 |
| Us - a long time ago, 1980! |
Our weekly blog Notes From Paradise started as an email sent in June 2009 to twelve
members of our immediate families.
Over the next two years, the list of
followers grew to 500, and then in September of 2011, we switched to an
internet blog page.
We have had almost 630,000 page views since 2011. About a year ago, we changed the name to Notes From Isla Mujeres, Mexico, to make
it easier for new readers to find us.
 |
| Hacienda Mundaca Park |
We’ve written blog posts highlighting the
island’s intriguing history and the enchanting Mexican culture.
We’ve
introduced ourselves to many of the old-time islanders to listen to and to recount
their fascinating stories.
We've traveled to several cities in Mexico and written about their history, culture, and attractions.
 |
| Izamal near Merida |
We’ve narrated some of our more memorable
experiences, like watching the chaotic Carnaval parades, or trying to stay awake
for the New Year’s Eve bash in Centro, only to be outlasted by the
three-year-olds.
We have written several times about being Mickey and Minnie
Mouse in both the annual Christmas Golf Cart parade and the Day of the
Kings festivities. Putting happy grins on the kids’ faces is the best reward.
We've bragged about Isla’s sugar-white beaches and the endless sun, and then grumbled about tropical storms and
hurricanes.
We’ve written about swimming with whale
sharks, the sea turtles nesting on our beach, helping friends rescue a trapped mama turtle, the roaming crocodile, and our lounge of lizards lounging in our backyard.
(Apparently, a group of
iguanas hanging out is called a lounge of lizards. I love that expression!)
We have promoted many of Isla’s hardworking
charity groups, such as Isla Animals, HALO (Helping Animals Living Overseas, Isla
Has Talent, the diabetes clinic, the free dental clinic, Helmets for Kids,
Ruben’s Kids, Plogging for Isla, and many more.
If we liked a new business or restaurant, we
happily gave them a free ‘plug’ in the blog. Neither one of us ever asked for anything
– no discounts, no freebies, nothing. We enjoyed the successes of our fellow islanders.
We were advised that we should ‘monetize’
our blog and make some cash off of the advertisements, but quite honestly, we
couldn’t be bothered with writing articles that pleased our advertisers.
We wrote
what interested us. We did, however, try Google Ads, and are happy to report that
in total we made about $109.00 in revenue!
Woo-hoo! Impressive!
 |
| The Adventures of Thomas the Cat |
The discipline of writing a weekly article
has given me (Lynda) the confidence to self-publish four books. My first book
was a bilingual book for children, The Adventures of Thomas the Cat, followed
by the three Isla Mujeres Mystery series: Treasure Isla, Trouble Isla, and
Tormenta Isla. Book #4, Temptation Isla, will hopefully be launched late in 2018.
And we’ve tormented our family and friends
with being included, photos and all, in many of our weekly ramblings. We have had
hundreds of people tell us they really enjoyed reading our weekly articles, but
we are signing off with this post.
We would like to thank our families, friends,
and faithful readers for your support over the last nine years.
Thank you all!
Cheers from Paradise
Lawrie, Lynda, and Sparky
.jpg)
