A Boat Tour in the Mexican Caribbean

My family and I just spent a wonderful month in Mexico, and I have so many things to write about that I'm not sure where to start.  But for now, I'll just start with something easy - a relaxing and fun boat trip we went on on Saturday.

The trip started just out of Cancun, and took us around Isla Mujeres, a beautiful little island where Mexico's old Caribbean lifestyle can still be seen.

Here are some pictures.

This is the dock where the trip started.  We had breakfast in the larger hut at the back:

The twins, on board:

Getting ready to snorkel:

 The two older sons, watching me snorkel:

This is the view they had.  My oldest son claims he knows which one was me:

After snorkeling, with my lovely wife:

A typical hotel on Isla Mujeres:

A traditional wooden house on the island, in this case converted into a shop; this kind of simple wooden house was typical on the Mexican Caribbean before tourism took off.  Now everything is concrete.  I can imagine that these would stand up to a hurricane too well, but these little homes seem to have been around for a while:

Most homes have images of this sort:

The island's church; nothing "fancy" but the people's devotion and respect is truly beautiful:

 This is the beach where we spent the afternoon:

Some of the docks in the fishermen's district of the island; many of these local fisherman had their dock, home and a little restaurant all next to each other:

Although it's not very clear in this picture, this haphazard home is built of bamboo on a floating island. The island was made of old plastic bottles, covered with plastic and then soil on top:

Dinner at the beach club:

The view of the beach from the beach club:

My oldest son enjoying a dip in the pool:

Back on the boat, one of the crew members (the bartender) caught this barracuda:

This is one of the last pictures from the trip:

After my wife took this picture, the barracuda jumped and got the hook caught in the wrist of the man who caught it.  It was a very large and thick hook (2 1/2 inches or so).  Seeing the accident put her into shock; combined with low blood pressure and the motion of the boat, this was enough to put her out of commission for the next 24 hours!  She spent the night in the hospital.  Thankfully, she is much better now!

The fisherman downplayed the pain, and claimed that this kind of thing was normal for people who live at sea. I saw him as we got off the boat and he was smiling and waving.  I assume that he had removed the hook in a procedure similar to section 2 of this diagram:

In any case, that didn't help my wife very much.  But otherwise the trip was very enjoyable!

It's also worth noting that we were the only couple who brought our kids with us.  The other couples left their kids at home to enjoy a vacation alone.  While I understand that couples do need a break from the kids now and then, our trip was that much better simply because we brought them!  They loved it and so did we.

Come to Mexico for a Great Vacation ... at Starbucks?

Playa del Carmen's Beaches

I've complained before that people come down for vacation to Mexico and in reality see nothing of Mexico.  But forget about culture, history and tradition.  We know 95% of tourists simply don't care about that stuff. But what about the wide, beautiful beaches that made places like Playa del Carmen and Cancun so famous?  It's the same story.

This afternoon my family and I went down to the beach. Weaving our way through the crowded Fifth Avenue (the main tourist street, running parallel to the beach, a block or two away) we saw crowds of mostly non-Mexican tourists (including many Americans, Canadians, Europeans, etc.)  A block and a half later, after about 2 minutes of walking, we arrived to the beach.  I would say about 90% of the people were Mexicans - a complete turn around from the trendy main drag, filled with stores and restaurants that you could easily find in any major North American city.

We arrived in the mid afternoon when it was still warm and sunny, and stayed until the early evening when the sun had gone down.  I waded in the water with my kids, and later went into the water alone, floating on my back and looking at the stars and moon above me.  It was absolutely beautiful!

Yet, I couldn't help but wonder; why do all these Americans, Canadians and Europeans spend so much money to come to come to the beach, and then not go to the beach?  The big selling point here in Playa del Carmen is the beaches, which are some of the world's most beautiful - so beautiful and relaxing, in fact, that they made me (a former and very decided hater of beaches) fall in love with beaches.  Yet instead, they go to drink beer at a bar.

It's not only downtown.  I've been to resorts and seen pictures of others, where it's the same story.  The pools, beach clubs, restaurants and tennis courts are full of people and alive.  If there are lounge chairs or canopy beds down where the sand begins, an adventurous spirit may wander down.  But the actual sand of the beach is empty of northern tourists, and you would think there's something wrong with the water, since no one's in it (even now in the middle of "winter" the water is comfortably warm; these tourists wouldn't know that, though.)

So, just my same question again - why would you spend all the money to come down here, and instead of enjoying some of the most beautiful beaches to be found, go to Johnny Rockets and Starbucks?

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas ...

Winter Day near St. Jacobs, Ontario

I'm someone who loves snow, and, up until recently, hated the beach. You might be wondering then, how did I end up living in Mexico, or even worse, Playa del Carmen.  I used to ask myself the same thing.  (The real reason was based in an adventurous-spirit driven decision, which, ironically, started the least adventurous, but probably most rewarding, part of my life.  Click here to read about adventurous spirits.)

I love just about everything about cold, snowy winters.  Tobogganing, skating, the white winter scenery, and, yes, even the cold.  I feel heat very easily, but I'm not too badly affected by the cold.  Last time I was in Canada for the winter (Christmas & New Year's 2008/2009) outside I usually wore only a sweater, a tuque and some thin gloves in addition to my usual clothes (running shoes replacing the usual sandals I've got used to since living down here.)  My wife, on the other hand,  was wearing long-johns, two pairs of pants, snow pants, 2 sweaters, a jacket, a scarf, a hat, two pairs of socks and winter boots, and still felt cold, even when indoors.  But she had never experienced temperatures below 5 degrees, so it was understandable.

I miss making snowmen and snow angles, going on snowy winter walks, and seeing hoar frost on the trees.   I miss seeing the unreal bluish world of a snowy night lit by the moon (with no city lights - it's absolutely beautiful!)  I miss coming in from the cold to drink a cup of hot chocolate.  I've never had trouble getting warm when it's too cold, but when it's really hot in the summer here, I can't find any way to keep cool; air conditioning just makes everything worse when you do have to go outside.

Winter Morning in Playa del Carmen

On the other hand, there are some things I've really grown to love about spending winter in Mexico.  Winter here is nothing like winter at all.  It is actually like early fall.  Since early fall in Canada is my favourite season (the only one I like more than winter), this is ideal.  Cold nights might get as low as 15 degrees, just cold enough to put on warm pajamas and a thick blanket.  Warm days rarely go over 25 degrees.  I've always felt 18 degrees is the most comfortable temperature to walk around without a jacket and use sandals. Slightly lower is nice to put on a sweater and socks.  This is in fact what the temperatures are here, well over half the day.

Another thing that I've realized is that a moonlit beach is as beautiful as a moonlit winter scene; even beach lovers usually don't know about this, since most of them enjoy the intense midday sun on the hot sand, covered with crowds of noisy people, neither of which are in any way appealing to me.  I've come to love the beach, but when it is empty, quiet and abandoned in the light of the moon, or in the early morning, just after sunrise when the air is still cool and the shadows are still long, providing plenty of shade to enjoy a relaxing breakfast.  There also used to be a somewhat hidden bar here in Playa del Carmen, which was very empty (probably the reason it eventually closed) and had tables out on the sand, and you could enjoy a drink with the cool breeze from the ocean.

Winter is the best time to be in Playa del Carmen, and it is also probably one of the best places to be in the winter, considering the general appeal of these temperatures.  I've managed to find my own little pleasures here.

To avoid drastic cold and drastic heat, my wife and I have begun throwing around the idea of living in Canada for the summer and in Playa del Carmen for the winter.  I can understand why retirees do it.  We'd have to work out some details about work and school, but it could very well be possible.

(Christmas, of course, is an entirely different topic, and doesn't really have much to do with winter.  I'm sure there weren't many snow flakes or toboggans in Palestine when Christ was born, but Christmas will get a few posts all to itself.)