Mexico Trip: Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres was on my list of places that Aaron and I HAD to go to while we were in Mexico. It means Women Island, so why wouldn't I want to go? There is an ancient temple located on the southern tip of the island that I wanted to head out too. I came on this trip to see ancient ruins, and I was going to see as many as I could.

We took a ferry over to the island and that was pretty relaxing since they were playing music from the 80's. I had fun singing along....even to the ones I didn't know.

And look at the crazy blue water!

Once we got there, it was like getting off of the plane. Tons of people are coming out of the wood works asking if you want to rent a golf cart, a bike, or a motorcycle. Loads of street vendors selling you sun dresses, bags or small toys. People asking you if you want a snorkeling trip to see sting rays, sea turtles, or sharks. They even had their own "Zona Hotelera" on the island.

At first Aaron and I wanted to get away from the business so we started walking out of the main city. The island is 7km long so....it didn't take that much walking to get out of the city.

We hailed a taxi and got a ride over to the ruins located all the way on the south eastern tip of Isla Mujeres. The cliff were they sit is so beautiful. It is called the Cliff of the Dawn because it is at the eastern most point of Mexico.

The ruins were destroyed extensively by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and to get people to come and see them, a statue garden is surrounding the area.

As you walk through the statue garden, the ruins come into view.

This was a Mayan temple dedicated to the goddess of fertility. (So of course I had to see it!) Most of the artifacts inside, like statues of the goddess, were removed by the Spaniards a long time ago. Spanish pirates were said to have used the island as a hide out. So after looting from pirates and Christians bent on "saving" the heathens on the island, there wasn't much chance of anything making it in there till the present day.

Once Aaron and I explored the ruins, we decided to climb down the side of the cliff. We aren't crazy....there was a walk way.

Thank you self timer! This is a picture of us once we climbed down. As the waves were coming up on the walkway, I thought to myself, "I've heard about couples on their honeymoons doing stupid stuff like this getting sucked out into the ocean and dying"! (You can see the water on the path way in the back....if you look to the side of Aaron) We lived....but maybe for our dear mother's sakes we should be more careful next time.

That was pretty much the end of our adventuring that day. I got some coconut ice cream from a nice little street vendor man. It tasted like home and I didn't care if it gave me the runs (which it didn't). We spent about 2 hours on the island which was perfect for us. We had a really big day ahead of us. The next day was the last day of our trip and it was amazing.
Stay tuned!