Isla Mujeres, quirky, haphazard, and delightful

Interesting old building in Centro

I have an accumulation of thousands of photographs taken over the past few years, photographs that we like to include in this blog, to write about, to explain. 

When stumped for an idea, I will sit and peruse the files, clicking and scrolling, mentally sorting out the where, when and why of the photos. Usually, an idea for the weekly blog post will pop into my head after a few minutes of contemplation. This time, Lawrie was casually looking over my shoulder and suggested a focus for the article just as the idea was formulating in my head! Damn! He's reading my mind again.

Fruits and veggies - near our house

We were both thinking about the contrasts on the island: the big and the small, the expensive and the economical, the grandiose and the modest. 

Contrasts such as the unlit, narrow aisle leading into a quaint little neighbourhood tienda, a small local store providing fresh vegetables and a few assorted dry goods to customers within a few block radius. 

Chedraui Super Store 

Contrast that with the large, bright Super X-Press, or Chedraui Super Stores, offering new motorcycles, alcohol, baked goods, vegetables, meats, dairy products, or pharmaceuticals. 

 Everything from refrigerators to toothpicks.

Expensive plaything

Then my eyes flicked over a series of photographs featuring sport fishing boats, yachts and cruisers ranging upwards to over a hundred feet in length. 

Grandiose indeed! 

Five fishermen headed out at sundown

Contrast those luxury playthings with the average twenty-six-foot-long open-topped work boats, loaded with fishermen, nets, hooks, and bait, heading out at sundown in hopes of catching fish to sell to local restaurants.

Modest and cozy

Or housing. On Isla, there are many humble little old-style houses made from wooden stakes or concrete blocks protected by roofs made of corrugated cardboard, impregnated with waterproof tar. 

 These tiny homes are just wide enough to comfortably hang a hammock at night.

Colourful and charming!

In the colonias, the thickly populated neighbourhoods, a myriad of modest, brightly painted abodes lend a colourful, haphazard appearance to narrow streets. 

Cozy and charming, these houses vary in shape and size with sufficient room for a family and pets to congregate for meals. 

Architectural wonder - Villa del la Vida

And then there are the splendorous shapes with commanding views of the turquoise ocean - the architectural wonders of shiny glass, glittering metal, and dazzling white walls.

Contrasts; everywhere you look. It is part of the charm of Isla Mujeres, quirky, haphazard, and delightful.

Hasta Luego

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas the Cat

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky

Moto mania in Mexico: five on a motor scooter!

Using the moto to transport lumber

How do they make it look so simple?

We have a collection of snapshots, taken in haste, as various motorcycle drivers hurry past; photos of people clutching small children, demure women in dresses balanced side-saddle, or workers holding on to ladders, tools, buckets or large pieces of lumber.  

The photos are blurred by movement, slightly out of focus, but represent an interesting cross-section of islanders. 

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, three rental companies on Isla Mujeres had a few machines available for tourists to buzz around on the mostly sand streets.  Gomar Rentals was the pioneer in rentals on the island, being joined later by Carabela and Honda.  

Riding side-saddle - no problem!

Every two years, the rental motorbikes would be replaced with new ones, allowing islanders to purchase the castoffs at a much reduced price.  

Until about seventeen or eighteen years ago, privately owned motorcycles, or motos as they are called in Mexico, were rare on Isla.   

A few ex-pats either brought their favourites from the USA or purchased a new motorbike in Cancun.  

The Honda Store

In those years, only the fortunate few who did not require a loan to purchase were able to own a new moto. Interest rates in Mexico can run from 25% to 75% for a loan or credit card, depending on the circumstances and the company.  

In about 1995, Honda made the decision to put a dealership store on the island, and to offer terms: little payments over a very long time, enabling many people to own their first motorcycle or scooter.  

For sale at Chedraui Super Store on Isla

An explosion occurred, and the streets were overrun by motos. Now, motorbikes are so common that they are sold in the local grocery store, Chedraui, as well as several other appliance stores.  

The Chedraui Super Store is currently offering twelve months interest-free and a free helmet if the purchaser qualifies for a Chedraui credit card: a mixed blessing in itself.

Common to see four or five on a motorbike

As the motos became more common, islanders invented new uses for these versatile machines. They became tireless workhorses, or tow trucks, or family vehicles.  

When we first moved to Isla seven years ago, we typically saw two or three people on each moto; now the norm seems to be four and occasionally five family members crammed on one bike.  

The law states a maximum of three people per motorbike, but for the most part, that is overlooked unless there is a campaign of enforcement in effect.   

Helping a friend with a push.

We are especially intrigued by the drivers who helpfully push a friend’s motorbike to the gas station, or the repair shop, or to their home for repairs.  The drivers will position the working moto slightly behind the non-functioning bike.  

The driver of the operating machine will then place a foot on the foot-peg of the other moto and off they go – cruising along, chatting, not a care in the world. It’s a feat of balance and coordination unlike anything I have ever seen. 

We are jealous! My motorcycle riding abilities consist of applying a painful death grip to the rib cage of the driver. I just don’t have the graceful confidence required to operate a motorcycle. And, Lawrie says he is too easily distracted to operate a moto. We are happier driving a car or a golf cart.

Hasta luego,

Lynda and Lawrie

Murder. Mayhem. Revenge. Romance.

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky

In Mexico a guarantee is maybe a guarantee!

GE Profile refrigerator #3 

The brass bell on our front gate clanked against the aluminum cladding – tink, tink, tink. I opened the gate to two men standing by a truck, while the driver-owner stayed inside the truck. The delivery men carefully slide a new side-by-side refrigerator off a pile of lumber and bricks onto our sidewalk. The delivery men had hitched a ride from the ferry terminal in Cancun to our house. 

Our third new refrigerator had finally arrived. 

A gringa friend of ours recently quipped that she could make a bundle by setting up an appliance store next to our house – just to supply us with refrigerators!  True. When we moved into this house five years ago, we had a lovely new stainless steel side-by-side GE Profile ice-making refrigerator.  

Through a series of power bumps and power brownouts, it suffered electronic brain troubles that wiped out the ice-maker. Not the end of the world, unless you happen to have a spouse who needs ice. Not just likes ice, or enjoys ice, but really needs ice for his sodas or the occasional glass of single malt whiskey.

Fixing the ice-maker, again, on GE Profile #1.

We contacted the Cancun Sears service department for repairs, but discovered that the service technician was more interested in working off the books than fixing the problem. Eventually, he brought over a new motherboard for the water dispenser and ice-maker and popped it in. Simple. Plug and play.  

The next time the motherboard frizzed out, Lawrie took the offending part to Sears and asked for a replacement piece. They said that unless their qualified technician installed the motherboard, they could not guarantee it. Oh well, buying the part was a cheaper fix than using the Sears technicians. But of course, the part they sold us didn’t fit the refrigerator, and when we took it back to Sears, the service department staff responded, “Sorry, it’s not returnable.” 

Lawrie - fixing the ice-maker

Eventually Lawrie figured out how to baby the mother-board back to life for another year or two.  We finally gave up on refrigerator number one in March of 2012. 

We bought the same make and model, a GE Profile, through the local Chedraui Super Store.  It fits the space in our kitchen and has the same plumbed-in ice-maker.  

When they arrived to deliver refrigerator number two, we discovered our custom-built front door was two inches too narrow to accommodate either the old fridge or the new one. It took four strong guys to manhandle the refrigerator around the side of the house and into our kitchen area.  

Delivering GE #2, March 2012

Great! We are all set for another five years.  Sparkling new, no rust or corroded electronics to fight with, and we splurged on a reasonably expensive surge protector in hopes of keeping this refrigerator alive longer. Good to go. Almost.  

Around the middle of November, we noticed that frozen things weren’t staying frozen. This refrigerator was only seven months old. I confidently took my receipt to the customer service desk at Chedraui. No luck. As both the manager and the electronic manager explained to us, the Chedraui guarantee is only good for two weeks; anything longer than that, we must deal with the authorized GE service centre in Cancun.  

They called ServiPlus in Cancun to schedule a repair appointment for November 29^th. We waited, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and after my eighth phone call to ServiPlus in Cancun, the technician arrived on Monday. The diagnosis: we need a new compressor.  He will be back on Saturday. And yes, the parts and service call will be covered by the guarantee. 

We forgot to ask which Saturday? What month? And as it turns out, what year?

11 weeks without a fridge Serviplus sent a new one.

Guarantees in Mexico are not necessarily guarantees.  It’s a game of Survivor.  Outlast your opponent - with persistence.  We have several friends who have had their own frustrating experiences, returning a new but broken coffee pot to Walmart. The customer finally pointed at the overhead sign: Walmart makes everything right with our customers. 

Or another friend had a new dryer delivered, non-functioning, from Sam’s Club, with lint in the lint-trap and someone else’s socks still inside the drum. It would seem that another customer returned the broken appliance. It was then boxed up and placed back on the floor - available for purchase. This same friend was the recipient of a new washing machine delivered broken. Her handyman husband fixed it rather than face the inevitable delays for the warranty service.  

Lawrie unwrapping GE Profile  #3

I continued to telephone ServiPlus in Cancun three times a week. I can be very persistent. Tomorrow, next week, soon were the consistent answers. We even went to Cancun to see if we could locate their service department. Nope! They had moved with no forwarding address.  

After twenty stumbling Spanglish telephone conversations, I enlisted the help of our friend Freddy Medina. He made another twenty or more telephone calls to the company we were now snidely referring to as ServiMinus.

Freddy said, “You just have to keep calling until they give in. This is Mexico.”  

Eventually, a miracle happens, que milagro.  We recently received a telephone call from ServiPlus in Mexico City. The young woman spoke perfect English and said we would be receiving a brand new GE Profile refrigerator on Thursday, February 7^th, 2013, eleven weeks after our refrigerator quit working. Wow!  I was ecstatic. A new refrigerator, I’d have been happy with just a new compressor. 

Foolish me.  Never, ever, tempt the gods. 

Delivery guys man-handling #2 along the side of house.

No refrigerator on Thursday morning or Thursday afternoon. By Friday afternoon, I had finally reached the end of my patience. 

I didn’t have the telephone number of the person in Mexico City, so I called the Cancun office and vented my frustration.  

Going to car ferry with fridge on hand-truck

I demanded a return call within ten minutes, giving me the exact date for the delivery of the new refrigerator.  And again: qué milagro. The woman from Mexico City called back within eleven minutes. The GE Profile would be delivered on Monday morning, February 11th. It was! 

The two delivery guys manhandled the new refrigerator around the house and into the kitchen, and removed the old refrigerator using the same route. 

They then loaded the broken one onto a two-wheeled hand-truck and proceeded to trundle two miles to the car ferry for the return trip to Cancun.  

Would we purchase another GE Profile, GE Cafe, Mabe, or Easy appliance? No! We would end up dealing with the frustrating, stonewalling tactics of ServiPlus.  

But in the end, what does it really matter?  We are lucky enough to be able to afford a stainless steel side-by-side refrigerator. Others are happy that their children are well, they have food on the table, a roof overhead, and the sun is shining. Maybe that’s the best guarantee.

Hasta Luego          
Lynda and Lawrie

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Changing neighbourhoods, Isla Mujeres Mexico

Shopping with Aida at Cañotal Market

A few years ago, an island friend took me shopping in her neighbourhood at the Cañotal Market.  

I was impressed by the selection of produce, fresh meats, and other services such as shoe repairs available in the open-air market. 
  
While out walking recently, I was surprised to discover a newer structure had been built around the outside of the old building, blocking off the natural light for the original arcade.  

The new building seemed to offer brighter stalls with tiled walls, a sink with running water, and better lighting. And they were empty! Every last one.

New and empty building at Cañotal Market

Marcy, my walking partner, remembers when she and Chuck first discovered Isla Mujeres twenty years ago, the Cañotal Market was a bustling place. 

Curious, we poked our heads into the darker, older section to see which stores still remained.  

A number of the fruit and vegetable kiosks are closed, no longer in business.  One butcher store, a leather repair stall and a shoe store appeared to still be operating. 

Carlos - with a sample of his sandals

At the shoe store, we stopped to admire a selection of stilettos shoes, much too tall and precarious for our untrained feet, but beautifully made in a variety of colours. 

The store proprietor introduced himself as Carlos and told us a little about his products. 

He said he had worked for four years in Boston, Massachusetts, in the Birkenstock factory, learning how to construct well-made shoes. 

Then, Carlos decided to return to Mexico to be closer to family and friends. 

He now has a shoe factory in the small city of Ticul near Merida. The city is well-known for a variety of shoe factories making excellent quality footwear. 

He showed us how durable his sandals were, asking me to pull strongly against his weight, trying to rip the toe piece away from the sandal sole. No luck.  

He also mentioned that his shoes sold for considerably higher prices in stores in the hotel zone of Cancun. Carlos was very proud of his products, but sadly admitted that footwear made in Mexico is losing market share to shoes made in other countries such as China or India.

Cañotal Market in better times

Carlos’s English is quite good, so I asked more questions: “Why is the new building empty?” 

He said the three bigger grocery stores, two Super X-Press stores and Chedraui Super Store, made the small kiosks unprofitable. 

People have changed their buying habits, preferring to do more shopping in one location, rather than visit individual stalls for various items. 

He said the government money had already been committed to the project by the time the grocery stores made their plans to build on Isla public. So, the project went ahead as planned. 

Asking other islanders the same question, I was given two more possible reasons the new building is empty: the monthly rental on the new stalls is apparently prohibitively expensive, and there seems to be problems with the electrical service to the new building. 

Whatever the problems it is sad to see a new building empty and graffiti-covered.  It’s a forlorn sight.  

Fortunately, I have a few photos of when it was a busy, thriving enterprise used by many islanders for their daily shopping.

Hasta luego

Lynda and Lawrie

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Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

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Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky

Nothing remains quite the same, Isla Mujeres Mexico!

It’s been ten years since we discovered Isla Mujeres. Ten years! That’s a mere slice of time compared to a number of our friends who stumbled upon this island paradise 20, 30 or 40 years ago.  We are relatively newbies to this island.  Looking back through some of our many photos, I thought it might be fun to share a few of the older ones. 


The first time we visited, we crossed the strait between the mainland and Isla Mujeres on one of the Magaña boats, the dank and smelly Caribbean Miss spewing diesel fumes as it laboured across the water. The after-sunset taxi ride from Centro led along a bewildering series of dark streets, curving roads, and a potholed-almost-not-a-road, eventually depositing us at our rental house at Villa Makax, Steve and Lindell Lehrer’s cute little casita.  

Our first view, a few days later, of the famed North Beach was stunningly beautiful, sugar white sand stretching across the top of the island, with an unobstructed view all the way to the Avalon Hotel. Before the IxChel One and IxChel Two condo developments, before the Privileges Aluxes Hotel, the only other tall structure at the north end of Isla was the old lighthouse next to Jax Bar and Grill. Smitten with the island, we returned several times, either visiting family or introducing friends to Isla, finally purchasing our lot in June of 2006. 

The changes we notice most are funny little things, things that have personal meaning for us. For instance, the palm trees at Casa Luna Turquesa now almost obscure the house. We and two Canadian friends bought the first two palms for that yard. We purchased two little sticks with a few feathery leaves poking out the tops at a garden centre on the island.  

We hustled the palms back to Casa Luna in two taxis, with drivers who were competing to see who could get their passengers back the quickest. Big tip for the winning driver!

New UltraMar docks under construction 2006

Other changes that have affected us personally include a much better choice of grocery stores. On the first visit, we could only see a choice of eating at restaurants or shopping at the convenience store, Mirtita, in Centro.  

By the time we had built our home in 2007, a St. Francisco Super X-Press had been built in Centro across from the municipal plaza and the church.  

Opening Day at Chedraui Super Store December 2011

A second Super X-Press opened in Colonia La Gloria in 2009, and the Chedraui Super Store with a great bakery department, decent produce section and a good selection of wine opened in December of 2011.  

We still venture to Cancun at least once a month to get the other extras that are not stocked on the island.  This week, when we were doing the Cancun run, we met at least a dozen islanders in Home Depot and the same dozen people in Costco a few minutes later.  We all had a good laugh about doing the circuit of Cancun.

But for me, the best change is the choice in passenger ferry boats, or as we call them, water taxis.  

Instead of enduring the rolling, bobbing, smelly Caribbean Miss, we can ride in air-conditioned comfort on the twin-hulled UltraMar jet boats and make the crossing in fifteen minutes.  

Thank goodness nothing remains quite the same.

Hasta luego

Lynda and Lawrie

Grab your copy today!

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Or

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky