So I haven’t seen Cenotes. But Isla Holbox.
Really – if you think about it – just go to Tulum… And leave Holbox to those of us that want to let dümpel (now someone go find the decent translation for that) their soul.
I had a forever-bus from Merida, seconda classa – and I really liked it. Like a tour of Mexican villages and people. Just took forever. Gave me a great 3-4 hours sleep, hugging my small backpack and trusting life and the busdriver to not hand over the big backpack to anyone else but me. Anyhow with my deep sleep I think you could have stolen Wulli from under my nose (literally), but nothing happened. Apart from nervous Barbara at the bus exit of Merida, with a bus with something else than „Chiquila“ (the port to take the ferry to Holbox) written on it. So I would get up 5 minutes prior to departure and start running around nervously. Two mexican women took it to their heart to comfort me. Cuties.
Anyhow Holbox is – something else. The sun set when I took the ferry. And as it turns out the car-free island lives on a lot of golf carts with sportive wheels and some extra noise to their motor. Plus motorcycles, a few bicycles and very few rikschas. Plus I’ve seen some pretty scary beach motorvehicles that look like you could cruise a dune in Dubai (getting your toes soaked in sand, though) – that much for quiet.
I think quiet just isn’t a Mexican thing 😉 Anyhow may Holbox stay the way it is and become ever more ecofriendly without turning into one high levelled resort only. Martins question and invitation to come back next year sticks with me…. SIGH. Though shalts not sigh if you haven’t even left the country yet, but apart from my Mexican shirt on me nothing feels very Mexican in this hotel room, as nice as it may be.
Holbox welcomed me rather reluctantly – with the golfcart taxi drivers at the ferry completely busy waving their extremities against swarms of mosquitoes how love a windstill blue hour right after sunset… Palenque-trained, I had well covered myself with repellant on the boat, which means you will get less biten – if you cover up enough of your beautifully smelling skin. With lots of waves to all directions, we set off a hobbly sand street towards my hotel. And when I entered the really beautiful room, I felt it was smelling damp. Which was true but the smell subsided after one night of open windows and never reoccured. Nevertheless I was taken aback – until the sun rose next morning and I caught view of birds and mangroves and the beach and palms and the cozy „lobby“, somewhat reminding me of Thailand with a big terrace next to an open kitchen were you automatically get to meet everybody else. And the hammocks…
Isla Holbox is part of a nature reserve, which makes it a paradise for all sorts of birds – of course seagulls in all variations, pelicans, cormorants, cranes in grey and white and just a lot of more relatives with wings. No ducks around, but you can try to feed whoever’s around with fish and see what happens. The crane did stay shy. They are really cute, will stay on the sandbar just 10 metres away from the beach and take on a very severe look if you do get closer. Sort of like a Munich pigeon, just not as stupid.
The Mexican dog, on the other hand, takes it to the happy limit on Holbox – only few wretched looking examples, while a majority looked happy and very relaxed faced with whatever. I hope it’s a mentality virus that has spread on to me.
I forgot to take my camera for two full days – quite something given the fact it has been my constant companion. But I just came down to doing nothing.
Incredible how hard that can be. I did one touristee tour, the other plans for quite good reasons happened to not work out – and I loved that. The tour I did is Holbox‘ „classic“, taking you around to some neighboring island watching some birds. Though I’m not quite sure if it’s not that the birds sign up to watch the tourists. It’s quite a sight as they fight their way through swarms of – surprise surprise – mosquitoes or climb risky looking outlooks that actually have wooden stair-steps missing (which is somewhat worse than even very steep pyramid stairs) and gently swing when you go up.
At least the rotten roof of this wonderful picture of Isla Passion (mosquitoe passion, I’d say) hosted a nest on its top – with a sea eagle in it. As long as he still trusts the building to hold his nest, I won’t say anything. Big iguanas live on this island, and we saw them 10 metres into the „jungle“, but 5 metres into it to take my pic my vision got obscurred by advanced members of the I-dont-care-how-much-repellant-you-use-your-blood-smells-goooooood family. A very huge family indeed. More like a nation. So I gave it heel money as we say in German and ran 🙂
This was the other outlook. Nice but with a swing to it. Was immensely proud to go to the second tower. Well yeah so I am a coward, but I sort of forget it if I see pelicans and oh yes – 2 or flamingos. Our guide told us they must be sick, as they separated from their group. Or maybe individualists.
My blog on Holbox has been written here – at least partly. The spot’s quite windy but then again the view and the feeling of being rocked by the wind is on top of my personal favourites.
Oh yes and even dinner served here in my fancy hotel room looks like nothing compared to the lobster ceviche I treated myself to yesterday noon, being served that on a wooden tray on my shadowy matress under the palmtree roof with a big cushion in my back.
Naaa no pics of that. I have the picture clearly imprinted in my mind and the taste of ceviche on my tongue. *sigh* …….
I would have taken a bet against feeling comfortable at such a bssssssss-place, but I did. Immensely. The ocean might not have Tulums perfection, but in my mind (as I haven’t seen Tulum…..) it is more savage.
There are more plants swimming around in the water, and seeing boxy fishes swim away and a stingray making place, I did get a little scared. On top remembering those big swallowing waves in the Australian pacific.
And then somehow something inside of me fell into place – and I swear the ocean smiled at me. I might find more poetic ways to express this, but it simply won’t enter into the style of this blog, so who knows, some other day and in some other form – I might let you know.
Unless I don’t 😛
