Isla Mujeres, the island of women in Mexico
Mexico's Isla Mujeres is a fairytale, tiny, sleepy little island off the coast of Cancun. Its turquoise water, coral reefs, sandy beaches - with palm trees leaning over the water, Mayan ruins and giant iguanas make the island special.
Despite all that, it wasn't at the top of my list to visit. But of course, as usual, I didn't booked optional programs in advance - only one trough an online platform - so in the evening I looked at the stands in the shopping center to see what they offer for the next day. The same programs are also offered in hotels, only they are much more expensive there, so it's worth looking around elsewhere!
We originally paid for a visit to the underwater museum and a snorkelling tour, but it turned out to be a full-day all-inclusive catamaran tour to Isla Mujeres, with unlimited Margaritas and Tequila Sunrise, sunbathing on a picture-perfect beach, and even driving a golf cart. We toured the island and saw the sights. We also snorkeled for about 15 minutes on the way back and they also showed us about three sculptures from the underwater museum:) but we didn't feel cheated, because we still had a great day, maybe even better then expected.
In pre-Columbian times, this island was considered sacred. It was believed that the only inhabitants of the island were Ixchel - the goddess of the moon, happiness, fertility and medicine - and her court. Later, when the Spaniards arrived on the island in the 16th century, they found many statues and images depicting the goddess, and therefore named the island "Isla de Mujeres". Isla means "island" and mujeres means "woman", so it became the island of women. The island's nickname is "El Amanecer de Mexico", which means "the sunshine of Mexico". It got its name from the fact that it is the easternmost point of Mexico, which is why it is the first place in Mexico that the sun reaches every morning. It is interesting that the Mayans used the position of the sun to keep track of what season it was. The sun starts from the southern side of the island in January and moves further north throughout the year. The tour started from the boat station, which is easily accessible by bus - not to mention the fact that it costs HUF 150 (like 40 euro cents) instead of paying a lot more for a taxi.
About 25 of us went on a beautiful catamaran, due to covid they can only let half as many people on the boat as usual, but at least we could fit comfortably.
Since of course I wanted to be fashionable, plus I didn't want to fall on the boat, it was clear that I would go on this trip in the new panther print Crocs - originally developed for sailing - which I had nicely decorated with travel decorations, a small palm tree, and a globe, as needed. Jaguars are very popular in Mexico anyway, so I always had great success in these panther sets, locals were calling me Lady Jaguar when I was dressed lik this, it was quiete funny.
On the trip, of course, it was a flowing canaan with milk and honey, i.e. Tequila sunrise and Margarita, and it was no different when we arrived to the island.
Isla Mujeres isa heaven on Earth, with its sandy beach, turquoise water, palm trees reaching into the sea everywhere.
We enjoyed the approximately one-hour free program, mostly lying in the sunbeds, and then set off to explore the island with mini golf carts.
The first stop was a lookout point from where you could see all the way to Cancún.
These small cars are really nice anyway, and
I think it's good that you can drive them yourself, it's a much better experience than if they are being driven by someone else.
From there, our journey led to Punta Sur, where there are, among other things, two nice statues, one of which is a giant iguana.And there were always a couple of real iguanas sunbathing on the edge of the sidewalk.
There is also a statue of the goddess Ixchel, as well as the ruins of the church built for her on the rocks, which we did not go inside, but this rocky stretch of coast is very beautiful in itself.
From there, we drove back to the beach for lunch, but it is also worth looking around on the way, there are churches, beautiful houses, hotels along the road, and if you pay attention, you can spot a very special house built in the shape of a shell!
The buffet lunch was so yummy - I haven't had a bad meal in Mexico during the whole trip anyway, all the food was delicious and fresh everywhere.
Tequila tasting would have been included in the program, but at that point I decided to skip it. From there, we sailed on to another part of the island, where beach bars and beaches awaited the visitors, and you could even take a photo with a friendly iguana. This part of the island was already quite crowded, we waited at the bar counter for the departure of the ship, which was fun, because you could sit on the swings at the bar. At this point in the tour, many people were literally passed out from the unlimited alcohol consumption, I used to think that the Hungarians could drink a lot, but I found that we are nowhere compared to the Mexicans and Brazilians:) let's say we restrained ourselves because we were waiting for snorkeling , which of course was left at the end of the tour.
The sea was very choppy, the conditions were not very ideal where we sailed, but the coral reef was still beautiful and we saw many interesting fishes, there were hundreds of them swimming under us. Unfortunately, we only saw three sculptures from the underwater museum, but having never seen anything like this before, it was also a great experience.
After snorkeling, we headed back to the harbor in Cancun, it was almost 7pm when we got back, but we had a great day behind us.
We participated in many interesting programs in Mexico, but without a doubt this was one of the best!
Isla Mujeres, the island of women in Mexico, one day you will visit it as well.
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