After the Winds

We arrived on Isla Mujeres about nine months after hurricanes Wilma and Rita had passed through. While our hotel had already fixed any damage that had been done to their buildings, a lot of places were still at it, especially on the mainland. On the island the most noticeable effect of the storms was that most of the palm trees had been stripped of their fronds, other types of trees had been uprooted and buildings that had been covered in flowering vines (we saw them in pictures) were left naked, baking in the sun. The staff at the hotel commented on the damage to the vegetation, but you could already see the palms and bougainvilleas putting out new growth. In some of my pictures there is a lonely desolation that I think is heightened by the bald palms. In person all I noticed was peacefulness.



We spent one day walking from our hotel all the way down the beach on the East side of the island. To the north of our hotel was the Dolphin Discovery. It's a Sea World style tourist attraction where you pay (about $90 per person) and you get to spend and hour in the water swimming with dolphins and their trainers in a seawater enclosure. We decided to try it, it was expensive and touristy but we had a great experience. The dolphins were incredible and the staff was informed and very well trained. The dolphin trainers were very impressive and I really felt that I learned a lot about dolphins once we were done.


They do put a lot of pressure on you to buy the pictures taken of you with the dolphins (we bought some), and they make a DVD of you which is inevitably embarrassing (we didn't buy that although I thought it might make a great audition tape for a reality show). Before we got in the water I was skeptical and worried about the conditions of the enclosures, but everything was very clean and spacious and once I got face to face with the dolphins I was sold.

South of our hotel there were several other hotels and some villas available to rent. There were a couple of lavish private compounds that we fantasized belonged to Cuban gem dealers.


Iguanas were everywhere, warming themselves on rocks and walls and on the road, in general they weren't scared of people but they would dart off if you got too close for comfort. Along the beach we came across make shift bars leftover from high season parties, waiting for their turn to come around again. There were abandoned hotel compounds with decaying docks from someone's venture that never took off.