More Retro Isla

For all you Islaholics, I know you'll be able to tell me what's great about these two photos. I found them yesterday in a grouping from our first trip to Isla. The photos were taken with my first digital camera, so they're all extremely lacking in megapixels. But I was thrilled with the non-claustrophobic view from the cemetery!

The rest of the pictures from that trip made me think about what Isla felt like when viewed for the first time. A slow carefree flip flop world. No phone calls. No newspapers. Very little television. No driving and little traffic except for golf carts, motos, scattered taxi's and delivery trucks. Friendly people, despite the fact that we didn't speak Spanish. It was the most relaxing place we'd ever visited. Very little polish or sophistication to the island then. It was just after Easter in 2002 and the pace was very slow. Most evenings, there were only a handful of people in any of the restaurants we chose. We'd stroll the streets watching locals going about their daily routine. A little friend with a red, green, and white collar found us on our morning walks and tagged along. We thought he was angling for a ride home with us, but I now realize he was just waiting to share our breakfast. He camped out under our table after the walk and dined on toast, omelet, and bacon scraps.

Remember all the hub-bub over the Convention Center dogs? I remember all the arguments on the old message board. Here they are on the beach out in front of Secreto.

We stayed at Secreto that trip and it had just opened. $75 a night including tax and continental breakfast. And I can also remember the rants on the old message board about Isla inflation and who the heck would pay $75 at the Secreto on Isla. That still makes me laugh. At the time, we couldn't have stayed at the Travelodge at the Seattle airport for $75 a night, so we were extremely happy with my find and hoped the price would never change! Secreto was beautiful, but probably a lot less polished than it is today.


Here are some other photos from around the island. I can't really put the exact words to my feelings when I look at these pics, but Isla just seemed a bit fresher and more innocent that first trip!

Hotel Garrafon dock was still straight and useable, especially for the birds!

Dinner at Caso O's. The waiter was beside himself because El Presidente was at a table on the lower deck. I'm thinking El Presidente was Paulino back then?

We were there on May 1, so we watched the workers parade.

Hugging the pyramid wall on top of El Castillo.

Since it was our first trip to the Yucatan, we wanted to see Chichen Itza. I'm allergic (seriously) to diesel fumes and have motion sickness issues with buses, so we found an agency on Isla (Prisma) that set us up with a private driver who met us at the Puerto Juarez ferry dock in Cancun and drove us to Chichen Itza and back. I referred to the driver as El Dangeroso because he sped down that humpback backroad at about 90 mph (not the toll road) all the way. He didn't speak much English, and we didn't speak Spanish. I felt like I was taking a big leap of faith (since I'm a bit of a control freak). Last year I realized El Dangeroso was Gaby at Sergio's Playa del Sol. Tee hee. He's a nice guy and his English has improved tremendously. Gaby also took us to a cenote, the square in Valladolid, and several other small towns on the way back. Here are some more photos from our off-island trip.

The Cenote

Cathedral in Valladolid

Not having traveled much outside the U.S., the Yucatan was a world away from anywhere we'd visited. I was amazed at the stick houses in the villages. It reminded me of the Three Pigs. It seemed a wolf could huff and puff and blow those stick/palapa huts down. I didn't take any pictures because Gaby was moving too fast and I also felt it would be ugly to jump out and take pictures of their humble dwellings. At one point during the trip, Craig needed a bathroom, so Gaby stopped and checked out several places looking for a bano for Craig. Craig said it was one of those hole in the floor setups, so I was glad I limited the fluids!

Another zocalo and old church in a small Yucatan town.

I have to say it was probably the best vacation we've had on so many levels. We were discovering a location and culture totally different than anyplace we'd been. And the turquoise clear waters of the Caribe made Isla more striking than any beach location we'd visited. And the place was so s-l-o-w at a time in our lives when we really needed it! And I never dreamed I'd end up being such a repeat visitor and making so many new friends. :)

A Lonely Beach!

I hadn't paid much attention to the band Mana for a few years, so when I noticed this video on on YouTube, I decided to post it. Love it! Not knowing anything about Chico Mendes, I found this quote on Wikipedia:

Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes (December 15, 1944 – December 22, 1988), was a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist. He fought to stop the burning and logging of the Amazon Rainforest to clear land for cattle ranching, and founded a national union of rubber tappers in an attempt to preserve their profession and the rainforest that it relied upon. He was murdered in 1988 by ranchers opposed to his activism. He is survived by three children (Angela, Elenira, and Sandino Mendes). "At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity."

The video's theme of man's spoiling of planet Earth made me reach today to think of an uncrowded unspoiled beach that we've visited. I know the music of Mana would go better with a Mexican beach, but my travels aren't extensive enough there to have discovered any less-traveled beaches. The only beach that came to mind was Hanakapiai Beach on the Napali coastline of Kauai. It's not a deserted beach, but we were the only people on it the day we hiked to it.

Getting there involved a slippery two-mile scramble up and down the Kalalau Trail that hugs the Napali coastline for its first two miles. At the beginning of the trail, I was convinced we were on the wrong path because it was literally what appeared to be a dry (but very wet since it's Kauai) rocky stream bed. But once we got beyond that, it was an up and down rocky dirt (at times extremely muddy) trail. Hiking boots would definitely have been a better option than my beach jogging shoes because the trail was a real beater on the feet and knees. The views were spectacular. We were even able to spot dolphins offshore. At times, we were overwhelmed by the fragrant fruity smell of guava. Craig picked some along the trail to eat, but waited until we were back to the trailhead (because no one wants to be sick where there are NO facilities!). The only people we passed along the way were some barefoot surfers trekking out after their morning fun. And I couldn't believe they could hike that trail with no shoes. OUCH! At the end of the two miles, after jumping from one stone to the next over a stream that rushes down to sea, we finally saw our reward.

Hanakapiai Beach

The surf here is extremely dangerous, as noted by this sign on the trail, so we stayed out of the water.

Kalalau Trail

View of Ke'e Beach from the Trail

Ke'e looked fairly deserted on this trip, but it's become a destination for cruise daytrips and is currently one of the more crowded beaches on the island. I'm guessing that Hanakapiai Beach is still uncrowded because the only access is that eroded and slippery trail. The Kalalau Trail parking lot at Ke'e Beach IS overrun because of the Ke'e Beach traffic, so get there early if you want a parking spot!

Here's hoping for visits to many more deserted unspoiled beaches in my future!