Isla Mujeres

Ann’s mother’s 70^th birthday (actually it was her 69^th) and Ann’s sister, Bonnie, decided that the three of them should take a vacation together to Isla Mujeres. Stayed in a rustic hotel with a thatched roof on the northern tip of the island, where they could roll out of bed and walk right outside in their pajamas to their own little protected beach with clear turquoise water. An amazing eight days, with lots of laughter, good food and drink! That was 19 years ago, and the fond memories are just as strong today. But….a lot can change in 19 years, especially with a growing tourism industry.

Cartagena to Isla Mujeres

As we mentioned in an earlier post,  we own timeshares and recently WorldMark (where we own most of our points) opened a resort on Isla Mujeres, about 8 miles off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula across from Cancun. Ann’s fond memories, along with International Living touting the island as an undiscovered (not really) expat destination, plus the timeshare made Isla a no-brainer to be included in our exploratory travels.

With timeshares as with frequent flyer miles, one can play the game two ways, i.e., book early or book late; for the more popular destinations, booking early works better. Which meant that we had to book 13 months ahead of time, in the early stages of our planning. At the time, Ian checked flights from Colombia to Cancun for January 2017 and flights where cheap, with a non-stop from Medellin to Cancun. When it became time to book our actual flights, the nonstop flight had disappeared and all flights from Colombia to Cancun were very expensive, over $450 one way per person (actually all flights we could find leaving Colombia in January were expensive). We don’t know what changed in a year but something did. With a little hunting, we were able to find two frequent flyer business class tickets from Cartagena to Cancun, connecting in Panama City, for 25K miles each, which met our criteria for a good deal, and Ian’s criteria for including Cartagena in our itinerary. The flight was marvelous, on time, large seats, and Ian remembered from his time commuting from Chicago to Florida that sitting in first class, in a window seat, is his happy place.

Getting from Cancun Airport to Isla Mujeres

We had decided to wing it and not to book a shuttle to the ferry for Isla because the only ones we could find online were $49 and were private. Our backup option was to take the bus from the airport to the downtown ADO bus station for $5 each, then a $5 taxi to the Puerto Juarez ferry terminal. Arriving in Cancun, we got accosted by the shuttle sales people who also tried to talk us into doing a timeshare presentation or tour. We kept declining and eventually got what we wanted, which was a shared shuttle directly to the ferry dock. It was more than we hoped to pay at $26 but a lot less hassle than going the bus route; the only downside was that we had to wait about 25 minutes while they got someone else to share the car with us. Once we arrived at the ferry dock, it was 160 pesos one way or 300 pesos round trip per person. The ferries run every half hour. From the Isla ferry dock, it was a 50 peso taxi ride to our property for the week at WorldMark.

Overview of Island and WorldMark Resort

Isla Mujeres is about 4.5 miles long and about 1/2 mile wide. Although some people have cars, most get around the island using taxis, mopeds, bicycles, and especially golf carts, with many available rental locations charging $35-$40 per day and up. (A bit pricey if you ask us, considering taxis are so inexpensive.) WorldMark here is a beautiful property shared with the Puerto Isla Mujeres Resort and Yacht Club, on the harbor about mid island. Despite having no kitchen (the units with kitchens were no longer available when we booked), only a small frig and coffee maker, we ate the majority of our breakfasts and light dinners in the unit, making lunches our main meal of the day.

Near the Resort

From the resort, we could walk a few blocks south to Green Verde,  an excellent restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and also to the nearby Chedraui (a Mexican chain), which is the largest grocery store on the island and also sells clothing and household goods. Groceries here were more expensive than in Colombia but less expensive than in Costa Rica and Panama. By walking a bit further south, we could find other recommended restaurants and local neighborhoods. We had a yummy breakfast one day at Mango Cafe, offering both indoor and outdoor dining for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (closed between 3:00 and 4:00). A bit to the north is Soggy Peso, a funky bar (with some food offerings) owned by a Texan, whom we got to meet.

Isla Mujeres Main Town

Walking further north brought us to town in about 30 minutes,

with an additional 15 minutes to North Beach, the best on the island. After the first day, we realized that as we got closer to town, we could switch from the main road to the malecon along the magnificent windy unprotected Caribbean east side of the island.

Here the crystal blue waves come crashing to shore all day long. Definitely not for swimming, although we did spot people along the shore searching for shells and beach glass. Ann felt she could spend hours here just watching and listening to the surf, wind, and frigatebirds drifting on the wind currents.

We later learned that contrary to what we would have expected, it was the homes on the south shore that were most susceptible to hurricane damage as hurricanes approach from the south.

The main town area has both a local and touristy feel. Even here on the island, as in many places in Latin America, the main square is fronted by a church, and here with a medium-sized grocery store on the opposite side. The streets are a combination of local houses, basic shops, and tourist accommodations and shops.

The central north-south street in town, Hidalgo Street, is pedestrian only (well, except for the occasional moped), with numerous clothing, souvenir, and artisan shops and a large selection of restaurants (where most people speak at least some English), mostly traditional Mexican, but also Italian, steak, seafood, Asian, and Cuban. We had lunch one day at Qubano, delicious sandwiches and probably the best mojitos either of us has ever tasted. Many restaurants offer lunch specials (and maybe dinner specials too, but we were never in town at night) including 2 for 1 beers or cocktails, usually margaritas.

Our favorite lunch place was Dopi’s, where the lunch special included three tacos and guacamole and a margarita for about 140-180 pesos, depending on what type of tacos. We tried fish, shrimp, and lobster, and all were delicious! Funny, on our first visit, even though we were there a bit after lunchtime, when we paid, the owner had to go somewhere away from the restaurant to get change. After our first time there, our waiter, Mario, greeted us every time we walked down the street. The next time, the restaurant wasn’t busy and Mario told us his life story, including being born in Guatemala, living in the US, gang activity, drugs, prison time, and deportation. Now he has found his faith in the Catholic Church, is living a happy life, and has left all the rest behind.

North Beach

As is generally common knowledge, we are beach people, and North Beach did not disappoint.

The beach is fairly long and divided into sections by wooden posts near the water’s edge.

Although all beaches in Mexico are public, some of these sections were beach clubs with chairs, tables, and umbrellas taking up most of the beach. Other sections had a mix of optional chair and umbrella rentals (2 lounges and an umbrella for 180 pesos, less than $10), and people sitting and lying on the sand.

Our favorite spot was one of these areas, where we would simply spread a blanket near the edge of the water. The water is clear aquamarine with gentle waves, and we could go way out and not be over our heads.

One day, we tried the wider section of beach at the far north end of the island but found it a bit too windy with rougher waves and less clear water.

Exploring the Southern End of Isla Mujeres

Another day, we took a break from North Beach and borrowed bicycles (complimentary at WorldMark) to explore the southern end of the island and peninsula.

After breakfast at Mango Cafe,

we headed along the windy road on the east side of the island

to the ruins of the temple of Ixchel, the Maya goddess on the moon, fertility, medicine, and happiness.

After paying the small entrance fee, we walked through the modern sculpture garden to the ruins,

perched dramatically on a rocky cliff with walking paths along its edge affording breathtaking views and roaring surf.

From there, we road along the western peninsula, passing the turtle farm, private homes, hotels, and beach clubs, before reaching the tip.

On our way back, we stopped for a very refreshing cold coconut water (in a very large coconut with lots of juice and little or no coconut meat), then road through truly local neighborhoods before returning to the resort and a much needed refreshing jump in the rather cold pool.

Concluding Thoughts

Isla Mujeres has a small but growing expat community with many seasonal regulars, some of whom return to the same hotel year after year. When researching long-term seasonal rentals, unfortunately what we found started at $1350 (US) per month, about double what we saw in our other favorite locations. We did, however, see a single listing for a house at $1050-$1250 per month (depending on season) and an apartment at $550-650. We believe the higher rents are due to limited variability, considering the small size of the island, much of which is undeveloped.

So….had much changed on 19 years?  Yes, we found many buildings (homes, condos, hotels, etc.) that didn’t exist on Ann’s first visit and many more restaurants and especially many more shops of all kinds, e.g., clothing, artisans, and the usual tourist shops. And what used to be a dinky little ferry dock is now a terminal. Even the ferries are larger. But….Isla still has its charm, and we want to come back for at least a month. Isla Mujeres has now become one of our top three choices, along with San Ramon and Medellin, here and here.

Side Note: When planning our travels, we had hoped to leave destinations more fluid, allowing us to stay longer at a location if we wanted. However, traveling in Latin America during peak season did not allow us this freedom, and we ended up having to plan ahead and book our accommodations and, in some cases, transportation, in advance. Yes, perhaps if we had an unlimited amount of time (we want to return to the US every six months to visit family) and did not have budgetary and other (e.g., our own place with Wifi, a kitchen, air conditioning in hot beach areas), we might have been able to be more spontaneous.

Note:The exchange rate at time of writing was 18.5 Mexican pesos to the US dollar.

Next Up: Vidanta Resort and Puerto Morelos on the Riviera Maya

Ian and Ann