“Long live Art, Love and Freedom!” Muralist, Barbara Siebenlist

Mural across from Casa Sirena Hotel 

Barbara describes herself as a nomad, a self-taught painter, a tattoo artist, and a muralist. 

Her creations on Isla Mujeres are all vastly different and stunningly beautiful pieces of art, many containing a message from the artist to the viewer.

Photo provided by Barbara Siebenlist 

One painting is splashed across the white, curved building that overlooks the malécon, across the street from Casa Sirena Hotel. It is an eye-catching collage of underwater creatures, land inhabitants, and two dark-skinned beauties. To my eye, the partially submerged goddess on the right represents Mother Earth, with fish swimming around her shoulders and lizards adorning her hair. 

Mural on Poc Na Hostel - L. Lock photo

Another mural with a diving theme flows along the street-side wall of Poc Na Hostel. 

Fish, jellyfish, and sharks float past the divers. The ocean inhabitants swim among discarded plastic bottles, aluminum beer cans, and plastic bags. 

Poc Na mural Photo from Barbara Siebenlist

In the centre of one diver’s regulator is the green-arrowed symbol for recycling. Clever!

Two other murals decorate the inside refuge for stray kittens and the main entrance at Clinica Veterinaria, locally known as Delfino’s.  Grinning cats, big-eared pups, and wide-eyed kittens play amongst colourful wildflowers and butterflies. Their expressions seem to say, “Please give me a home and love me forever.”

Clinica Veterinaria - L. Lock photo

Born in the city of Viale, Entre Ríos, Argentina, Barbara’s passion for art began as a young child; it was her form of refuge, her secret obsession. 

After finishing her high school education, Barbara went on to study medicine. 

With little time for anything but studying and classes, Barbara let her artistic talents lie dormant for a number of years. 

In 2008, around the time that she first discovered Isla Mujeres, she created her first island mural for the Poc Na Hostel.

Clinica Veterinaria - L. Lock photo

For Barbara, capturing images on murals allows her to convey her message to the public. Her creations are not locked inside museums or art galleries for a few people to enjoy. They are outside, available to all who pass by. Her paintings help her to continue traveling, discovering new stories, and ideas for future murals.

In a month, she will be leaving Isla again, going on a trip.  But as she says, “I never go, I always come back.”

We’ll be waiting to see what’s next from Barbara Siebenlist and her dazzling creations.

Hasta Luego  

Lynda, Lawrie, & Sparky

Death in the Vineyards

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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

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Death in the Vineyards

Sergio’s Isla Art

Sergio, Tiffany Wareing's photo

He has an irrepressible smile that lights up his weathered face; whether he is teaching batik, painting a mural, or riding his bicycle, he is always smiling. 

Sergio was born sixty-two years ago in Champotoń in the state of Campeche into a family of three sisters and three brothers. His family moved to Isla Mujeres when he was a young boy, and he has lived on the island, on and off, for over fifty years.  When he was a younger man, Sergio worked on several construction projects in the Tulum area. 

Sergio, the Isla Mujeres Art Fair photo

And then there was a seven-year period when he lived twenty-five meters above ground, in a very primitive tree-house.  

When asked by a friend why he lived so high up, he replied with a face-splitting grin. 

“You have to get above the snakes!”  

That’s about eighty-two feet above the ground, a long way down if you roll over in the night, forgetting you are high up in the trees. 

Sergio, photo Ceceila Hart-Hodges

Keenly interested in anything to do with art since he was a small child, Sergio has mastered the Indonesian technique of Rōkézūzūmi batik.   

His gorgeous wall hangings are complex and brightly coloured, depicting Maya themes.  

They can be purchased at the Isla Mujeres Art Fair, which takes place on the first Thursday of every month between November and April. The Art Fair is located at the Casa de Cultura in Centro, on the eastern side of the island near the municipal esplanade.

Sergio, teaching kids at the Casa de Cultura

Sergio has also done several wall murals, the most recent being the Maya goddess IxChel on the house next door to our casa.  

And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he teaches classes in batik or tie-dying at the Casa de Cultura.  

The information is available on his Facebook page, thanks to John and Valerie Pasnau, who are the energy behind promoting Sergio’s artworks.

Recent students, Danielle, Barbara, and Carol

Here’s the information for art lessons from Sergio:

There are two classes a week, every week, on Tuesday and Thursday.

Start time is 10 am, Gringo time. 
Finish time is when we finish, Mexican time, about three hours.

Fee is 350 pesos plus 50 pesos to cover materials. You will make a batik or tie-dye wall hanging.

Sergio's work - photo Isla Art Fair

Classes are held in the Cultural Center in Centro. The classroom door is in the center courtyard.  

If the front door is closed, walk around to the Caribbean side. The courtyard is open on that side.

We hope you will let us know in advance if you plan to come, but drop-ins are welcome. 

So, either way, get some beautiful art; purchase one of Sergio’s creations, or make your own fabulous wall hanging.  

What a great souvenir of a vacation in paradise.

Hasta Luego

Lynda, Lawrie, and Sparky

Sergio - fascinating mural at John & Valerie's house

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When Paradise Gets Wet, Really Wet

A week of grumpy weather

We fooled around with various ideas for a title for this week’s blog.  

Titles like – some days you should just stay in bed, or a little adversity can pull a community together, or when it rains it pours!  

You get the idea.  It’s been a grumpy, wet week that has created a few problems for the island community.

 Collapsed wall - TV Isla Mujeres

The first problem was an eight-foot-tall retaining wall that collapsed from the weight of water in the soil.  Twelve inches of rain in twenty-four hours. It seems like we are back on the Wet Coast of BC – living in Vancouver, or the American equivalent of Seattle, Washington.  

Murals painted April 2015,  L Lock photo

The wall supported the popular volleyball and exercise area for seniors, located along the double road that runs from the east to the west side of the island, past the newer cemetery and the big church. 

This spring, local artists were invited to decorate the wall with murals of local creatures: iguanas, hermit crabs, and turtles. It was one of my favourite murals, not part of last year’s big Panga Seed fourteen murals painted in one month blitz, but still a well-planned and beautifully painted wall. 

Police cleaning up - TV Isla Mujeres 

In Mexico, the local police are called out to help clean up disasters such as this.  We have also seen the police painting crosswalks and speed bumps with the bright yellow warning colour, and reinstalling broken or missing stop or speed limit signs. In Canada, those jobs are handled by the city maintenance workers or the provincial highway department employees. Just another small difference we have noticed between Canadian, American, and Mexican cultures. 

Hidalgo Ave, Giovanna Flores photo

As the rain continued unabated, a notice was posted on various community Facebook pages asking any able-bodied people to help neighbours in areas that are flooding. Most of Isla Mujeres is barely above sea-level, while the southern end is maybe fifty feet above sea-level. That creates two problems. One: water runs downhill, adding more depth to the already saturated areas in the lower parts of the island. And two: the island is a sandbar in the beautiful turquoise Caribbean Sea. The tides are currently quite high, and the ocean water, combined with the excess rain, is creating havoc. The street corner across from Jax Bar & Grill had six inches of water, as did most of Hidalgo Avenue in Centro. We saw the new fire truck and crew busy pumping out the streets and into the ocean. The water eventually seeps back into town: pump, dump and repeat.  But hey, it’s warm water, not icy cold snow-melt.

 

Lawrie with the hard-working Isla Animals gang

Also posted on Facebook was a plea from Isla Animals looking for temporary foster parents for several of their stray dogs. The lake at the Hacienda Mundaca Park was overflowing, saturating the area around the Isla Animals Clinic, and soaking through the walls and floors. The free spay and neuter clinics were cancelled for the next few days until the weather changed.  Eileen, Doug Regn, and a crew of helpful volunteers were mopping the floors and moving the animal cages around when we popped by a couple of nights ago. They are such a hard-working group of people.  

 

Crocodile prefers pond across from Isla Animals 

The resident crocodile that has been moved by City workers - several times - from the pond across from the Isla Animals Clinic to the lake at Hacienda Mundaca – has returned to the pond, again.  She likes it there!  

One local humorist suggested that the availability of a better food source prompted her to make the trek regularly. 

CFE changing the weak power pole on our street

Closer to home, we have had an interesting week, exacerbated by the rain and higher humidity. 

Our third GE Profile side-by-side refrigerator died. Then our new hot water heater decided to take a day or two off from work, thinking that Lawrie and I would appreciate cooler morning showers.  Our recently purchased 2005 Mini Cooper also wanted a short vacation. The engine electronics didn’t like the excessive rain.  

Wet Policeman, CFE changes power pole 

We decided to take the Mini Cooper back to the dealer in Cancun, where we purchased the car and get a diagnostic test run. The weather wasn’t too bad; it looked like things were improving. Just as the car ferry was docking in Punta Sam, a nasty windstorm blew in with pelting rain and high winds, temporarily grounding the boat in the sandy harbour. As the Captain applied full throttle to free the vessel, a freak wind-squall slammed the boat’s bow into the concrete docks. It was darn exciting for a few minutes with lots of nervous laughter from the on-board truck drivers and ferry crew. There was some damage to the boat and dock, but no injuries that we know of. 

The guys struggling with fridge

Once off the ferry, our drive through Cancun got interesting as the rain continued to pelt down, flooding streets, making the ever-present potholes impossible to see.  

We decided that since we were already in the city, to get the car checked we might as well search for a new refrigerator. Starting at Telebodega, then Liverpool, Chapur, and Sears, we finally settled for a floor model at Costco.  

All the other stores said eight to fourteen days, more or less, before our purchase would arrive from Mexico City. 

Islander José (Pepe) Martinez arranged a truck and two strong guys to take our new refrigerator from Costco to our house.  

Taking the old fridge out

His quote was considerably cheaper than the Cancun-based fletes y mudanzas (cartage companies).  

As the rain continued to pelt down, four guys wrestled the thirty-three-inch-wide beast into our house through an almost-too-narrow front door. Lawrie had already removed the door and part of the frame, but it was still a very tight squeak to get it inside the house.  

The non-working appliance, thirty-six inches wide, was manhandled outside, over a neighbour’s propane tank and onto the street. Note to new homeowners: check the size of your main entrance before you purchase a large side-by-side refrigerator.  It’s a small but frustrating detail we overlooked eight years ago when we had the house built.

The return of sunny weather

As for the weather, eventually this persistent storm got bored with bothering us.  

It slowly dissipated, allowing the warm Caribbean sun to dry out our soggy little island. 

Warm breezes, sunshine. It's all good.  We live in paradise.

Hasta Luego

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

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Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky