It’s a sweet, sweet life living by the salty sea – unless it’s metal!!

Still standing in 2010.    

A formerly intricate statue lay in a pile of unrecognizable rust. 

We had first seen the still upright structure in September 2010, when we visited the sculpture garden located at the southern tip of Isla Mujeres, Mexico.

Reading the plaques at the base of each statue, we had noted the artists were from various European countries as well as Mexico.  

In 2010, many of the statues had weathered the abuse of salt, water, and wind, but two or three had already collapsed. 

Same statue September 2018

We were told the garden was created a few years earlier with the intention of showcasing metal sculptures in the first year, wooden statues in the second year, and glass creations in the third year. 

But according to my local source, the original artists were not paid, and the entire project came to an abrupt halt.

A few weeks ago, I decided to take Sparky for a walk and see how the sculptures were holding up. Not well in many cases.

Sparky September 2018

Neither have the wooden railings that line the pathway leading down to the famous, if somewhat battered, sign declaring the location as the most eastern point in Mexico. 

This is the first place in Mexico where the rising sun strikes. The location where still-partying New Year’s Eve revelers toast the dawn of the new year.

I have photographs of the railings, painted a brilliant turquoise blue, then black, and then a muddy brown. Now the railings are almost non-existent, broken, or missing altogether.  

Punta Sur railings - 2012

This is Mexico. You are responsible for your own actions. You can’t sue anyone if you get hurt.  I repeatedly remind visiting family members not to lean on railings, any railings; there is no guarantee that they will hold your weight.  The inside of the wooden railings could be hollowed out by termite infestations, but painted to look pretty.

This country’s safety standards are back in the 1940s or 50s, as far as most North Americans are concerned. Weirdly, I find it refreshing as opposed to the over-protective, litigation-prone society that we left behind. 

September 2018 statue garden

The southern tip of the island is also the highest area in the exceptionally flat State of Quintana Roo, and contains an authentic Mayan ruin possibly used as a lighthouse or watchtower structure. 

The centuries-old ruin has survived storms, salt, and water far better than the modern-day metal sculptures.

May 2018, Mayan ruin in the background

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

A big thank you to one of my favourite authors, Jinx Schwartz, for her review of 

Tormenta Isla, Book #3 in the Isla Mujeres Mystery series:

 Click here to purchase

Jinx Schwartz

Author @JinxSchwartz  Click here to connect to Jinx

Recommended

Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Action-packed, Easy-to-read, Entertaining Page-turner

Photo credit - Linda Madden

Tormenta Isla:

Murder and mayhem on a tiny island in paradise 

(Isla Mujeres Mystery Book 3) 

Lynda L. Lock

.
Crime Fiction, Action, and Adventure
A mysterious disappearance of a local man and the looming threat of hurricanes headed towards the peaceful Caribbean island of Isla Mujeres create havoc in the lives of Jessica and her rescue mutt, Sparky.

First light of the New Year, Isla Mujeres Mexico!

Fireworks at midnight in Centro

Mexico really knows how to party.  

The festivities for celebrating the arrival of the New Year in Mexico begin late in the evening on December 31^st, and romp into the first hours of daylight. 

We have several times in the past nine years joined the party in Centro on Isla Mujeres for the fireworks and the start of the dancing. 

We usually give up around two in the morning, leaving our reserved table and chairs for hardier friends to use.  

Tony Garcia photo. Dancing the night away

A few times, we have noticed the three and four-year-olds are still dancing with their siblings and parents as we slink off to our beds. You have to be born into this culture to have this kind of stamina!

New Year's Eve celebrations - Jimmy Picuri photo

This year, we didn’t make the trek to Centro; instead, we celebrated quietly, just the two of us and pets, Sparky and Tommy, with a toast to the New Year and a few tasty snacks.  

We were in bed well before midnight. When the booming explosions started, I woke up briefly, thought about climbing to our rooftop to watch, then turned over and mumbled Happy New Year to my slumbering hubby. 

Maybe next year.

Road blocked Punta Sur, no room for vehicles

Waking at o-dark-hundred at six in the morning, Sparky and I decided to leave Lawrie snoozing and join the group that gathers to welcome ‘first light’ at the southern end of the island – the very first place in Mexico for the sun to strike.  I had an ulterior motive.  The event is featured as the opening scene in my second novel, Trouble Isla, but I had never actually dragged myself out of bed in time to participate.

The pooch and I bundled into the golf cart and set off driving south to Punta Sur.  Passing through the colonias, I waved at neighbours who were still happily partying in courtyards or spilling over into the roadways.  Loud music, laughter, the clink of glasses, and the occasional small explosion from handheld rockets.

The farther south I drove, the more traffic joined the procession. Pickup trucks with mattresses laid in the back were piled with sleepy children. Motos with two and three laughing celebrants whizzed past. Groups of young men and women waved and greeted me with Feliz Año Nuevo as they trundled past, crammed six, seven or eight to a golf cart.  Almost everyone was still dressed in their party finery, vastly different from my jeans, sweater, and athletic shoes. 

El Presidente Juan Carillo, wife Pao Orrico

Passing the landfill site, I saw the flashing red and blue emergency lights of two police cars. 

Thinking I had come across an accident, I fervently hoped no one was seriously injured. As it turned out, the police were controlling the traffic for a side road, where a large group, complete with tents and chairs, had set up along the edge of the cliffs, facing south. 

The new Presidente Juan Carrillo Jr. and his wife Pao Orrico were celebrating with a large group of friends.

Arriving at the turnoff road to Punta Sur, I was surprised to see a police roadblock. The officer waved me through, then replaced the traffic cones behind me. 

Everyone arriving after me had to park along the main route, cluttering up both sides of the road. Sparky and I parked the golf cart and began to walk the block and a half towards the large palapa near the entrance to the park. There were cars, trucks, golf carts, motos, people, pets, and more people. An enterprising food vendor had set up near the palapa. 

Music blasted over the crowd from a nearby DJ. Every available space was crowded with bodies; the tops of the stone walls, the seats in the seldom-used amphitheater, the gardens, and the plaza. People arrived with coolers of adult beverages. A few carried open bottles of champagne.

First light at Punta Sur, January 1st ,2017

I edged my way through the throng, heading towards a space where I might be able to snap a few photos and met up with two friends, Harriet and Richard Lowe, who have been making the ‘first light’ trek for several years. They were astounded at the number of people. In years past, the small group was a combination of party-goers and sleepy early risers, still wearing their pajamas.

Sparky and I hung around until the sky began to lighten with ‘first light,’ and then I took a serious look at the number of vehicles parked in the area and decided it was time to go.  

We arrived back at our casa just as the sun was clearing the horizon. I brewed our morning coffee, then headed upstairs with two steaming cups of liquid brain-food to share with my sweetie. It’s a pretty great way to start the New Year.

Happy 2017, Feliz año nuevo

Lawrie, Lynda, Sparky, and Tommy

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

Or

Death in the Vineyards

Funny things that are so very ‘Isla’ Unfinished government projects!

Living in a foreign country can be downright comical at times, and doubly so when living on a small island off the eastern coast of Mexico.

At the southern end of Isla Mujeres, there is a security wall with shards of broken glass cemented into the upper edge. The wall protects an almost empty piece of land, a replica of a Mayan ruin, and a collection of derelict boats.

Three-sided glass-topped security wall

Recently a squatter decided to set up housekeeping inside the windowless concrete shack. The property owner, rightly so, had the person evicted and the street-side entrance bricked over. Then shards of glass were added to the top of the wall as a further deterrent to trespassers. 

Because of the sharp embedded bits, the iguanas lost a handy spot for sunbathing, and the birds had to find other places to rest, but other than that, not much has changed. Strangely, the wall only provides security to three sides of the property.  

The Tower - at the refuse transfer station

Another source of amusement is located inside the municipal refuse transfer station, also near the southern end of the island. 

A large concrete structure was built in the early spring of 2013 under the direction of then Presidente Hugo Sanchez. The three-story high edifice is imposing. 

It towers over the empty building located directly behind it. We’ve never figured out the purpose of the fortification, but it now has a veritable garden of plants sprouting on several levels.

Hacienda Mundaca - new, unused entrance

Then on the western side of the island is the beautiful new entrance to the federally controlled Hacienda Mundaca, the historic home of the island’s most well-known pirate, Captain Fermin Mundaca. 

From the fall of 2014 to the spring of 2015, construction crews slashed a path in the jungle and erected a tall concrete block wall to surround the estate. 

Stone-faced sign for new entrance

Their final job was to create the stunningly beautiful new entrance with two soaring hacienda-style gates, a decorative iron fence, and a stage for community performances. 

Well-signed and ready to go, the new entrance still remains closed and idle, a repository for wind-blown litter.

Part of the sewer line project 

And another head-shaking bit of island trivia. In 2014, the municipality contracted to have Rueda Medina re-paved on the western side of the airport from about the naval base to the Coca-Cola plant. 

Several business owners in the area petitioned the city to work in conjunction with the water/waste corporation, Aguakan, to install sewer lines before paving the road. Good idea. Very forward-thinking of the business folks who struggled in the busy tourist winter season with almost daily pump-outs of their wastewater holding tanks. The companies ante-upped the fees to Aguakan for the new sewer lines, and the project got underway. The road was dug up, lines installed, and detours around the work changed daily. 

It was a huge project that lasted for months, creating a financial hardship for several companies located along that piece of road. However, the consensus was that in the end it would be well worth it. Except, the sewer lines have never been connected. The school, homes, and businesses must still have their holding tanks regularly pumped.

Rueda Medina the 2010-2011 project

But the biggest ‘oops’ that provided hours of entertaining speculation is the construction project that began in the fall of 2010 and continued for at least eighteen months, if not longer. 

The multi-level proposal aimed to beautify Rueda Medina, the main entrance to the island, to impress the arriving visitors. To that end, underground wiring was planned for all of the homes and businesses along Rueda Medina from the corner by the Aluxes Hotel to the car ferry terminal. The existing rough pavement was to be replaced with attractive stamped concrete. And to prevent unnecessary flooding during rainstorms, large drains would be installed at regular intervals along the street. Well, the contractors did lay the pretty new stamped concrete surface for the road.  

Paradise

Mexico has been our beautiful and charming home country for several years.  Sometimes, it can be very entertaining, and we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Hasta luego

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas

Murder and mayhem. Revenge and romance. 

Join the adventure today. 

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

Or

Death in the Vineyards

Paradise from another perspective – Wow, just wow!

Amazing starfish shape!

Did you know that the five red pathways at Punta Sur, Isla Mujeres, are actually in the shape of a starfish? 

We didn’t.  

It’s a bit like discovering the three-thousand-year-old chalk image in the hills of England, which is really an ancient 360-foot-long rendition of a white horse, the Uffington White Horse.  

Okay, maybe it’s not that notable, but for us, the starfish was very cool to see. 

The four carbon-fiber blades are powerful

Expat David Daniel captured the image with his newest boy-toy: a DJI Phantom 3 UAV.  Also known by the misnomer of drone, the UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, or UAS Unmanned Aircraft System, comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. 

Highly conscious of the potential danger of the remote-controlled UAV, 

David pointed out the four whirling carbon-fiber blades as they spun up, lifting the vehicle aloft.  

David: It's easy to fly this UAV

Then, with a noise akin to a hive of active bees, the aircraft sailed away, hovering off the southern point of Isla Mujeres as it broadcast streaming video to David’s iPad.  

Woohoo!  What beautiful images.  

Wow!  Isla Mujeres from Punta Sur

For both David and Diane Daniel, traditional photography is an outlet for their creativity, and operating the UAV gives David yet another instrument for crafting beautiful images.

At Punta Sur, a family of curious Argentinian tourists quickly gathered around David as he maneuvered the UAV for better images.  

Curiosity is a familiar reaction, typically with the technology-savvy under-thirty crowd, and especially Europeans. 

Images are difficult to see in bright sunlight

When operating the remote-controlled device, he and Diane are mindful to not intrude on anyone's privacy. They don’t buzz low over crowds or deliberately focus on individuals.  

David said even with the advanced cameras, measuring distance from space is difficult. A few times, they used the UAV to try to locate a pod of dolphins that cavort along the eastern side of the island, only to discover that pinpointing a fast-moving six-foot creature is nearly impossible. On the other hand, flying around a stationary object is a breeze. 

Diane Daniel, keeping a very hot Sparky company

UAVs are primarily fun toys used for taking great videos or stills from a vantage point normally unavailable to photographers.  

They also have useful commercial applications; for instance, when two Canadian friends recently decided to sell their home, the real estate company immediately scheduled an aerial photo session with a UAV. It’s the new standard for real estate listings. 

David says he operates his UAV just for the enjoyment. 

My photo of David's DJI Phantom 3 UAV 

Currently, the UAVs owned by individuals vastly outnumber military drones, with estimates of over a million sold by 2015. The popularity has created a few hazards, necessitating new laws to govern their use. Whether you refer to them as drones, UAVs, or a UAS, they are banned within five miles of airports worldwide and prisons in many countries. 

The newer models are equipped with updated software that has no fly zones or hot spots, prohibiting the vehicle from lifting off. Older versions still exist, prompting many countries to erect signage at airports forbidding the use of this type of equipment. 

The drone's photo of me taking its photo

It turns out our home is within that five-mile radius of our local, almost-abandoned, and seldom-used airport. So no high-flying photographs of our casa. It’s probably a good thing, I think our ‘dainties’ were still hanging on the laundry line.

If you would like to see more great photographs and videos, visit David and Diane’s New Nomad’s Facebook page. 

Here’s the link. New Nomads

Their photography will wow you!

Hasta Luego, Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, and Thomas

.

Come to papa!  David Daniel and his new toy.

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

Or

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

Mexico, the art of communication and miscommunication

“Please put the toilet paper on the waste basquet.” 

A sign posted inside the public washrooms at one of our favourite island restaurants always makes me giggle when I read it.  Just one small word, on instead of in, and the whole purpose of the sign is destroyed, in a humorous way. 

Seasoned travelers automatically get what the sign is trying to communicate: put your used toilet paper in the waste basket. There is no sewer system in many parts of the island, or in many other parts of Mexico, only holding tanks. Business owners ask their customers to place all used paper products inside the waste paper cans. This will reduce the number of times the tank must be pumped out and the number of times the system overflows onto the street. It’s not our favourite thing about living in Mexico, but it is what it is.

Another confusing sign can be seen at the crumbling edge of the Punta Sur cliffs.  It severely admonishes: “Do Not Close to the Cliff!”  Sure, I won’t close to the cliff, if I only knew what that meant.  It does sound kind of scary, though.  Maybe the sign painter meant - don’t walk close to the cliff? Don’t run close to the cliff? Or maybe, don’t stand at the unprotected edge of the cliff as people have been known to fall off trying for that perfect tourist selfie.  

Other signs on the island deliberately use humor to get the point across. “Live Nudes! We don’t have any, but we do have frozen drinks.”  

Bet that sign makes a lot of guys do a neck-twisting double-take as they putter along Rueda Medina in their rented golf carts.  

Or the sign that used to be across from the passenger ferry terminal where thousands of Cancun day-trippers arrived hourly; “Husband day care, while you shop.” I’m sure more than one shopping-bored husband pointed to the sign and said, “See, honey, they will take care of me while you look for souvenirs.” Then, gleefully handing over a fistful of cash, waved goodbye, “Have a nice time, dear.  I’ll be right here.”

M. Watt photo

But the signs we enjoy the most as the hand-painted, kid-produced signs reminding everyone to protect and care for local critters.  There are signs about iguanas printed in rudimentary English: “Take care me, make part of your world.” Signs about the crocodiles living in the marsh near Hacienda Mundaca.  And hand-painted signs about the annual migration of the protected blue crab, posted at both Sac Bajo and Punta Sur, remind drivers to slow down and let the critters cross the road.  

Watch out for migrating crabs

The large blue and the smaller red crabs like to make the trek, from land to ocean and back again, during moonlit summer nights. Unfortunately, not all of the crustaceans survive this summertime ritual. Some get squished, providing tasty morning snacks for squabbling birds or cannibalistic crabs. In case you missed the words “protected blue crabs” and are considering a tasty feast, think again. And besides, after watching the crabs feast on iguana poop, er, no thanks, I’ll pass.

Signs – the art of communication and miscommunication.  It is one of the challenges of translating from your own language to another language.  Sometimes it just doesn’t work out.  

I have, on occasion, okay many times, written or said something in my rudimentary Spanish that means something other than what I intended to say.  Like the time I posted in a blog that I was feeling very hot, as in temperature, but the Google translation said I was hot, as in sexy. Our friend Vivian emailed the correct words, and I fixed the blog post. We had a good giggle over that little error.

That’s what is so great about living in a small community on a tropical island: friends laugh with you.  

It is all a part of communication – mistakes and all.

Hasta Luego

Lawrie, Lynda, Sparky, and Thomas

Pretty clear message - D Adler photo

Isla Mujeres Mystery series

Or 

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

Available in online book stores!

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky