Isla Mujeres
Hola mi amigas! This past weekend I took a quick trip to Isla Mujeres with two new friends I met staying in the Nomads Party Hostel in Cancun, Mexico. Isla Mujeres is a small island off the coast of Cancun, about a 25 minute ferry ride from Port Juarez. We started our morning catching the R-6 bus to the ferry terminal. To be honest, it was less of a bus and more of a small cargo van, regardless, 10 pesos and 20 minutes later we were buying our tickets at the terminal. They were $570 MXN which is about $32 USD for a round trip ticket. We sprinted down the pier to catch the 9:30 ferry and by 10 am we were arriving at Isla Mujeres. Even at the ferry terminal you could see how beautiful and clear the water was, with lots of little fish swimming below.
We successfully found the bus stop through the parade of men yelling “taxi, taxi, taxi ladies? taxi.” Honestly it was hard to hear ourselves think through the noise. I understand the hustle to a certain extent, but it’s bit much sometimes. Minutes later the bus arrived and to my pleasant surprise they accepted USD on the bus. So for a single dollar we were on our way down to Nomads Hostel and Beach Club.
Because we are all volunteering at the Nomads Party Hostel in Cancun, we were awarded two free nights in Isla Mujeres by the owner of the hostel, so our accommodation was free which was so nice. Check in wasn’t till 3 so in typical fashion, I decided to rot on the beach at the club and I had the best time in the water. I would definitely say this was the clearest and bluest water I’ve ever seen. I totally recommend staying here if you are planning a trip to Isla Mujeres.
After a few hours of burning up on the sand, it was about 1pm and we decided to get some breakfast / lunch. We even got free mimosas for leaving a good review at the restaurant! Off then we went to Playa Norte (North Beach). Now, I might have to revise my previous statement, because Playa Norte truly had the best water I’ve seen and so much more of it than the beach at the hostel. It was so super crowded but honestly that didn’t matter, we were still having so much fun. I got to Mexico about a week ago and so far I’ve gone through two bottles of sunscreen by myself. Somehow no matter what I do I still always get a little bit burned. I’d have to wear a ski suit to the beach to avoid this, I’m afraid.
We swam for a while and took so many amazing pictures. It’s hard to believe that a week ago I didn’t even know these girls. I was very nervous to come here by myself but honestly I couldn’t be more grateful to have taken the jump. Contrary to what I usually say, sometimes it really is just as easy as getting on the plane. Sometimes it’s as easy as clicking “book ticket.” To find your passion is to find your people. Everyone I’ve met since starting “hostel living” have been so easy to get along with and I really know it’s because we are all on the same wavelength. We are all in our 20s trying to travel the world as much as we can. I really thought about this and how grateful I am for the choices I’ve made lately as I watched the sun go down in Playa Norte. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve appreciated a sunset like that since I left Hawaii over a year ago. Sometimes the sky, the waves, the birds, and the sun all come together to create the perfect moment and this was one of those times. All I felt the whole evening was pure gratitude for life and all it’s given me.
As we made our way back to the hostel, we realized we hadn’t eaten much so we decided to head down to the hostel restaurant to grab some dinner. The food was fine, though nothing to write home about. We all got free tequila shots because my friend asked for her meal without mushrooms and it had mushrooms in it. I wish I could’ve done that when I was serving, tequila solving problems as per usual. Unfortunately dinner got cut short because the mosquitoes were biting us like crazy. Both of my feet and ankles were covered in mosquito bites. I couldn’t take the pain, I was literally rubbing an ice cube on my foot for ages. Thankfully the next morning most of the imminent pain had surpassed and it felt like just regular mosquito bites.
The night wasn’t too bad, there were a lot of French girls in our dorm with us and they were quite loud coming in late but that’s hostel life I suppose. Give and take. We got up early enough because we wanted to rent a golf cart. We went to a place called Prisma near Playa Norte. By so far this is the cheapest place to rent a golf cart. It came out to $900 MXN to have the cart from 9am to 5pm which is about $50 USD ($16 ish USD each). I was going to quickly brush by the fact that we stopped for breakfast, but I have to tell about the place we went to eat that morning. It was called Roosters and I had the best orange juice I’ve ever had. I thought for so long I didn’t like orange juice, I only ordered it because they didn’t have apple juice. Let me just say, it is so shameful how much chemicals and sh*t America allows in food. This was true fresh squeezed oj. Life = changed. I love orange juice. It’s so good. Unreal. I even told the manager how amazing this juice was, I could really write a whole page about how amazing this juice is. 10/10 recommend.
After breakfast we took that cart and skirted around the island like a couple of hooligans for a while. I can totally understand why there are seemingly hundreds of speed bumps everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like the chaos of the golf cart situation on Isla Mujeres. They will rent a golf cart to anyone with a driver’s license over the age of 18. It took us less than 3 minutes to drive away with the cart after walking into the shop to inquire about renting. There’s so many tourists just driving around not knowing where they’re going with long lines of golf carts just driving on the main road. It was a little crazy but so much fun. We got some gelato, stopped off a viewing point, and saw the most beautiful water. I know I keep saying that but I really can’t stress how amazing this little island is, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It’s a little bittersweet, when I see water and cliffs like this, a lot of it reminds so much of Hawaii. I spent so much time on lookouts staring at carribean blue water when I lived there. I think views like that will always tug on my heart a little bit. On we went, we shopped a little, went back to the beach, returned the cart and hopped a late ferry home. Much fun as we had I think that two days in Isla Mujeres is the perfect amount of time, it is quite crowded and this is low season. Still, it’s definitely worth the trip and I would love to go back one day!
