Frenchy in Paradise Island

Hey there, I am new on the Island and was nicely offered to participate on IslaLife, anything would do said my friend Daniel. So crappy, boring, badly written should be fine...
I am just joking, I ll try my best, but, where was I already? Jajajaja

Oh yes, lets start from the beginning, who is this crazy person? Why is she here? What did and does she do? How did she end up in Paradise?
Many many questions that will be answered when their time comes, when I feel like it, or maybe never to let people imagine and dream their own story.
I am Karoline, French, Master in Psychology, its funny how few words discribes a persons whole life, I could have said, likes cheese, children and sun, but I guess the image of a child-cheese-sandwich melting in the sun would not promote well neither my story nor the island or even my point!
So here I am, after "tripping around the world" for a year, from Europe through Canada to India Asia Australia, I guess I had to end it with a "A" again, and here it is: "Isla".
This little island I heard about on the internet and its Little Yellow School (http://www.isla-mujeres.net/school/home.htm) was what attracted me at first, and after not even on day, I was in love!

So here is a little presentation of our Isla and some (only of few for now) high points of interest:
Isla que bonita con...
Playa del Norte and the chill sand beaches





la "comida" tan buena for each and every taste from tacos deliciosos...

to home-made Cool ice-creams (blink-blink)...

and of course any drink you'd like...

and we can't forget the Mescal-scorpion-shots, that we definetly had in one of the crazy bars on Avenida Hidalgo, the main street on Isla:

The (often not entirely remembered) nights at Pocna
...
and even a soon to open Language and Bartending School how cool is that?!
Check it out at http://phunkyphreak.blogspot.com/

Yes, I suppose you must be thinking !!Mamamia!! It pretty much fits the description of Paradise

But a Heaven where the capital sins are mused by so many...
Lust,Gluttony, Envy...and most of all Sloth (I prefer to call it the art of perfectionning chilling) coz what else can you do with so much sun, silver sand and transparent-turquoise water???

I have been living in la Gloria for a few weeks now, its a cool area, with much more locals, Mexican fiestas and intimate strips of sand

and a rocky, dangerous and attractive east side, with impressive surfs coming from the caribbean sea on windy days
lots of small "Abarrotes" where you can always find everything a proper mexican "corner-store" should have, coke, tostadas, toilet paper and usually a dog at the door...
I love that area, althought its probably the poorest part of Isla
thats also why they built the school here, to enable the children and family the most in need to attend easily

Its also a more peaceful area, with a lot less tourists and therefore, less hassling from the street sellers, but you know, at the same time we need to understand, they have a rent to pay, a family to feed, and so many other things....

The people from Isla, for whom the tourists are the first income, will often give it back to you in many smiles if you don't just ignore them...
And in general I have the impression that los Mexicanos are very friendly, they greet you or smile to you on the street (and not only guys ;))









the children are so cute, you almost wanna eat them
and even the taxis drivers have always some crazy story to tell you about their
wifes' -brother-in-law-cuñado-de-su -Mama and god knows what
who has a cheese store in Oaxaca (and they know that talking cheese with a french girl always works!)
or that other time when "El Grillo" my favorite late-night driver, saved a huge blue-crab (cangrejo azul), trying to cross the road, supposibly they are endangered and as I can see also protected...
So many adventures and stories to tell already, in just 3 weeks
and so many more to come!
Besos from Paradise

To be continued...

Moving to Isla Mujeres

Mexico it was supposed to be a study and exploring trip.. I wanted to see all that Mexico had to offer, but only had limited time (and money) to do so..

We started out in a remote town high up in the mountains called Guanajuato, which lies in the state of (you guessed it!) Guanajuato!

The huge difference in coming from the freezing country of Norway to the warm and exotic Mexico was quite a shock!

There were so many things to get used to, and so much to learn at once..


My patience was the first thing that needed a huuuuge change..
I feel I have become a much more patient man than before visiting Mexico..

Guanajuato was where I tried to learn some Spanish, where I met a lot of new friends, and where they always had an excuse to have a fiesta! If you are ever nearby Guanajuato during the Cervantino festival, you`ll understand what I`m talking about.

The town just explodes with people! Fantastic place!
But somehow I felt something was missing.. The beaches, the ocean and the waves...
I am from a town in Norway called Kristiansand (population 75 000), but what`s nice about it is it`s close to the ocean.. and I love the ocean!
I am used to seeing it everywhere, and since we now were in Mexico, going to the beach was something I just had to do!

We went on a trip to Playa Maruata in Michoacan together with some friends from Guanajuato. Maruata is a beautiful place where there are very few tourists!
We spent our first night setting up tents by the beach, going swimming, and eating pescadillos (fish"burgers") Eventually we bought a hammock from one of the beachvendors, and just lying in the hammock enjoying the view is one of my best memories of Maruata!

Fantastic sight watching the sunset!

The next morning, we woke up to some disturbing news..
A couple that were sleeping together in one of the tents had just gone out a
short trip to the toilet, and when they came back, both their backpacks had been stolen! Their money, clothes, food and drinks were all gone! We decided to help them out so we could stay a night our two more, and altough we kept an eye on our tents did`nt think much more of it..

We still had a nice time, went swimming (which as we later learned, turned out was dangerous) and kept an eye out at night for any turtles laying eggs on the beach. We learned about the recent shark attacks on the west coast of Mexico when we came back to GTO (Guanajuato), and especially during the times the turtles were laying eggs, the ocean was supposed to be unsafe..



Oh well! We`re still alive and kicking, so no worries! :)
We had another great night with fun and games in our hammocks by the beach.. Just wonderful!

The next morning, our unlucky couple found out someone had stolen their sandals, so now they were broke, without clothes, cellphone, ipod or shoes! Poor them!




We saw no turtles during our trip, but i caught this turtle cracker trying to run away, does that count?











We decided to stay one more night, as this was not a mayor incident, and this night we were late in bed! We had a good party the six of us, some mescal, pescadillas and snacks, and we were back in our happy moods! We played our legendary game of "Pantalones" and it worked as it always does.. VERY WELL!
I fell asleep at once, but later woke up because of Merethe`s yelling, she said she felt someone was outside the tent, and I took my devilsticks and yelled too.. When we took a look outside, it was empty.. spooky!
It was harder to fall asleep after that, and I woke up really early..

Spent the morning hung over in our hammock, when I suddenly noticed something funny with our tent.. There was a big cut next to the entrance, just above the plastic part..
Merethe was right, someone obviously tried to rob our tent while we were sleeping in it..
We did not miss anything, but still..Not fun at all!
This was such a beautiful place, I wish we could feel safe there!
We decided to end it, and go back to Guanajuato
At least two of our group only had to carry their tents.. (look at the bright side!)
We had our heavy backpacks!






Back in Guanajuato we were 2000 meters above sealevel, and surrounded by mountains.. It was freezing at night in the wintertime! The wind was horrible once the sun went down for the night.


Anyway, when we decided to move on and heard about this laidback beautiful Island called Isla Mujeres, a very popular backpacking island, we just had to go there!
We arrived in December 2007 and our first nights were spent on the most popular hostals on the Island, Pocna.. But let`s not get too much ahead.. This Island can satisfy almost anyone! In
so many ways!

I`ll be writing much more, so pay close attention to the blog!

Also, all feedback is great! We love hearing from visitors and inhabitants on Isla Mujeres! We are also looking for co-writers to the blog, to make sure it`s as good as possible! Do you want to join us and tell everyone how life on Isla Mujeres is?

Please contact me by mail :phunkyphreak@gmail.com