Life is a Beach: Cancun and Isla Mujeres |
Cancun is not really Mexico, but... |
It is so easy to disparage Cancun as a destination for "serious travelers," and many before me have taken their shots at it - so many in fact that it would be annoyingly redundant for me to do the same. Afterall, this very American resort was only established in the 1970s for the sole purpose of earning money from beach-loving tourists. A large number of these tourists apparently go there to do nothing more than lie on the beach during the day and party all night. |
There is relatively little to be found of culture and history within Cancun itself. So why did we go to Cancun, considering that we really like to experience other cultures, I am a fanatical student of history, and we do not get into the party scene? Well, it is pretty common knowledge that Cancun has some of the world's nicest beaches, and we were looking for a generally relaxing vacation. Cancun is much more than that though. It is the gateway to the Yucatan Peninsula, an utterly fascinating region of Mexico. Along with its gorgeous beaches, which can be found all around the coasts, there are great diving, good food, and a large number of highly important Mayan ruins. For East Coast dwellers the airfares were quite affordable as well. I guess there is nothing wrong with going to a foreign country just to lie on the beach, if that is what you want, but it is a shame to do so without learning a little about the culture while there. |
This was our least prepared international trip by a long shot, as I am generally the consumate planner. I had traveled a lot that year for business and pleasure so the travel bug was constantly biting. Upon returning from a business trip to Las Vegas, I said "you know, we need to go somewhere together." We both thought it was a great opportunity to squeeze in one last big fling before Gina became pregnant with our first child. First, we looked into a week-long package on the beaches, but we ended up stretching our stay to 12 days and realized that we could save a lot of money by doing it on our own. We flew from Raleigh-Durham to Cancun via Dallas-Ft. Worth on American Airlines. I don't believe in wasting any of my precious vacation time, so we left bright and early at 6:30 am. Luckily, we live 15 minutes from the airport. The flight was fine, but one of Gina's bags was left behind at Dallas. We had planned to go to a nearby beach after checking in, but guess what was in the bag. Yes, Gina's swimwear. She did at least have a pair of shorts, so we did end up on the beach after a hectic couple of hours of trying to find out from the airline just when we could expect the bag to arrive. There is a lesson to this story. Don't put all your eggs in one basket (ie., make sure to carry some clothes onboard just in case). |
You don't have to spend a bundle |
Inside the terminal at Cancun's airport, there was a small booth where you could get tickets for a colectivo, a shared van that goes from the airport to downtown via the Hotel Zone. The vans could carry about six gringos per trip and cost no more than about $10 each. Quite a deal compared to taxi cabs. Unlike most American visitors to Cancun, we were not staying in one of the huge beachfront hotels. We tend to skimp on this part of trips because we spend so little time in the rooms and had rather spend the money on food and activities. Our hotel, the Hotel Antillano, was located downtown and was recommended in several guidebooks. It was much cheaper, especially for a stay of 12 nights. The room at the Antillano was of pretty good size and came with a shower and television. Most importantly, considering how huevo-frying hot it was, the air conditioner worked very well. There were small safe-deposit boxes in a little room behind the desk, and we kept valuables in there for much of our stay. The hotel did not have a front door, but was open to a small side street. It seemed pretty safe though, and there was a security guard there at night. The hotel was located on a small street off of Avenida Tulum, one of downtown's main thoroughfares. The area was very convenient. Nearby were small groceries, beachware shops (not cheap), banks for money exchange, and the main tourist office. Best of all, the bus station was just a few minutes walk away. I would recommend this hotel if you want to save money. However, ask for a room as far off the streets and away from the stairs as possible. It is not uncommon to hear music wafting up from the streets at late hours. The stairs, which were very close to our room, are hard tile (as was the room's floor), and our sleep was greatly disturbed on a few occasions by returning late night revelers who insisted on being as loud as humanly possible. The heels of their shoes reverberated in our ears like someone was racing a horse around our room - clop! clop!! clop!!! We complained on a couple of occasions and were told something had been done about it. We were never quite sure whether to believe that, since it did recur. We wondered if perhaps we had spoken Spanish or the desk personnel had spoken more than minimal English, results would have been more satisfactory. |
I think you can say that downtown Cancun is much less touristy than the Hotel Zone, but that is like saying Chicago is not big if you compare it to New York. As you walk down the sidewalk, you are constantly bombarded with sales pitches for timeshares, tours, car rental, and restaurants. We passed some of these salepeople so many times during our stay that they began to recognize us. We would just kind of smile knowingly at one another. They pitched, and we took it for a ball and walked on our way. In actuality, we did take a swing at one toss the first night and ended up having a decent meal at one of the many small sidestreet restaurants. We didn't hit a homerun, but the food was pretty good. These salespeople were actually nice enough, and the great shock of it all wore off after a while. We did see a large religious procession one day - the kind of thing you probably would not see in the Zona Tourista. |
Besides its relatively inexpensive accomodations and slightly more Mexican atmosphere, downtown is also fantastic for finding very tasty, authentic food at much lower prices than down at the beaches. Just across the street from our hotel was one of the better ones, Rosa Mexicano. |
Hey, it's not all burritos and enchiladas |
It seems a lot of people are worried about the water and food in Mexico. Some people won't go there for that very reason. Cancun is supposed to have safe water, but we didn't take a chance. We drank bottled water and used it to brush our teeth. If our own habits were any indication, the local bottled water companies hit the jackpot in the summer. We didn't have any problems with the food, which is much more varied than the Southwestern-flavored Mexican fare you get in most stateside restaurants. We ate lots of good tacos, fish, and chicken dishes. The only thing that bothered my system was some habañero peppers I had one evening. I have heard that people in some tropical climates actually eat hot foods in order to produce sweat to keep cool. Well, I should have been ready to make my home on Venus, if not the Sun, after that meal. Below are some restaurants downtown I would recommend. Most of these are worth the trip even if you are staying on the beach. |
El Tacolote - Avenida Coba 19 - a small, very inexpensive and casual taco restaurant; indoor seating; had a singer in traditional costume; mucho delicioso Rosa Mexicano - Calle Claveles 4 across from the Hotel Antillano; interior decorated in attractive colonial style; staff in traditional clothing, and a musician performed for tips; Mexican food with a twist such as shrimp in pumpkin seed sauce Los Almendros - very highly recommended for hearty traditional Yucatecan food; ate at the Merida location; try the poc chuc Pizzeria Rolandi's - Avenida Coba 12 - small open-air restaurant specializing in terrific wood-fired pizzas; while dining watched Michael Jordan sink his final basket El Pescador - Tulipanes 28 - indoor and outdoor seating; excellent seafood restaurant; books say can get crowded but not when we went; try the ceviche as an appetizer |
We spent 2 1/2 days on the beaches around Cancun, going to four different ones to get a good sampling. Narrow Cancun island is where the big hotels and world famous beaches lie. Separating the island from Ciudad Cancun (the town) are two lagoons, one of which is quite large. At the southern end of Cancun island, the beaches get more deserted, and there are few hotels and restaurants. The beaches there are very broad and the waters pretty rough. |
We spent one morning at Playa Delfines, which lies at the southern extreme of the Hotel Zone. One thing about Cancun is that at many of the beaches, you can only get chairs and umbrellas if you are staying at a hotel that provides them. At others, you can rent them. Chairs are really a luxury, but an umbrella or some other type of shade is a necessity if you are going to spend much time under that blazing hot sun. Boy, was it hot! Being from the southern U.S., I am used to a lot of heat and humidity, but I had never experienced anything like what we felt in the Yucatan. It was hard to go out, even after dark, without sweating a lot. Well, at Playa Delfines we were able to use plastic chairs belonging to a hotel without getting caught. I didn't feel too bad about it, since few people were using them anyway. There was a lean-to type shelter at the beach to use for shade. Mostly Europeans were out on the beach. About 95% of the people outside were by the pool. Occasionally, a local would come by selling jewelry or puppets. We watched as one Australian couple negotiated unsuccessfully to buy a few puppets. Apparently, they did not have any acceptable currency handy - either pesos or U.S. dollars. |
Meet me under a palapa - Cancun's beaches |
We also visited Playa Chac Mool, Playa Langosta (on the north side of the island), and Playa Caracol. Playa Chac Mool, at least the section we found, was pretty small, but there was a nice fish-filled rock pool on the water's edge. Of these beaches, we had the best setup at Caracol. We found a spot where you could rent chairs with palapas, straw and wood structures that resemble large beach umbrellas. There was a building with restrooms, and you could order drinks and have them delivered to you on the beach -just like you see in the movies. |
We sat under our palapa, sipping lemon daquiris, as we watched a bunch of local guys dive off a boat pier on one side and jetskis racing around on the other. A long rocky area separated our little beach from the main section. Except for the jetski vendors, we were virtually alone all day. At day's end, we walked for a mile or so up the beach past the main section. There was a small lighthouse out on a rocky point that jutted out a couple of hundred feet into the beautiful blue water. We walked out almost to the end of the point and then on farther up the beach by a hotel as the golden sun began to set, bathing everything around us in a warm glow. I stopped at a railing near the hotel pool to take a few photos of Gina. There was another couple doing the same. The other guy, who had a pretty nice camera with him, asked if I would take a photo of them, and he reciprocated for us. When you carry a "serious" looking camera around, people think you must know what you are doing, whether you do or not, and often ask you to snap a shot with their camera. Of course, you never get to see the photos to find out how successful you were in capturing this moment of their vacation. Most people are easy to please anyway. I am not always pleased with the results when strangers take photos of me on vacation, but it is better than having none. Maybe I am too picky. My wife has gotten pretty used to what I like and can take a good photo of me (as good as it gets anyway), but I have started just telling her to take it the way she wants unless I see something particular I just have to have included. You shouldn't constrict peoples' own creativity too much. Sometimes I actually turn people down when they offer to photograph me, especially if I am alone. I have this haunting vision of chasing someone for several city blocks to get my camera back. Generally, I look for a fellow traveler. It is not that I distrust the locals, but I just feel that most other tourists are unlikely to rob you. |
The beaches in this area are not composed of typical sand, but of zillions of fossilized plankton. Unlike the sand we find on U.S. beaches, which can get excruciatingly hot to the feet, the sands around Cancun stay cool even in very hot weather. A great asset, indeed! This sand can really stick to you though and can get into everything. You have to be really careful with your camera, especially when exposing the interior parts. I used compressed air to clean mine out several times during the trip and wiped the camera body off with a slightly damp cloth. Be careful when performing this type of maintenance because the mirror and shutter blades are very sensitive and can be easily damaged. I didn't blow air onto these two parts. I tried to keep my camera covered when not in use to keep it out of the sun, but I didn't baby it. You can't get any photos that way. |
One night, we decided we would check out a restaurant/club that had been recommended to me - Señor Frog's. We felt like we should at least experience a little of the typical Cancun nightlife before we left. What a mistake. We were standing in line for quite a while, feeling a little out of place among all the teenagers, when Gina felt water hitting her (she had dressed up a little for the night out). It turned out that it was "Water Gun Night." We were told that we not only would be subjected to water gun blasts while we waited to enter, but that we could also expect to be hit with these aquabullets while eating. I don't think so, said the wife. Gina was pretty upset about this one. The guy at the door, an American if I remember correctly, gave us discount coupons for an Italian place down the street. |
At least we got a cheaper meal out of it, and the lasagna and wood-fired pizza were very good. I think that was the night we realized we were in the midst of high school graduate week. It turns out that Cancun has become a very hot spot for Spring Break and post-graduation trips now. Just picture drunken, loud, and sleep-dreprived American teens running all over the malls, streets, and buses, holding huge souvenir glasses from clubs as some sort of badges of honor. Not a pretty picture. The worst thing was riding the buses with them. Maybe the locals get a little used to it, but frankly, I was a little embarrassed by our young ambassadors. Believe it or not, we spent so much time away from Cancun and ate so many of our meals downtown that the majority of this most special of weeks was almost over before we even knew it existed. Not surprisingly, we almost never saw any of the kids downtown. I am all for having a good time, but this was kind of scary. |
For our last evening in Cancun, I wanted to eat "al fresco" and view a sunset. Not only would it be a romantic end to our stay in the Yucatan, but I could get some good pictures too. Since the sun sets in the west, the best place to watch a sunset would be on the lagoon side of the island. We looked through the multitude of area guides we had picked up and found a couple of good bets. We headed down to the south end of the island for dinner at the Captain's Cove (note the very Mexican name). There were quite a few people there, but it was far from crowded. The restaurant had a large indoor dining area and a waterfront deck with 10 to 15 tables. Of course, we asked for a front row seat for the sunset. Surprisingly few people were dining outside. |
There was a small boat dock with a few boats, and these provided very nice silhouettes against the setting sun. As the sun began to go down, I shot up about half a roll of film, trying to get a start on my food at the same time. A couple from Colorado was sitting near us and asked if I would take a photo of them, since they did not bring a camera. I exposed as I would for a normal sunset shot but turned on the flash to illuminate the couple. This enabled me to have good color in the sky without having just a silhouette of the two people. |
Oh, the food. I had a sampler platter of a variety of seafoods, including lobster tail. The price of $20 was not bad at all. As seafood goes, it was good but not extra special. The view was the reason we came. After dinner, we headed down to one of the malls to pick up a few last minute souvenirs. We ended our stay by taking a moonlight walk along the rocks out behind the shopping center. Adios Cancun. |
The Island of Women |
In Spanish, Isla Mujeres means "the island of women," a name apparently given by the Spanish conquistadores because of the paintings of women they found in Mayan temples on this tiny piece of land. Well, I can confirm after a day visiting the island that yes indeed there are many women. However, we didn't go to find women (I did go with my wife, you know), but to experience the slower pace of island life. Isla Mujeres is only a twenty-minute speed boat ride from Cancun, but it is worlds away in temperament. Two boats make the trip, leaving Puerto Juarez about every twenty minutes. It took us only about ten minutes by taxi to reach the dock. |
We arrived at Isla Mujeres early in the morning ready to see the island. First, breakfast though. You can't conquer an island on an empty stomach. We grabbed some pastries at a small shop and ate them on a bench in the zocalo (the town's main square). It was quite peaceful, as there were not many people out and about yet. As we finished, a young guy approached and asked if we would like to rent a moped. We had planned on doing just that, so we said "sure, how much?" He took us to his shop nearby, where we chose what seemed to be the newest one available. We checked to make sure all the important parts worked. He let me drive it around the block to try it out. Something didn't seem right about the way it ran, so I asked for a different one. No problema. For about $30 for the day, we were on our way. |
A bike built for two? |
There was one more thing to do before leaving town. We stopped briefly to buy a couple of hats to get a little more protection from the sun. We both had pretty bad sunburns from snorkeling a day or so before. Good move, too, because there were very few trees on our route. The heat on Isla Mujeres at that time was oppressive, as there was virtually no breeze. The same conditions greeted us later on Cozumel. For some reason, we expected to get more wind on the islands. At least the moped's speed produced enough air flow to cool us while riding. |
Isla Mujeres is only about half a mile across at its widest point and about five miles in length. At the north end is the ferry dock, a naval base, the town, and Playa Norte, which is the most popular beach. There are very few paved roads. One runs the length of the island. Just south of the main town, lies a small village, in which many of the island residents live. As you reach the village, the road forks. If you take the one to the left, Perimeter Road, you can circle around while hugging the coastline. We went left. The coastline on this ocean-facing side of the island provided some of the most spectacular scenery on the island. You could pull off at various spots along the way and photograph waves crashing onto large rocks. There were not all that many sightseers out that day, but we did run into several, most of whom were driving golf carts. For two people, a golf cart might be a better option than a moped. It is more expensive and slower, but certainly more comfortable and probably safer. The roads on the island were pretty decent, however, and traffic was light, so safety wasn't a big issue. I don't think Gina was all that comfortable with my driving though. |
At the south end of the island, we stopped at Punta Sur, a long point of land containing a small Mayan ruin. At the entrance to the point is a lighthouse. The ruin itself was nothing impressive. Much of what was there was blown away by Hurricane Gilbert. However, it does add considerably to the atmosphere of the location. We parked our moped under a shelter to get it out of the sun and proceded to the end of the point, which was a walk of probably 500 to 1,000 yards. Later, many other visitors stopped at the shelter, but none came out to the point. The point is surrounded by cliffs and offers a pretty dramatic view of the ocean, the shoreline, and Cancun. The photo included here was taken from that location and shows the coast toward El Garrafon National Park, one of the island's major snorkeling sites. The drive back toward town was not nearly as scenic, but we did stop at a turtle farm along the way. You could walk out on platforms to view the turtles in their pens. The farm also had nurse sharks, so it would be a great place to take your kids. For lunch, we stopped at an outdoor restaurant along the road back to town. They were cooking some wonderful looking fish there. We didn't want to wait for an hour to get our food, however, so we ate tacos at a neighboring restaurant. |
This is a nice beach |
Back in town, we headed to Playa Norte. We both really liked this beach and wouldn't mind going back. I have heard it can get fairly crowded with daytrippers, but it was fairly empty the day we went. I would say maybe half the women on the beach were topless, but I did not take a survey. The beach is very broad and expands the length of the north end, which is perhaps a third of a mile in length. There were umbrellas and chairs there, as well as a lifeguard stand, but we picked a spot under the palm trees that lined the beach on the town side. We didn't want any more sun at this point. There were small restaurants and restrooms nearby. What a nice, relaxing, and relatively cool end to a day of sightseeing. |
Before heading back to Cancun, we stopped in a few shops. I had already purchased a couple of colorful, wooden animals (animalitos) in Merida, and a couple of stores on Isla Mujeres had a good selection of these. I kind of wish I had bought more, since I really like them. I also managed to take a pretty good candid photo of a woman doing her laundry. I stepped into an alleyway across the street and zoomed in with a 70-210mm lens. She bent her head to smell the laundry just as I pressed the shutter button. I still haven't decided whether that added to or detracted from the final print. All in all, it is easy to see why Isla Mujeres is so popular with daytrippers. It has a few good sites, everything is pretty close together, and you can see a lot in one day. |
This page was last updated on: September 8,
2002
Text and photos copyright 1984-2002 Dan Woodlief |
The One-eyed Traveler |
