Maybe it was the long winter this year, or just that I needed to relax, but suddenly the prospect of doing very little except looking over some water under a hot sun sounded great. So I booked a trip to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, in April, and it turned out to be just what I wanted--pretty beaches, laid-back so I could relax, but with enough to do over about five days so I didn't get bored.
Although it's just a 20-minute ferry ride from Cancun, Isla Mujeres is still an antidote to Cancun's spring break, party-til-you-drop mentality. Although development does seem to be picking up, it still resembles a small Mexican village in many ways, down to the occasional chicken picking its way through the streets.
I went by myself and had a great time. Snorkeling was perhaps my favorite part. I used my swimming goggles to check out the fish hanging out near some rocky bits by the hotel beach, and also went on a group outing to snorkel around an underwater installation of sculptures that is part of the Museo Subacuatico de Arte. Having all these fish flit around so close to me was a wild experience! The group on the tour was terrific--two women from Australia whose parents were from Spain, so they chatted in those raspy Spanish accents with one of the tour guides, who also happened to be originally from Spain; their boyfriends; and a mother/daughter from Minnesota.
I stayed the perfect amount of time--any longer and I would have been fried to a crisp. I'm not all that fair, but that sun was powerful and very hard to avoid, especially since I was out and about riding a rented bike, going to lunch in the town, etc. And since I was by myself, getting sunblock on my back was a challenge! I got pretty red in places, but no major damage, luckily. I don't think I could live in such a climate, but it is really a treat to be able to visit.
