The twelve days of Christmas on Isla Mujeres Mexico

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Isla gave to me:

Twelve Boats a Bobbing:

Could Santa Claus fit one of these beauties in Lawrie's stocking?

Any Sunday afternoon at North Beach, a collection of yachts and mega-yachts can be seen anchored just offshore while their passengers enjoy a dip in the warm aqua-coloured seawater. These yachts are a fairly recent phenomenon, as Isla was originally a fishing community. Walk any beach on the west side of the island and you will see numerous small multi-coloured panga-style boats pulled up on the beaches waiting for the work day to begin.

Eleven Loungers Lying:

Starting at seven in the morning, the employees of the beach restaurants and bars begin to get organized for the day, setting out sun loungers and umbrellas for potential customers. 

Every business has its own colours to identify its area. Waiters will deliver food and drinks to the loungers, allowing holiday travellers to just relax and enjoy the sun, sand and surf. 

Lawrie tried to train me to do that at our casa.  It didn't work out so well for him.

Ten Taxis Racing:

Even though the island is only seven kilometres long and a kilometre wide, the taxis are always in a hurry to get somewhere, whenever that somewhere is. Taxis are reasonably priced and can usually be flagged down from anywhere on the island. The main taxi stand is located near the passenger ferry docks. It is still best to ask the price before you ride, as the rates can be higher in the holiday season.

Nine Snowmen Waiting:

These nine little donut-snowmen lined up on a baking tray at the Chedraui Super Store made us laugh. 

Snowmen, in the Caribbean? Thank goodness they are not real, and are only in someone's imagination. 

We've done our time with snow: no mas.

Eight Palm Trees Swaying:

Nothing says “the tropics” like a sugar-white beach and stately palm trees swaying in the breeze. Beware – those picturesque, and very hard, coconuts hanging above your head can knock you out if they connect with your softer noggin. 

Usually, around this time of year, the city workers remove the almost-ripe fruit from the tree to prevent injuries. Still, sitting in the shade of a coco tree is just so darn romantic, it's hard to resist – potential head injuries be damned.

Seven Hammocks Hanging:

Swinging in a hammock strung between two coconut palm trees, sipping on a cold cerveza: ah, bliss. 

We recently planted two little palm trees in our small patch of sand on the ocean side of our house. 

We check their progress daily to see if they are hammock-ready. 

Unfortunately, five feet high doesn't quite qualify. We have a few more years to wait. 

Six Massage Tents Ready:

Stressed from gift shopping or flying economy class? Why not hit the beach for a massage? 

Located on the beach, across from Jax Bar & Grill or the Posada del Mar Hotel, are five or six massage tents where the staff will give you a relaxing light massage, guaranteed to put you in the holiday spirit.  

Alex, Daniel, Freddy, Inez, Joao, Pepe, and Gustavo

Five Freezing Coooold Beers:

Merry Christmas to our good friends Freddy, Joao Gustavo, Alex, Daniel, Pepe, Inez and of course Sal and Mal Richards at the Soggy Peso Bar & Grill. 

They have the biggest smiles while they serve the best freezing cold beer on the island!

Four Trees in Centro:

The smell, the shape, and the decorations of a real Christmas tree bring back great memories for anyone from northern climates, but I always wonder how a Christmas tree became synonymous with Christmas in the Caribbean. 

As ex-pats, we really enjoy seeing the trees in Centro, at the passenger ferry docks, and on top of the City Hall. It's a beautiful thing.

Three Church Bells Ringing:

Christmas time is very special to the islanders. It is the time of year when many children are baptized or confirmed into the Catholic Church. 

It is also the start of a six-week-long celebration that includes The Feast of our Lady Guadalupe on December 12th, Posadas Navideñas from December 16^th to 29th, Noche Buena on December 24^th, Christmas on December 25th, and ending in January with the Night of the Kings on January 6th. The three large Catholic Churches on Isla Mujeres are beautifully decorated and overflowing with worshippers during the holiday season.

Two Christmas Parades:

There are two Christmas parades: the official Municipal Santa Claus Parade and the Christmas Golf Cart Parade organized by a local carnival dance troupe. Last year, we participated in the golf cart parade for the first time, dressed as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, tossing candy to the crowds of kids. This year, the parade was scheduled for Saturday, December 20^th, but due to the high possibility of rain has been moved to Saturday, December 27^th, starting at 5:30 in the afternoon. It is so much fun to ricochet around the island in a decorated golf cart, trying to follow the lead vehicle when the route is being planned, just as the parade starts. The crowds of little kids waving and yelling hello make it all worthwhile. We'll be there again!  

On The Twelfth Day of Christmas, Isla Gave to Me - One Brightly Lit and Noisy Party Bus:

It's bright. It's noisy. It's fun. Every year around this time, the party bus, or as some people call it, the disco bus, or the funny bus, comes out of storage and begins doing nightly runs around and around, up and down the island.

Loud music. Bright lights. And people have fun. It's become a favourite with Bachelor and Bachelorette party celebrations. 

It drives me nuts when I am trying to sleep, but it has become part of the annual holiday celebrations, so we have learned to laugh and go back to sleep muttering, “It's just the party bus.” We have plans to use it soon, and it will be our turn to be silly.

Feliz Navidad to all, may your Christmas be merry and bright!

Lawrie, Lynda, Thomas, and Sparky

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky

The white stuff. Winter in Mexico!

The wind howls, shouldering its way through cracks and crevices, forcing its way into the house.  It slides under the door, bringing with it fine white particles.  You can’t hide from me!  I’ll find you.  

Outside the flecks blow through the air, collecting along the edge of our patio, drifting into corners and coating accessible surfaces. The particles insinuate themselves into clothing, sliding into tender spaces where jackets meet pants. In Centro, the street cleaners shovel it – yet again – off the streets and over the retaining walls: sand, damn sand!

What?  Did you think I was talking about snow?  We live in Mexico! 

A few months ago, we were enjoying a beach day when a Norte was just getting started.  

A Norte is a belligerent storm that blows from the north across the US/Mexico border, bringing strong winds, cooler temperatures, thick clouds and heavy rains.  

On this particular day, it was still brilliantly sunny, and the kite surfers rode the exhilarating winds, getting huge air under their boards.  

We, on the other hand, were being sandblasted. We carefully picked particles out of our beachside lunch.  Chomping down on a burger seasoned with bits of coral and shells can be tough on tooth enamel.  

We discovered the easiest solution is to rinse the offending grit out of our mouths with an icy cold beer.  

And don’t talk a lot, just enjoy the day. Talking leads to sand in your teeth.

However, this week we are suffering from the effects of the Polar Vortex that is enveloping most of Canada and the USA with record-breaking cold.  Island tourists had abandoned plans for a lazy day at the beach, huddling instead inside hotel rooms, wondering: why now, why me?  

When a Norte hits after an extended dry spell, the sand is lighter and easily snatched up by the wind and deposited wherever.  Other times, the rain will saturate the grit before the winds arrive to plaster the wet mess onto buildings.  It’s a lot like blowing snow, but without the cruelly cold temperatures.

Meanwhile, back at our beachside casa, we have different challenges with sand.  We have a beach and we have pets.  It’s an interesting combination. 

The two cats, Tommy and Chica, seldom venture far, but they like to investigate the surrounding area before deciding where they will nap for the next few hours.  Each trip out and back beautifies our floors and furniture with numerous paw prints.  

Tommy, my fourteen-year-old cat, has a thick double coat that feels more like unspun wool than hair.  

Particles cling to his belly and his legs. His favourite napping spots are identified by a circular pattern of debris, the shape of a large, relaxed cat.  

Chica, the younger tabby cat, deposits her contributions on coffee tables and comfortably padded kitchen chairs.  She is fastidious with personal hygiene – spending the next thirty minutes removing every fleck of sand from her silky fur, leaving it for me to remove from the furniture.

Sparky, a short, part-terrier, part-something-else pooch, recently decided that he, too, should live at our house.  He’s a rough-coated coated low-to-the-ground sand-magnet. His ideal day includes a swim in the ocean, then a tussle in the sand with a neighbour’s dog, finished by a quick dash inside to say hello. Strewn across the patio is his gritty pathway leading into our main floor living space and up the circular stairway into our bedroom. 

Sweeping, I return the sand to the beach for the animals and us to recycle on the next jaunt through the house.  Housekeeping is a hit-or-miss proposition.  We usually think about cleaning the house when the dust-bunnies are larger than our seventeen-pound cat, or when the ocean-side windows are occluded with a glaze of salt and sand.  

If we clean the house, it will only get dirty again.  It’s inevitable.  

Accumulations of sand lend authenticity to the beach house theme of our casa.

And finally, there is the challenge of sand in your shorts caused by swimming in the warm Caribbean Sea. The sandy-bottomed ocean reflects beautiful hues of turquoise, indigo, and aqua-blue. The rolling waves scour the ocean bottom, lifting the fine white sand into suspension – and depositing the residue in the tender areas under bikinis and bathing trunks.  

It can be painful.

So, to our hardy northern readers who are currently dealing with temperatures as low as -50 °C, save a bit of sympathy for us.  Instead of enduring record-setting cold and snow, caused by the Polar Vortex, you too could be dealing with the challenge of scratchy sand in your shorts. 

It’s a real hardship.  Honestly.  You should try it sometime.

Hasta luego

Lynda, Lawrie, Thomas the Cat, Sparky, Princess Chica

Murder. Mayhem. Revenge. Romance.

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky

Sun, sand and Sol (Sol, arena y Sol)

Sol, arena y Sol  (Sun, sand and Sol beer).

A mischievous grin lit his face. Our friend Chuck recently asked, “Do you even know where North Beach is?” Okay, I get it. We are not beach people. We like sitting in the shade, by our own pool, with our own refrigerator close at hand, with a supply of snacks and cold drinks. Boring, but true. 

So, imagine my surprise when Lawrie asked me if I wanted to go to the beach. “The beach? Really, the beach? Okay.”  Then there was a long pause while I thought about it some more, adding, “I guess.”

Surfer with blue and white kite twenty feet in air

We packed up our swimsuits, towels, sunscreen, and sunglasses, then hopped in the golf cart. Parking in front of the Na Balam Hotel, we sauntered through the gardens, headed to the beach. We greeted a couple of the staff members that we knew and paid for a double lounger partially shaded by a palm tree.  

Ten minutes later, a bucket of icy cold Sol cerveza arrived compliments of our friend, Luz. Alright, maybe I could get to like this beach thing.

Third kite surfer joining the other two

Leaning back on the sunbed, we lazily watched as two very fit young guys launched their windsurfing kites into the wind. 

They made kite-surfing look ridiculously easy as they skimmed and scooted across the waves, bouncing up a good twenty feet in the air and flipping into a somersault with the awkward board strapped to their feet.  

We could do that too, if we really wanted to. 

Exercise the hard way!  Popsicle salesman. 

Then a third young guy started untangling lines and readying his black and yellow kite. We silently scoffed. He couldn’t possibly do nearly as well as the other two. He was a bit on the chubby side, with a spare tire around his waist.  However, once he got the kite airborne, he did just fine keeping up with his competition. 

I snapped dozens of photos of the action, all the while staring covetously at another photographer and his very expensive Nikon D4, or maybe it was the Nikon D3X.  Equipped with a humongous telephone lens and a tripod, I am fairly certain that the kite surfers in his photos were a lot more visible than the ones in my photos. Sigh, only in my dreams.

Regata del Sol al Sol in the background with Navy ship

Menu in hand, our waiter arrived, suggesting that with the north wind blowing, we might want to eat inside at the restaurant. He was worried our food might include a side order of sand. We decided to stay put on the lounger and enjoyed a tasty lunch, only slightly seasoned with blowing sand, while watching more of the beach action. 

In the distance, we could see the participants of the 45^th Regata del Sol al Sol were wrapping up their weeklong visit to the island with the children’s day of sailing. We watched as a dozen or so sailboats arrived loaded with children. They circled around a naval cutter, sitting offshore as a marker for the boats, and returned to the marina. This part of the Regata del Sol al Sol is hugely popular with boaters and islanders alike, giving local children a pleasant life-long memory of this annual event.

Rebuilding the weirs to stabilize the beach

Soon we were drowsy from food, sunshine, and cold beers. It was time to pack up and head back to our shady little casa. Time for an afternoon siesta. 

We do know where North Beach is. I have photos to prove it!

Hasta Luego          
Lynda and Lawrie

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