It must be ratings week!

My favourite - the "crayon house"

Dang!  We’re good! 

Two weeks ago Isla Mujeres was ranked in the top ten islands of the world.  This week an article rating the top twenty-four locations to see colourfully painted houses ranked Isla as number seventeen.  

Fabulous creations like the “crayon house” are eye-candy for anyone toting a camera.   Deliciously covered in bright colours, designs, and scenery this multi-coloured house sports a meticulous paintjob.  Amazing artistry.  Think of the hours of detailed work required to create the effect.  The muscles of my painting-hand are cramping in sympathy. 

Hemmingway's Bar - for wedding photos

The Behr Paint Company judged Isla Mujeres against locations like Cinque Terre Italy, Cape Town South Africa, Barranco in Lima Peru, and a host of other gorgeous cities.  

Only one Canadian city, St. John’s in Newfoundland made the list.  Granted the paint company is hoping to sell more of its product, but the article still brings positive recognition to this sleepy little island.

Beautiful - Casa Zuzy

Most island visitors have photos, or at least have seen photos, of the very visible centro locations that have been photographed time and time again.  Places like the French Bistro, Mañanas Coffee House, Hemmingway’s Bar, Barlito’s Bakery, and Orsario’s Hardware Store to name a few.  

But if you wander around the diverse neighbourhoods there are many more examples of great colour combinations; orange and green, pink and blue, yellow and orange, pink and purple, and multi-coloured.   Another favourite of mine is the magenta-trimmed turquoise house, slathered with polka dots in hues of green, red and blue.  This one is located near the Salinas Grande, close to where the road changes from a tope-riddled, (speed bumps) congested street into the double-width road.

My second favourite - the polka-dot house

The colour extends into every part of island life.  Even the tombs in the two island cemeteries are painted pink, blue, purple, and mango-yellow.  Our Canadian cemeteries, especially the newer ones, resemble parks or golf courses with granite headstones flat to the ground, so that the grounds keepers can trim the lush grass with riding lawnmowers.  Somber tones of grey, brown, and black arrear to be the only acceptable hues in northern graveyards.  The local custom of painting tombs with palette of cheerful colours is, in my view, fitting for this bright and vibrant culture.

Beautifully cared for tombs

Perhaps the Municipality of Isla Mujeres should encourage more owners to paint their houses, and businesses, with wild and interesting combinations.  

Maybe the municipality could feature a different, well-painted building every month, and offer a small cash prize for the winner.  Over time the various neighbourhoods could become a draw for photographic buffs. 

Love this entrance!

There I go day-dreaming again.  

In the meantime, get your cameras out, and explore the various neighbourhoods.  

You’ll find lots of interesting photo opportunities – because, after all we are number seventeen in The 24 Most Colourful Cities in the World. 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/behr/the-24-most-colorful-cities-in-the-world

Hasta Luego          
Lynda and Lawrie


                   

How strange we consider a foreign country "home."

Isla Mujeres garbage truck when it was newer.

At six in the morning I can hear the tired engine and the loud exhaust sounds of the muffler-less municipal garbage truck. 

The crew operating the garbage truck are currently only two houses south of ours.  I have to hustle to get the can out on the street before they pass us by.  The guys wave and holler a greeting as the truck slowly rolls up to our curb. 

One worker tosses the full can high into the air, towards his buddy who is perched atop the myriad of reeking plastic bags and cardboard boxes.  Our can is emptied, and carefully placed back on the street right-side up with lid affixed.  They laugh, joke with each other.  One guy sings bits of a song that could be ribald, off-colour judging by the way it makes the others giggle. 

It's good to be back on Isla.


At the Eiffel Tower in Paris

During May and June we traveled for six weeks through Dieppe, Vimy Ridge, Dunkirk, the Loire Valley, Paris, southern France, Cinque Terre, Tuscany and Venice before returning home via London. 

We mangled several languages, speaking a combination of French, Spanish, and English with the odd word of Italian tossed in the mix for that truly continental sound. 

We ate delicious food, but missed the 'heat' - the spice of Mexican foods.  Apparently our palates have adjusted to Mexican food better than we thought. 





Spaghetti and Mussels in Italy



We drank different wines and beers, enjoying Belgium beers and French wines a bit more than German beers and Italian wines. 

We dealt with crowded underground transit systems, high-speed trains, city buses and commuter boats.   And the crowds. 

Line-ups to see museums.  Line-ups to get on the trains.  Line-ups everywhere! 

Cinque Terre area of Italy

The sights, the sounds, the smells - all different.  New.  Exciting.

Now, sitting on our street-side balcony we watch friends speed past on their motos or golf carts.  They yell hello, welcome back, and wave as they speed past.  Sue Lo, on her daily walk around the airport, stops to chat - recounting her recent adventures in Machu Picchu. 

My sister Joann dashes up the street with her laundry bag in hand, coming for a morning coffee and to do her laundry.  She has misjudged the intensity of the scudding clouds - and is soaked with a warm deluge as she arrives at our house. 

On Isla Mujeres motos are often used as trucks.(M.Watt)

A motorcycle slowly putts past with two adults - the woman clutching onto a little one, so small that one tiny foot with a yellow bootie is all that is visible. 

A young girl, standing in the foot-well of a motorcycle turns to chat with her dad as he drives her somewhere special. 

She is wearing a pink and white polka-dotted dress and a matching bow in her hair.  Her happy smile is wide and loving as she looks at him. 



Parisian woman on motorcycle (K.Lock photo)



The contrast between the Isla motorcyclists and the Armani-suited motorcyclists or the beautiful fashionistas riding bicycles in Paris is startling to say the least. 



 



Parisian woman on bicycle (K.Lock photo)



In the evening we sit on the east side of the house, wine glass in hand, staring at the turquoise ocean, aware that we missed this most of all. 

The colours.  The sounds.  The smell of the water.






We will always be proudly Canadian.  But, this foreign country, is now home.