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

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The art of basura! Artisan Antonio Fabre, Isla Mujeres!

Entrance to palapa workshop

There is a funny little palapa structure that appeared, a year or two ago, south of Villa la Bella on the Caribbean side of Isla Mujeres. 

First, it was the location of a refreshment stand, offering cold drinks to passersby, then it changed into a workshop area with all sorts of unusual things hanging or lying around. 



Purchased by friends

Passing it regularly, we never thought to investigate. Then, about three weeks ago, Robyn and Al Crump showed us a table that one of their sons had purchased from the artisan who works in the palapa.  Wow! His name is Antonio Fabre.  Originally from Cuernavaca near Mexico City, Antonio has lived on Isla Mujeres for about five years. He creates beautiful things using stone, interesting woods, recycled metals, and other unusual items. 



The largest table in Antonio's display store.



Al and Robyn said we absolutely had to see the bigger coffee table in the shop on Hidalgo, where Antonio displays his work. 

Okay, let's go. We hopped into our car and zipped down to Centro around ten in the morning on a Wednesday - only to find the store closed. 

We hung around, waited, had a cold drink, waited and finally Al called Antonio on his cell phone. The store was closed for the day, but Antonio said he would be there in ten minutes. He was. The table was lovely. We needed it. 


Recycling a wooden gate into a table.

We also wanted a second, smaller table for our outside sitting area. Leaning against an outside wall of our house was a wooden gate, from another house, that had been replaced by an aluminum gate. Lawrie had rescued the gate, thinking it might, in the future, make a good coffee table top. 

We showed it to Antonio, and he said, Sure, I can make you a coffee table out of this. 

Great! A couple of days later, Antonio dropped by our house with a choice of three designs for the second table. We picked one, settled on a price for the two tables and left it at that.



Antonio and Max setting up new table

On Wednesday, February 1st, he delivered both tables. We couldn't be more pleased with the results.  The one made from the recycled gate has been painstakingly inscribed, line by line, with the lyrics of a very old song, "Vive" by Jose Maria Napoleon, and rewritten by Antonio's friend Efrain. 

He also added our favourite saying: no regrets, no bad memories. The base is a beautiful slab of Macedonia limestone from the Mérida area, also called Crema Maya, set into a huge block of Zapote, a beautiful and tough tropical wood. The larger table has a base made from an old anchor, with a porthole accent and carved fish swimming across the surface of the gorgeous tropical wood.

Beautiful lamps at Angelo's Restaurante

When I quizzed Antonio about his work, he said he trained as an architect in Mexico City for two years, then, when the teachers went on strike, he moved to Barcelona, Spain, for a year to study photography. 

With his creative mind, photography was excessively two-dimensional, so he switched to creating beautiful things from wood, metal, stone, and glass. 

Other examples of Antonio's work include the signage at Angelo's Restaurante, Casa Crump del Caribe, the large street-side mobile at Villa la Bella, and the gorgeous multi-coloured lights at Angelo's.



House name for Casa Crump del Caribe

At times, Antonio is difficult to locate.  He is often in Cancun, Merida, or other parts of the Yucatan, buying materials for his current creations. 

Here's his cell number
998-128-3060, and his email address is antoniofabre@hotmail.com! 

Don't despair! You will find him, and it's well worth the effort. Antonio takes discarded items and turns them into works of art.

Hasta pronto, Lynda & Lawrie

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