Sunday, April 8, 2007

Wild Isla Mujeres Tour


There was about an hour until the next ferry from Isla Mujeres to Cancun departed (See No Bearfoot for why we were at Isla Mujeres). Originally, we were going to rent a golf cart and explore the island once we were done with our dolphin adventure . We ditched the golf cart idea once we decided we wanted to make the next ferry back. So we had an hour to kill what did we do? If you're a family that likes to geocache you make a mad dash for the closest cache and enjoy a wild tour of the island.
We knew where we wanted to go was only 1.74 miles from where we stood. But we also knew that there was not enough time to make the round trip on foot. The sign in front of us said one hour tour of the island $15. Charlotte and I discussed our situation and decided to go for it. We ran back to grab our stuff out of the locker and I began to negotiate with Gilberto, our proposed taxi driver. "How about $10 for 45 minutes, and I don't need the full tour?" Gilberto agreed and we began loading all six of us into Gilberto's Sentra. The kids mouths were gap-jawed that they didn't need have to wear their seat belts. This may have been the first time in their lives for this event. They still talk about this. As soon as the door closed we were off. Gilberto, who has lived on the island for all of his life, began his schpeel. He began to tell us all about the turtle farm and how we would be able to pick up the red turtles (no idea what that meant). As he pulled up to the turtle farm I politely told him we didn't want to stop and visit the turtles. I said where we want to go is 1.3 miles that direction and I pointed out the windshield. Unsure of what I did want he pressed on with the tour. We drove out to the end of the island, piled out of the car for a quick photo opportunity and then reloaded the Sentra in search of the cache. Gilberto continued his tour until I told him to stop in the middle of nowhere. We were within 300 feet of the cache. He wasn't sure what I wanted but complied with my request. I told him, just wait here and we'll be right back. The family unloaded and we narrowed in on our target. Gilberto, probably out of curiosity, followed us on our trek. We found the cache, made our trades and surveyed the beautiful rocky coast of Isla Mujeres. Gilberto appeared to be having fun too and took a nice picture of the whole family. We took a quick walk on the beach looking for conch shells and then with only fifteen minutes until the ferry departed we reloaded the Sentra. As our adventure wound to a close we wondered what Gilberto thought of the strange family he'd spent 40 minutes with? In the end we enjoyed a mad dash for the cache and a quick tour of Isla Mujeres. The conch shells we found now sit on the counter in the kids bathroom and I smile when I think of the adventure of finding them.

5 comments:

GoughRMAK said...

Sounds like you guys had a good time. That was very spontaneous of you. (Was that in the original plan for the day?)

R

60 toes said...

We had planned to rent the golf cart to go find the geocache.

The taxi was living life on the edge!:)

-C

Scott said...

I have really enjoyed reading the adventures of the 50 toes! You guys have such a great family, and it's great to reconnect a little. Thanks for taking the time to write, it's definitely appreciated!
-S.

Scott said...

I agree with Scott. Reconnecting with you guys has been so fun! Thank you for sharing how the organized people live! I can only sit back in amazement. :) ~J

Katie said...

Hey, it's been four days since your last blog! You guys are slackin'! :)