It ain’t easy! Driving a golf cart on Isla Mujeres

A spectacular day on Isla Mujeres.      

It sounds easy: tour around Isla Mujeres on a golf cart. Just point the front end, stomp the gas pedal, and off you go.

Caritos de golf aren’t fast and are relatively easy to steer, depending on the overall condition of the vehicle. Uneven pavement, unmarked pot holes, or the numerous speed bumps, called topes, can jostle a poorly maintained vehicle around.

Richard and Lawrie, our island vehicle

A typical golf cart is very basic. It comes equipped with four wheels, a steering wheel, seats front and back, and a one-cylinder, seven-horsepower gas engine. 

They don’t have turn signals, brake lights, windshield wipers, and of course, no seatbelts, airbags, or baby seats. In the slightly upgraded models, a horn is included, and if you are lucky, it might actually work. 

Your arms are the turn signals. (Although it seems drivers born after 1980 were never taught how to use hand signals.)

Accident in front of our house

When driving on Isla, indicate your movements, lane changes, and direction changes clearly, or you will find yourself being driven in a cop car to the police station. There you will pay for the damages to the vehicle that you hit, damages to the vehicle that you were driving, the other person’s medical bills, your medical bills, and several vague traffic ‘fines’ that can mount up to several hundred dollars.

Busy streets on Isla Mujeres

The whole process of straightening out your accident can burn up several hours of your vacation time.  We know from personal experience after helping other folks deal with the situation. 

And please, don’t think about leaving the island without paying for the damages. You are a long way from home, and Mexican jails won’t win any TripAdvisor Awards for Excellence. 

(Prisoners must make their own arrangements for food to be brought to them.)

Move over. We're coming through! 

But the most important accessory on a carito de golf is the rearview mirror.  Make sure your rental vehicle has one, and check it frequently. Motos, motorcycles, and scooters will pass on either side of you. 

Drive as far to the right-hand side of the lane as you safely can because other vehicles will pass on corners, hills, or wherever there is a little bit of space. 

For a taxi driver, time is money. If you are hogging the lane, the taxi drivers will become impatient and pass you, expecting you to move over and make room for their vehicle to squeeze by.

Vacationers. Let's go to Isla and rent a golf cart!

When families are on vacation, watch out for young children steering a golf cart. 

It’s illegal, but for some reason folks think that the streets on Isla are quiet little country lanes with a few golf carts puttering along, and that it’s a cute idea to teach a youngster how to aim a vehicle on a busy road. 

Look again, folks. There are ambulances, fire trucks, police vehicles, propane trucks, or tractor-trailer units, over a thousand rental golf carts, plus hundreds of taxis, motorcycles, and bicycles, all vying for limited road space. 

There is no 'slow season' on Isla anymore. 

Another challenge of driving on Isla is the abundance of drivers posing for ‘selfies,’ weaving back and forth in the lane as they try for the perfect shot of themselves and friends. 

Add a few cervezas and margaritas, and later in the afternoon, we hear the ambulances whizzing past our house, responding to yet another accident involving golf carts and motos, or golf carts and taxis, or golf carts and pedestrians.

Watch out for unmarked hazards.

One of our island-born friends recently lamented, “They think they are in Disneyland when they come to Isla.” 

Enjoy your visit to the island, and don’t become one of the accident statistics. 

It’s not the way to finish up your vacation in paradise.

Hasta Luego,

Lynda, Lawrie, Sparky, & Max

~
Isla Mujeres Mystery series

You might be ready to retire to Isla Mujeres, Mexico if...

You might be ready to retire to Isla Mujeres, Mexico if:

Fishing tournament season

You are familiar with the four seasons: fishing tournament season, whale-shark tour season, we wish the tourists would hurry up and return season, and holy cow, things are smoking busy on Isla season.

Swim with the whale sharks season

You know that rust is not just a fashion colour made popular in the 1970s; instead, it is the ever-present by-product of salty air and ocean spray, corroding everything made of metal. 

You have learned to love concrete, glass, granite, marble, wood and plastic.

Rust - not just a fashion colour

If the first name of most of your male friends is Juan or Jose, and your female friends are called Maria or Guadalupe. 

 

Everyone has a second name or a nickname that they use instead of their biblical first names. Juan Alfredo = Freddy. Juan Batista = Patricio. 

Lawrie was destined to live in Mexico; he is John (Juan) Lawrie, but has always used Lawrie as his first name.

Our daily transportation

Your everyday vehicle is a golf cart. Personal golf carts range from the plain vanilla original colour to a wild assortment of paint jobs, upholstery colours, festive decorations or fancy hubcaps. Individuality is the key!

You instantly recognize the sound of a motorcycle helmet being blown from the rider's head and bouncing across the pavement. According to the law, riders are required to fasten their helmets, but often the straps flap in the wind or are clenched in the rider's front teeth. A choice of looking good instead of being safer.

Family transportation

You know that five people can, and frequently do, ride on a motorcycle.

When we first moved to Isla, three on a motorcycle was pretty novel to us, then four became the standard, and now we hardly notice when a family of five zips past crammed together on a moto. We are waiting for the next level, six passengers! 

We have also seen up to twelve locals or tourists jammed onto golf carts, and twenty-four people in a pickup truck.

Coveted treasure - 4 litre plastic jugs

You might be ready to retire to Mexico if you understand the value of an empty four-litre plastic jug, complete with a good-fitting screw cap. Early in the morning or later in the evening, you might see the familiar parade of motorcycle riders returning from the gas station with a couple of litres of gasoline in a plastic jug. The gas is used for cooking family meals. 

If you put a clean empty container on the curb, it will last about two and a half minutes before someone on a motorcycle scoops it up, shouting “gracias” as they zip away with their treasure.

Wide range of fun friends 

Your friends range in age from early 20s to late 80s, and everyone happily gets along. 

The very best thing about living on Isla Mujeres is that no one cares who you were in a previous life. What you did, or are doing, for a living is just not important. 

What is important is do you enjoy life?  Answer yes to that question, and you'll fit right in.

You don't participate in seniors' organ recitals: “Oh, my liver. Oh, my spleen. Oh, my stomach. Oh, my heart.” Try doing that on Isla, and you will get a quirked eyebrow in response. You're getting older… oh, well, aren't we all?

Daily attire - shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops

And finally, you might be ready to retire to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, if your daily attire consists of a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops.

Are you ready to retire to Isla?

Hasta luego,

Lawrie, Lynda, Sparky, and Thomas

Murder and mayhem. Revenge and romance. 

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky

Express yourself with a carrito de golf, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Santa Claus parade 2012

Dozens of wrapped candies tossed by giggling children litter the roadway in front of our house. 

Steelers fan!

Our two grandsons madly scooped up the candies, catching them mid-air, or zipping between vehicles before the goodies were squished under a wheel.  

Accompanied by many honking horns (or is it horns-a-honking?), a flotilla of vehicles passes by our house.  

In a parade, there will inevitably be many golf carts overflowing with passengers who wave and toss treats to enthusiastic observers. These are privately owned golf carts, painted, decorated and accessorized to express the owners’ offbeat personalities.  

Some of our friends have decorated their personal golf carts with the logos of their favourite sports teams, or flashy chrome hubcaps, or a variety of flags. Many locals have retrofitted their carts with plastic roll-down side curtains to protect them from tropical rainstorms.

Great decorating job!

One American friend has a very charming carrito de golf.  It is upholstered in vibrant orange and painted fluorescent pink, matching the exterior of her eye-catching house.  

For Christmas, she added garlands, bows and ribbons, making her golf cart one of the prettiest on the island.  

Other friends were over-the-top with their holiday decorations, adding ornaments, wreaths, tinsel, strings of garland and pearls, reindeer antlers and even solar-powered lights.  

We left a trail of broken ornaments around the island.

When the grandsons were visiting, we borrowed a riotously decorated golf cart for a few days.  

We entertained a lot of people, leaving a trail of shattering glass ornaments as we were buffeted by north winds, or we thumped over speed bumps.   

Golf carts are legal to drive on the public roadways of both Isla Mujeres and nearby Isla Holbox. There are several golf cart rental outlets on the island where tourists can rent golf carts tricked out in camouflage, or as a 1957 Chevy, or a Jeep Wrangler, or even a fire truck.  

Not the way to drive a golf cart

And yes, this is a tropical island, and yes, you are on holiday, but letting an underage child drive a golf cart is a disaster waiting to happen. 

There are ambulances, fire trucks, police vehicles, propane trucks, or tractor-trailer units, plus hundreds of taxis, golf carts, motorcycles and bicycles all vying for limited road space. You are unnecessarily risking not only your own safety but also the safety and livelihood of the other drivers. 

More friends decked out for the holidays!

Quite recently, licensing a personal golf cart on Isla Mujeres has become almost impossible as the taxi drivers keep up the pressure on both the state and municipal governments to restrict the number of licenses available. 

But, whether you rent one for the day, or own one for your personal use, the one thing the golf carts of Isla are not used for - puttering around a golf course. There are no golf courses on Isla. 

No matter, you can still have a great time driving a carrito de golf that expresses your individual personality while circumnavigating a beautiful little Caribbean island.

Hasta luego, Lynda & Lawrie

Grab your copy today!

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Or

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky

I get around, 'round, 'round: Isla Mujeres, Mexico!

Need island transportation?  Take your pick!

If it runs!  Drive it!

We have, per capita, ten times more taxis on Isla Mujeres than the entire City of Vancouver, BC, based on my somewhat reasonably accurate math of approximately 15,000 people on Isla sharing 180 taxis as opposed to 600,000 people in Vancouver sharing about 750 taxis. 

Hailing a taxi on Isla is not normally a problem, unless you happen to be looking for a cab the day after New Year's Eve, or the Sunday morning after the annual Carnaval dance. At that point, taxis are few and far between as most of the drivers have been up all night either partying with friends or driving the inebriated celebrants home.  The cab fares are posted at the Centro taxi stand; however, if you are one of the local full-time residents, the cost is usually less.

 

Is it a car?  Is it a truck?

There is also a bus that circumnavigates most of the island about once an hour, or two buses that pass by every thirty minutes, that is if they both happen to be functioning at the same time. This week I have only noticed the bus pass by our house once. The cost is posted on the entrance door. It is four pesos, or about thirty-five cents. It's a very inexpensive way to get around if you are not in a rush, or feel like a sight-seeing ride through the colonias (neighbourhoods).

Jeep Wrangler look-alike golf cart

The unofficial modes of transportation are a lot more fun. There are golf carts galore that typically cost about forty-five dollars a day, or cheaper for a weekly rate. And yes, this is a tropical island, and yes, you are on holiday, but letting an underage or unlicensed child drive a golf cart is a disaster waiting to happen.  There are speeding ambulances, fire trucks, and police vehicles, dangerous propane trucks, or large tractor-trailer units, plus hundreds of taxis, golf carts, motorcycles and bicycles all vying for limited road space.  You are unnecessarily risking not only your own safety but also the safety and livelihood of the other drivers.

 

One of the many uses for a moto!

As for golf cart choices, there are the standard four-passenger or the larger six-passenger carts; most are painted a plain vanilla beige, while some of the newer ones have been decorated with bright tropical flowers or military camouflage. If you are really lucky, you might be able to latch onto one of the incredibly popular '57 Chevy or Jeep Wrangler look-a-likes from Ciro's Golf Carts located on Guerrero Avenue.  

And there is the wild and woolly assortment of personal cars, trucks, motorcycles, and bicycles that serve as transportation for the balance of the population. There are a few vehicles that are new and beautiful, a larger number that are five to six years old and starting to rust.  Then there are the ones that defy all logic, remaining on the road as the windshield falls out, the fenders and doors warp, and the frame twists.  As long as the motor can still create enough power to turn the wheels, the vehicle is used. 

Great exercise program!

But the mode of transportation that fascinates me the most is bicycles. We frequently see people ride two-up, with one rider balanced over the back wheel, standing on two short metal pegs. That takes talent! This could be the start of a new fitness craze, with a complete body workout focusing on the core muscles, legs, and butt.

But the cheapest and easiest method of transportation is walking!  It's good for you, gets you where you want to go, no cost, no waiting, no traffic jams, and a great excuse to stop for an icy cold beer along the way. 

Hasta pronto, Lynda and Lawrie

Isla Mujeres Mystery Series

Or

Death in the Vineyards Mysteries

The Adventures of Thomas and Sparky