New Years Day 2011

"Wow! These Mexicans sure know how to party!" - the lady in rm #9

It's 7:44am and the Band is still going strong. i slept through most of it. After midnight i decided to 'rest' for awhile and let the amateurs leave the scene. (the party does not start till after midnight mass. it's quite a juxtaposition with half the crowd standing in the doorway of the church and speakers pointed out into the town square filling the courtyard with 'church'. the other half of the crowd is sitting at reserved tables, all dressed up with party hats on.) during my rest i fell asleep twice and decided i might be tired. At 5:15AM i awoke to the band playing and a deep bass pumping through the foundation of our building. It's still dark out but the same band is still going strong and the crowd is still about a thousand strong.

Lots of 'happy' people, but no real drunks. (police are very noticeable and protective. thick as flies) it is a dignified well dressed dancing crowd. some sleeping children. some sleeping parents. hundreds of locals. the locals outnumber visitors 20 to 1. Lots of great photo ops to be had as the sun slowly rises in the east and the band plays on...

8am exactly and the band stops. i now hear the rustle of the palm trees, the pounding surf replaces the bass beat that band played from midnight till 8am. i never heard them take a break between 5am and 8am. maybe they took a rest between midnight and 5?

i just hope everyone is quiet today during nap time!

Happy New Year from Isla Mujeres, MX. Xo Pirate Skip

You say ‘tomatoe’, I say ‘tomato.’ I forgot to mention the photo of the vendor holding two Roma TOMATOES is mayan. I stopped to ask directions and “had a conversation” with him. (conversation?) I am informing him my Spanish is poor and he laughs, informing me he is mayan and speaks Mayan to me… then he proceeds to tell me the Roma’s are called, “Poc.” (sp?) I did get enough info to find my destination!

Another quick note you cant see. In the photo of the Tacos from yesterday lunch, notice the far right corner. She is making individual tortillas’ one at a time and then cooking them on the grill. (the silver thing is a tortilla press. She grabs a handful of doe, rolls it out and then squeezes that thing over the top of it) This takes place in a storefront just down the street from my hotel. At noon locals gather and line up to buy them, very fresh and hot. Speaking of hot. The little room they cook in has no window, no fan and gets roasting. The space is about 14feet x 20 feet. Now imagine a crowd pressed in there all standing. Sure makes the breeze feel good! (yummy tacos)

The fireworks. I forgot those till I saw the photo… at about 12:45am they set off a round of fireworks a few feet behind my hotel. (there is no safety zone, no OSHA, no big brother here) I’m thinking the party is going along fine and this is the noise level? Then a barrage of explosions starts. I run over and look up to see these monster fireworks going off almost directly overhead. This was a world class party!

The P.A.R.T.Y. I estimate 3,000 plus people in the town square. There was seating for about 1,500 and many more surrounding who could not get a table. ($500 pesos) Plus everyone milling about all over town. From my balcony I could hear another band south of the park and I saw and heard four others along the restaurant row. It’s safe to say the entire village, the entire island was partying. I put in earplugs when the band kicked off so I don’t know for sure how loud it was. But the quiet now is so smooth and relaxing I can only guess it was way above healthy levels. You can see sunrise in the photos of the dance. I mentioned that I ‘accidently’ fell into my bed asleep between ~ midnight and 5am. Well when I got back at 5:30am, it was still going strong and the band didn’t take a break, the dancers never left the floor till 8am. This was truly some kind of wild fiesta! The band was exceptional. (I’ll try to find out more about them and report) they never said one word of English. (duhh) they played all over the charts, not ever getting stuck in one rut, and all of it was great. Clear crisp vocals with harmony and some hot lick guitars along with traditional Mexican instruments. No, I didn’t recognize a single song. Not one. But I sang along to several and found myself whistling them.
(this just in. the band is Super Crack. they are from Marida, in the Yucatan.)

I just woke up from Nap #1. It’s about 11:45am and I think I’ll try to find another taco for today! Hope your new year is going great? xo from Mexico.

Pirate Skip

Happy New Year! Feliz Navidad Y Prospero Ano’ Nuevo

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011


Im on Isla Mujeres Mexico this week. I came down early for a meeting in Cancun. The Island (‘Isla’) is just a couple of miles off the coast, but a few decades away from Cancun. It’s like taking a magic journey back in time and far away from the very over commercialized city of Cancun. (Mexico built Cancun back in the 60’s as a destination for tourists to visit. It was not a city till they invented it for us, and our dollars. Smart) in the hotel zone of Cancun the signs, restaurants and menu’s are all in English. You have to leave the ‘city of cancun’ to find real mexico.

DAY ONE. Travel. I left the boat at 5:30am and took a flight Houston to Dallas, changed planes and then flew to Cancun. So, I arrive at 2:15pm and stand in a massive cattle line for Immigration. 3:30pm and I clear immigration. Customs is a breeze. Now you are spit out into the airport… (yikes, how’s your Spanish?) I changed some money to have Peso’s and then bought a ticket on the shuttle van to the Ferry Terminal. ($20) stand in another line, drive around dropping off folks at their various hotels. See the entire Hotel Zone. Last at the end of the world – the Gran Puerto Ferry Dock. About $12US for a one way ticket on the 20 minute ferry. A tiny little man helped me carry my bags the four short blocks to my hotel… about 5:15pm and I’m finally here. (tired) dinner / bed.

DAY TWO. Walk west from the hotel and do a big circle of that end of town. I found 4 scuba shops and got pricing for a trip next week. I stopped and had a big breakfast. Midway around the island I visited a graveyard for a quick photo. (oh sure) two hours later I moved on. It was darn hot in there, mid day in a walled compound blocking all the breeze. Makes me want to never die. Note: I found 5 burning candles during my visit. Five graves with candles burning. I was the only person in the cemetery. (the only living person) After all this walking, I took a shower and then a nap. For dinner I went to a spot I had picked out – Mexican food. (duhh) grilled grouper filet covered in Lobster, rice, mixed veggies. $17us read my book and feel asleep.

DAY THREE. (today. Fri 12.31) I walked east. I didn’t do anything, walked the other direction and saw more island. The entire thing is only a few blocks wide in town. (a few hundred yards) I stopped at a ‘local’ spot and grabbed a taco then treated myself to a nap. Note: while out walking I saw truckloads of Sol beer being unloaded for the “Towns New Years eve party.” The town square is set up for live bands and a massive fiesta. I am told that this thing will start AFTER midnight mass. The entire town gathers (this is right across the street from my hotel) for Live bands beginning after midnight mass and parties till 6am when they all go to the south end of the island for sunrise. I am thinking the nap today was a very good idea.

Well I can hear the sound system warming up. 7pm and the THUMPING BASS can be felt in my chest. I will give a noise/decibel report tomorrow, but I expect ear splitting music all night long. Happy Noise Year!

Xo Pirate Skip