Cancun, Mexico, January 2015
Isla Mujeres
The
highlight of our trip was our visit to Isla Mujeres. It's an island located
some 25-minute ferry ride away from Cancun.
There are a few places where you can reach it, namely the Playa Tortugas and
Playa Caracol at the Hotel Zone, or Puerto Juárez, if you're staying in
downtown. The latter is noticeably cheaper, mind; the ferry from Playa Tortugas
or Playa Caracol is $19 for a roundtrip, whereas Puerto Juárez is 146 pesos
($9,80). The ferry company is called Ultramar. The trip can be a bumpy one if
the sea is rough and we got wet sitting on the deck. However, there was live
music!
Isla
Mujeres can be divided roughly to two areas: the more touristy north part and
the quieter south. The main attraction to the south is probably MUSA (Museo
Subacuático de Arte), an underwater art museum, where you can snorkel or
scuba-dive down to see underwater statues. As cool as that sounded, we simply
didn't have the time and/or the money to do it this time. So we opted for the
north part and its sandy beaches and clear waters.
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| The beach |
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| More of the beach |
We found a
spot with two beach chairs and a parasol. 220 pesos ($14,77) for two chairs for
the entire day seemed like a bit steep, but what can you do? A Dave Hester
-lookalike, even wearing his trademarked YUUUP! - hat took our money, saying he
"didn't have the change right now", so he would be right back. Later
I had to go and search for the guy to get my change, and I bet this is not an
isolated incident. But when in Rome...
The beach had a two bars serving it, and even a full kitchen. We ordered some
shrimps and tacos to enjoy while at the beach. You can't beat the ambiance!
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| Swimming |
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| More of the beach... |
Isla
Mujeres is quite a small island, really, and the touristy part of the north is
relatively small with still a decent number of restaurants, bars and hotels. We
took the most out of the island on our day trip, visiting a few restaurants to
have a nice steak or two and feast on some sea snails. We also simply had to
try tequila in Mexico.
It's a must. However, we definitely overpaid for them, since the (sea snail)
restaurant only offered an expensive for of tequila for 77 pesos each, whereas
the cheap bar next to it had an offer of two beers for 40 pesos with two
tequilas for free! So if you're not too fussy about the quality, you might want
to look out for such offers. We also could buy beers to go and sipped them on
the already dark beach, going for moonlight swims every now and then. To quote
Marta: "This is the island I've been
searching for."
To be continued...
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