Mexico - Isla Mujeres

I’ve been many times but never actually stayed on island, a clear mistake…it’s blowing my mind. Maybe it’s the COVID talking, but this place is truly magical, and you need to stay to understand. It’s as good or better than almost anyplace in the Caribbean. Now to be fair, we really like Mexican food, and we really like beers, and beaches, and beach clubs, and every restaurant having patios in the open air, and golf carts being the main method of transportation, and trails along the coast, and not too many bugs, and amazing views, and being right across the way from a major entertainment mecca. If you don’t like those things then you will surely not like isla mujeres. Most island or coastal locations have many of those things, but it is a rare find to get all of them. The food especially is just so welcome. And the golf carts, oh me oh my how do I love thee. The people are friendly, the downtown shopping area feels authentic and fun if you ignore the ridiculous Chinese made Mexican gift shop items, but to be fair that can be found in abundance in any place that americans are common, it’s what they believe we all want, and maybe we all do on average, but it’s garbage city and it makes me feel bad, because it’s obviously based on a forgotten system of people selling things that they actually made…

We had a perfect day on Isla, we woke up and had coffee at the pool and watched the sunrise, then we hit Zama Beach Club and swam in the ocean, took dips in their pools, sipped cocktails and had lunch, then we came home and swam in the pool some more, before leaving to have a pre dinner drink at The Joint while the kid used their swing, then off to MarBella for a perfect seafood dinner, our table being right on the ocean in the sand, and our kid literally played in the ocean with new friends she met while we had fresh oysters, fish tacos and tostadas, and a beautifully grilled hog fish. We finished the night gazing at the stars and watching lightning storms across the ocean from the pool.

We have had many great days, but this one was close to perfect.

Notes to self:

-We got the cart from Pepe’s at 74usd a day, this was more expensive than the tourist spots and there was no weekly rate, but the cart was nicer, and it was definitely faster which made a huge difference when you are using it for a week. They also include all the gas fill ups in the rate.

-The eastern shore road is by far the best, the western shore road is the tourist road and you will regret all of those speed bumps! Only problem with the eastern shore is that it goes right by the way too large and exposed community dump right along the ocean. Crazy nice real estate for basura!

-Zama beach club was good, 100 pesos (it was 2 to 1 in the summer of 2020) for a chair and good service. There isn’t much to do except go to the pool and beach and drink. We had a nice lunch on the beach though.

-Parque de sur (Kin Ha) has no beach but you can ladder it right into the water. Lunch and views were good.

-I already mentioned Marbella, yes, go there.

-Mama Rossa was highly recommended and we had a great time. Food was Italian and it was certainly good enough. Very reasonable for a “nice restaurant”, just like everywhere else on this island.

-The breakfast and lunch place Mogagua was great and was an easy go to spot.

-Don’t go to Morgans, terrible. Didn’t like mangos much either but it’s supposedly a must do, not sure why. The pizza places are also pretty meh, but Oscars is at least a lot of fun :)

-We love Madera food and art. Great burgers. Easily the best on the island in a very cool and bohemian beachy setting.

-Our property manager (Sofia) ordered us food one time from this fantastic empanada place, not only was the food great, but it was holy shit outrageously cheap. We are all such dumb tourists you know? Locals are getting enchiladas for like a buck! haha. Gotta get that name.

-The grocery store, Chedraui is actually kind of fun because it’s the type of place where you could buy a car engine or an apple you know? We get the houses stocked with staples before our arrival (it was a $50 charge on our most recent visit but usually it’s a percentage) but you still have to go back from time to time for various things, plus they have good ATM’s there.

-1500 pesos a day for large cart, 70 usd a day for regular cart including gas, most recently

-Most recently Isla Fun Tours was used to book taxis from the airport/hotels to the private boat. They arranged a golf cart reservation but did not have them waiting for us (they had a cab pick us up to take us to the cart place).
Total round trip for the above was $470 plus tips. We had to hire a guy separately to take our luggage to the house since that wasn’t thought of in advance… These boats aren’t luxury bot they go fast and the people are nice. Buy some beers before you make way.

-J loves using Nexus tours for trips to and from the airport, and any long journey on the mainland. Reasonable rates and nice folks. They use signs at the airport so you can skip the onslaught of oh my god please stop talking to me and what the hell should I do.

-The new Samura Asian restaurant in the isla mujeres nomads complex was pretty good, but possibly a bad sign of things to come for isla. They spent a shit ton of money and it’s pretty nice, not bohemian, not slow, not calm. It’s Miami, not the isla of old.

Casa Flor De Maya - Jan 2022

This is a pretty great house just down the street from casa Carey. We desperately needed 5 bedrooms this time and they don’t exactly grow on trees in isla. The baller houses usually have 4 here.
They say the pool is heated but it’s totally not, it’s just a solar heater that doesn’t do much. Just like everywhere in the Caribbean, if you go during the winter, the pool better be heated or it’ll be freezing. That’s a fact jack.
Isla itself has just gotten so busy since covid “ended” (sort of, of course). It’s hard to like as much. I know that’s stupid, but it was so perfect for covid. So perfect. A little hidden gem. We couldn’t even get into Magagua this time, or mango’s, but not that I love mangos. Had to wait an hour to get the amazing food at Madera. The beaches were packed, and even beautiful Mar Bella pissed me off. Maybe I’m just a dick, not sure. Shark…jumped.

Casa Carey - Aug 2020

***dude check it out, last time we went we breezed by along the ocean front path, and yup! they put in large trees in between the houses. Huge improvement. Well done!

WHY. WWWHHYYYY! You built this perfect house. This amazing house. You built this spectacular pool. With this unbelievable view. With every amenity I could think of. With a rad location in punta sur. With a hidden gem beach that few seem to know about right out front. With a cool path headed to the true punta sur right out front. And you built the pool to be able to completely ignore if someone is on said path. Then why oh why did you not build a well separating yourself from the dilapidated party house right next door. How could a person make this oversight. How could that happen. I really don’t understand. The wall is great and then it just tapers off. I see that you planted trees. Those will create privacy in what, 5, 10 years?

I mean theres this beautiful pool, this outdoor shower, this outdoor bathroom, this amazing viewing deck and even a grassy knoll type area, and you let it be overshadowed by a party house next door. To be fair, our nieghbors were not partying. They were extremely nice. Extremely. I had a great time. A fantastic time. But that’s not really the point is it. The point is it could have been so different. The point is that it was completely unnecessary.

Anyway, loved this house and will probably stay here again.

We tipped Sofia $125 for 1 week.

Casa Vista Alegre Del Sur - Nov 2020

What a great house. After staying at Casa Carey it was nice to have the complete privacy (no road right in front, just you and the ocean). You can peak over to the houses next door but only if you are really trying. Casa carey is overall a more modern house and I might argue better, but Casa Vista was much bigger and in this case that made it much better.

The only bedroom in the main house structure does not have an en suite. We stayed in this room because of the kid but that made it a little weird with the bathroom. There is half bath right outside, but that’s outside, and our bath was inside where the kitchen living room etc were, so you get the point.

The best bedroom is right off the pool and is pretty baller. Huge bathroom and amazing views.

The bottom room is very secluded and great for the right guest and the top bungalow room has the best views, a rad balcony, and though it’s a little outdoors feeling, it was the coolest room by far.

There is also a tiny room in the front of the house but we didn’t use that one.

The location of the house was still at the tip of the punta sur and for us it was great.

The pool and outdoor areas could not have been better. Truly. We spent more time than normal using the outdoor amenities. The pool being heated was a huge plus as well. I liked looking over at Cancun at night, though you don’t see the constant stream of storms out into the ocean like you do on the other side.

We tipped Hank 4000 pesos for 10 days and Terecita (daily house cleaner) 2500 pesos.

We paid 39 per person for a private dinner, tipped 20%. Sofia is a good cook but overall it felt weird and I didn’t love it. I just don’t like people doing things for me like that…