Viva Mexico!

Casa Ixchel-Isla Mujeres

After a long tough couple of years, I was in need of some real R&R. While surveying my various websites for travel deals I happened upon a $324 ticket to Cancun on United Airlines over Labor Day and snapped it up. I wanted to do it alone, I was now on my own and had no one to be responsible for planning and doing. Somewhere, someone told about this "cute little laid back island" across from Cancun called Isla Mujeres the "Island of Women." It seems like a great place to start. The only other thing I wanted to see was one of the Mayan ruins. 

My flight was flawless. The airport at Cancun was small but overwhelming with people trying to stop the tourists to sell them something and everything.  I was glad I had arranged transportation from the airport to the port where I took the ferry over to the five mile long island. I could have done transportation a lot cheaper if I had been with someone, but this was my first foreign trip alone. When I got to the island I grabbed a taxi to Casa Ixchel which was mid-island. have what I do now I would preferred to stay on the north side of the island where you had great swimming beaches.  The price was right for my hotel $70 a night.  I also wished I had exchange more money at my bank in the US to pesos, credit card acceptance on the island was not widespread and the rate of exchange was significantly higher.  *Make sure your credit card exchanges funds without foreign transaction fees, two of my four did not and American Express was not accepted in places my Visa was. 

My hotel room at Casa Ixchel was clean & comfortable and right on a rocky beach where I could not swim. Sunrise from the pool deck was incredible and the small pool was clean and nice for lounging, 

I found Picus, a great restaurant right on the beach in town and ate delicious pescado every day . The highlight of my time on the island was renting a golf cart and circling the island for 24 hours. If I had converted to pesos it would have been $40 for 24 hours, instead they charged me $50US. Zipping around the island was super fun!  I visited the southern tip (Punta Sur) with a great sculpture garden ($3 admission) and lots of iguanas, stopped to take pictures of the Seashell House, which they rent on AirBnB and purchased beautiful beaded jewelry and accessories at the Women's Beading Cooperative that supported island craftswomen. My only real disappointment was when I walked two blocks from my hotel to the Isla Mujeres Brewing Company I found it would be two more weeks before it would be open!

After four days on Isla Mujeres I headed back to the mainland to stay at an all inclusive hotel and visit Chichen Itza.  I do wish I would have stayed on Isla Mujeres and done a day trip to Chichen Itza. My hotel on Cancun was nice, it had three pools, but the food was mediocre and the all you can drink atmosphere promoted people to overdrink. My last day at the "adult only" pool, a thirtysomething man next to me threw up all over himself and it even hit the pool and they did little to nothing about it.

Chichen Itza was amazing. I took a Viator with Early Entry with a Private Archeologist. I would recommend the tour, but you should know the guide was certainly not an archeologist...I work with them! The lunch they gave us in a small paper bag when we got on the bus and consisted of a sandwich with the thinnest slice of bologna and mayo. Our guide recommended we eat it on the three hour ride.  They told me they were going to pick me up at my hotel at 5AM, didn't show till 6AM without any notice, I wondered if they took my money as a scam. they also said it was a 12 hour tour, which in reality we spent less than 3 hours a Chichen Itza...but I would do it again just for the early entry.. I would add on the conote swim in the afternoon on the way back also.

I enjoyed my adventure in Mexico immensely. This was my first trip outside the US & Canada and I did it solo.  I will say you should be prepared to be taken advantage of by the Mexicans, but as a Texas resident I see a lot of Americans taking advantage of Mexicans so I accept tit-for-tat. And it certainly didn't turn me off to going again....if fact I am looking forward to at least another couple of Mexico trips somewhere in the future: to the Sea of Cortez, a Cooper Canyon train ride and a visit to the home of Frieda Kahlo.