LOW TO HIGH, NORTH TO SOUTH, HIGH WHEN LOW

The porch in Toronto has been GPS’d so we know where we started. But a pre-dawn flight southbound took us to other numbers. Leaving, the temperature was +2C. Arriving, it was (and still is) +29C. You can do that math in your head, right?

Isla Mujeres! 39 years now coming to this speck off the Yucatan with azure waters and skies to match. The sign may be backwards but the locals aren’t. It evolved from a typical sleepy fishing village to a white sand beach covered with daytrippers from the mainland. Good for business but most of the locals, like me, don’t think the change is for the better. Example --- the iconic ancient slow cargo ferry (my ride!) is being displaced by a sci-fi fleet of 3 huge carriers brought over from Greece. So many trucks bringing over so much construction…

Our German friend Pia welcomes us back to her secluded garden inn, the Sol Dorado. As in China, traffic here used to be all bicycles but now we’re the only ones using pedal power. But the veggies and bakery is much better than before!

After the daily walk, bike, or swim those veggies and goodies are yummy right in the room. But the neighbourhood diner Poc Chuc gives a girl the night off from her  kitchen, si?

The locals get their island back after 5 when the daytrippers have left. Kids laugh forming beach pyramids. Mixed basketball teams trash-talk like the best (worst?) of the pros (on-the-spot Spanish street slang lessons: cabron!).  But there’s acres of seaweed to clear from the beach --- residue from Hurricane Michael?

With prosperity comes leisure time, art and creativity. Walls become murals. Jeans become planters. If you’re driving from Argentina to Alaska, don’t miss it!

At dusk the cargo boats glide by, the efficient Ultramar overtaking the creaking but reliable Isla Blanca. Like a glitzy Hummer passing a 1976 Ford pickup. What’s your ride? 

On the historic week that cannabis became legal in Canada, we get our high when the sun gets low...