Well now -- everyone's heard a million times about how cheap I am! One of the things I've always been cheap about is paying to walk beyond the little gate at Punta Sur. I never felt the urge since I could see those ugly crayon colored metal sculptures from a distance. One Sunday in July, we were cruising the island in the cart on our way to snorkel at Garrafon Hotel. We both felt the urge for an ice cream and thought maybe there'd be a shop at Punta Sur since it's a tourist trap.
If there was a gelato shop, I missed it, so we bought a couple of cones from a guy with a cart. (And by the way, his ice cream really sucked!) While standing around in the fake village, I happened to notice people going up to the ticket booth to pay for the cliff walks, waiting, shrugging their shoulders, and then going on. So I started walking that way and gestured frantically for Craig to follow!
K-Mart Blue Light Special! Almost free! Actually, it WAS free! So off we skipped on our first tour of the cliff area at Punta Sur. Craig was still a little worried the authorities would chase us down, but I assured him no one was going to run after people in that jungle heat, and besides, they'd just assume we were daytrippers who'd paid the big bucks over at Garrafon Park!
Not to start off topic here, but my first trip to Isla, I assumed these were the Mayan ruins. Don't you just LOVE what they've done with the place! The parked boat is an especially nice touch!
Actually, the figures on the posts of the remaining wall are quite nice!
Back to Punta Sur! I love their gardens out in the tourist trap area.
While we were desperately searching for ice cream, I noticed a sleeping dog. Let sleeping dogs lie!
I love the little windows and fancy trim in the fake Caribbean village!
From the edge of the cliffs, I noticed a beach below. Wonder if there's any seaglass?!!!
Off the paths on the way to the Ixchel ruin, I noticed a collection of pots. This must be a Mayan altar with offerings?
And finally, I saw the famous Isla Mayan ruin for the first time. Not much there, but the trip was definitely worth it! (And I don't mean it was worth it just because it was free!)
The paths are really cool! I love this tunnel through the cliff.
This explains it!
Craig doesn't always carry a man purse, but sometimes as you know, he's my bee-atch. We didn't dare leave the beach bag on the golfcart!
I would have loved to have walked the paths all the way to the Garrafon Park gate, but this is why we didn't. But I did see people making the trek! Only in Mexico would they have a path without a railing where the waves crash over it and dummies could be swept into the sea. This was the day after the unnamed tropical wave had passed, so I imagine the waves were higher than normal.
Notice the waves crashing up over the walkway? It'd be beautiful to walk on a calmer day. Maybe I can sneak in again sometime in the future! : )
Don't cross over that wall, or the guard iguanas will bite you! That's a joke, but recently I got the story about my cousin's wife being bitten on the hand by an iguana in Costa Rica. She fell asleep in a lounge chair at the hotel pool and the iguana smelled banana on her hand and latched on! Ouch!
Punta Sur is always worth a stop if only to admire all the big iguanas. They're everywhere, they're everywhere!
And that, my friends, ends the free tour of Punta Sur! If you liked the tour, you can make your donations to my retire in Mexico account via PayPal. Thanks in advance for your kindness!
P.S. If you're a newcomer to my blog and don't know me, that last little blip is my droll sense of humor. Although . . . feel free to send me money! : )
