherings, getting to know one another before the big day. By the time the event takes place, everyone is relaxed and sociable, having finally settled into the slower pace of island time.

Zama's Beach Club decorated for big day

For venue choices, there is everything from large all-inclusive beach resorts, beach clubs, beach restaurants, or simply on the beach. 

You can arrange for your guests to arrive by boat, taxi, golf cart, or whatever transportation method you can dream up.

We have also seen a colonial-style, horse-drawn carriage transport the bride and groom from the church to the reception. 

 

Bodas Colectivas 2012

And for the economy-minded, the municipality of Isla Mujeres traditionally sponsors Bodas Colectivas, collective weddings, group weddings around St. Valentine’s Day for residents who wish to be married in a civil ceremony.  

A decorated bus drives the prospective brides and grooms to the chosen location, and everyone recites their vows together. It’s an affordable and festive event reserved for Mexican citizens.

Goddess IxChel at Punta Sur

And for the younger just-marrieds, a stop at Punta Sur, a small gift for the Goddess IxChel, is rumored to quickly produce offspring. 

A couple of years ago, a thirty-something American woman told us her four children forbade her from even looking at IxChel. Every time the woman visited the goddess, she became pregnant. The kids said, “Enough already!”

We have attended an assortment of island weddings, everything from a handful of people to hundreds of guests joyfully celebrating the happiness of the new couple.  

Isla Mujeres is a romantic destination for the proposal, the wedding, and of course, the annual celebration of your unforgettable experience in paradise.

Golf cart decorated for a wedding

Cheers

Lynda, Lawrie, and Sparky

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

or

Death in the Vineyards

    

Fleeting images, the murals of Isla Mujeres

I call this photo  - The Reading Room 

The bright, the beautiful, the colourful images that come and go are worthy of remembering.

Over the years, there have been several ‘authorised’ campaigns to paint murals on private and public buildings on Isla Mujeres. Many of those frescos have survived the salty, humid weather, the over-painting of graffiti artists, or removal for new construction projects.  

This week’s blog is a remembrance of some of the interesting ones that didn’t survive.

Malecón bollards were painted as flags

When we first arrived, there was a collection of ocean-themed murals painted on the malécon, running along the eastern side of the island. There were turtles, fish, and other ocean creatures. 

As those paintings peeled or faded, the next municipal administration repainted everything in a flag motif.  Flags from the countries of the visitors to Mexico. Canada, America, many European countries, Israel, and all of the Latin American countries adorned the seawall bollards.

2012 Spear Art - La Perla Hotel

In February 2012, a twenty-something Belgian backpacker, Corentin Binard, known as Spear, decided to add his unique brand of graffiti to the island. Situated on the east side of Isla. 

The three-story La Perla Hotel was partially damaged during hurricane Gilberto and was destroyed by hurricane Wilma in 2005.  

It languished as a crash pad for vagrants, an unsightly place littered with garbage and beer bottles.

More portraits by Spear Art

Arriving on Isla, Spear discovered the crumbling structure and decided he would leave his mark there.  For three wild days working in a frenzy of creativity, he sprayed, splashed, dabbed, and painted. 

He crafted five large, animated portraits of friends on the south walls of the damaged hotel rooms, and two more on the north end of the structure. 

About a month after his marathon of painting, the damaged La Perla was knocked down and reduced to a pile of rubble. There are plans for a new hotel in the same location.

Sometime in early 2014, an image appeared inside an abandoned, roofless building located at the northern end of the seldom-used municipal airport, near the entrance for the Malécon and the Aguakan pumping station. 

Inside a roofless Aguakan station 

The image stares with a question in her eyes. Perhaps she is asking: why are you here inside this dank, derelict space? 

Still visible, the image is a faint ghost of the original.

Then, in the summer of 2014, a large group of artists arrived to embellish fourteen buildings in Centro. Almost three years later, the majority are still visible, a little paler, but attractive. 

2014, at Gabriela Mistral Primary 

Two of the originals are gone. The long and colourful ocean creature that swam along the perimeter wall of the Gabriela Mistral Primary School in Centro was the victim of expansion. 

The black and white whale shark, swimming with a woman at the Tourism office on Medina Avenue, was a victim of the hot afternoon sun and tropical storms. Flaking and faded, it was replaced this year with a conglomeration of brightly-coloured mythical figures.

One of our favourites - gone!

In early 2015, a collection of birds, iguanas, hermit crabs, whale sharks, turtles, fish, sharks, and jellyfish flowed along three sides of the retaining wall where the seniors play volleyball. During a tropical rainstorm late in October of that year, the wall crumbled, destroying the striking artwork. The replacement wall is a plain, vanilla-white structure. We miss the eye-catching images of our local wildlife.

Barbara Siebenlist mural, purchased Villa la Bella

Another one of our favourite depictions of ocean-going creatures was painted by artist Barbara Siebenlist on a wooden fence at Antonio Fabre’s studio. 

Curtis and Ashley Blogin, the owners of the Villa la Bella Bed & Breakfast, fell in love with the artwork and quickly negotiated to purchase the piece for their lobby. Safely sheltered from the rain and sun, it’s a beautiful addition to a handsome facility.

Golf cart rental, mural on fencing

There are other images tucked away behind private walls or inside hotel courtyards waiting to be discovered. Many businesses located in Centro are starting to capitalise on the interest of visitors in the various murals, commissioning paintings for their lobbies, rooftops, fences and buildings. It's an interesting and profitable spin-off of outdoor art.

Now, if someone would start an island-wide mosaic project. Mosaics are permanent and just as colourful.

Hasta Luego

Lynda, Lawrie, and Sparky

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

or

Death in the Vineyards