The year was 2015, and I joined a group of friends on a spring break trip to Cancun. It was my first my first trip out of the country. All I had with me was a burner flip phone and a backpack of clothes. Since I was joining a group, I didn’t do much research into the trip at all. I was literally just going with the flow.
One day after the beach, the main guy that set up the trip was like hey, tomorrow let’s go to the local island, Isla Mujeres. It sounded like a blast, plus I was getting tired/bored of the resort all inclusive life. Little did I know at the time, that this would be my favorite day of the trip.
As for details, he just told us that we’d be taking some of the public transportation to get there, which is fine by me, as it’s often more affordable anyway.
The morning of, we got up, got dressed and headed out the doors of the resort. We walked past downtown and arrived at a small building. This is where we would catch a bus to the ferry, Ultramar Ferry in Puerto Juarez.
We waited for our bus, but when it pulled up, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It wasn’t a bus at all. It was a miniature van. And I’m talking like smaller than a minivan type size. This would be our wheels for the next 30 minutes to get to the ferry. When the doors opened, the 3 sides of the vehicle were lined with a thin bench. I didn’t even think we could fit the 6 people we had with us, but they jammed us and at least 6 other people into this tiny vehicle. I couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous we all looked jammed into this tiny vehicle.
When we arrived at the port, we popped out of our clown car and made our way towards ticketing. We quickly bought our tickets and boarded the ferry. It was a closed ferry, that was also jam packed with people. They started the engines and we were off to Isla Mujeres!
I am not one to get sea sick but man, did I feel that whole ferry ride in my stomach. The sea was choppy and I almost lost it when someone opened up an orange and it filled the entire room with a strong orange smell. Luckily it was a short ride, and as soon as we docked, one of my friends bolted to the front to get off. The seasickness hit him the worst out of our group.
Once we got reacquainted with land, it was time for the fun part! Exploring the island. The first thing we did was purchase a fancy drink in a freshly chopped coconut. An oober tourist move, that I would happily take time and time again. We then checked out the local shops and made a few purchases. Then we decided to just walk the whole island, chatting and joking with friends.
The time melted away, we were fully on island time now. Unfortunately, it was getting late and we had to make our way back to the resort. Luckily for us, the ferry back was less rough and no one was snacking on oranges. When we made it back to the hotel, our sun kiss skin hit the sheets and we were out like a light.
