"It's those changes in lattitudes,
changes in attitudes, nothin' remains quite the same" -
Jimmy Buffett
It turns out that there are more ways to get to Isla Mujeres
as there are hotels in Cancun. We decide to skip the hotel trip
to Mujeres, as our hotel is full of fat German men in speedo's,
thus limiting our chances at meeting some young, fun girls to
party with. Instead, we decide to take the state run ferry from
the dock at Fat Tuesday's. This had the secondary benefit of
allowing us to consume frozen alcoholic beverages whilst we wait.
We get to Fat Tuesdays, drink our "Shark Attacks" and
go out to the end of the dock. our fellow passengers consist of a
family from Akron, who's kids want to join the urchins playing on
the dock, and a heap of old people. We make the best of it, and
start up a conversation with the family, when lo and behold! Two
girls show up at the end of the dock. We bid Mr. and Mrs. Normal
adui, and saunter down to the end of the dock where we meet
Angela and Denise, two marine biologists for the state of
Florida.
With the experience of the two big hair, high maintenance, girls
from Texas of the last few days, it was so nice to meet
these two. Not only were they cute beyond belief, but they had brains!
As we get off the ferry, Santanu is anxious to go with the
girls. I hold him back, I want to see if they are interested.
Sure and enough, they turn around and ask us to go with them!
I arrive at the end of the dock first, and there is a cop there,
directing everyone through the building to the right. I approach
him and say "¿Que paso aqui?" (Whats
going on here?)
He replies: "Es la maquilladora para los touristas"
I am a bit confused, as this roughly translates as: "This is
the tourist factory"; So, I try and appear non-plussed and
reply "No me gusto maquilladoras" (I
don't like factories)
So, he let me through! I figure that they were extracting mordidas
(bribes) from the rest of the tourists.
Denise, Santanu, and Angela show up shortly, and I tell the cop
"Los es mis amigos" (these are my
friends), and after he lets them through, we stroll
through the city.
We cross the very narrow island in quick time, and arrive at the
beach at the other end of town. It was so cool walking through
the tide pools with the girls telling us everything about the
life found within! Angela found a really cool conch, petrified
and green from the minerals within it.
We stroll back through town, and stop for a quick beer. The girls
want to shop, and I figure that it would be good to let them think
about us for a while, so we split up.
We head down the beach, and decide to go for a swim. We don't
want to leave our bags on the beach unattended, so we scout for a
cute girl to watch our stuff. We spy one in the distance, and
approach her. Oops, she's a child! after a few moments, we
determain that the girl on the beach in front of us is only 16
years old. She agrees to watch our bags, and as we head out into
the water, she stands up and removes her bikini top. Whoa Nelly!
Where were girls like this when I was 16??? We decide that it's
in our best interest to ignore her exhibitionism (difficult that
it is) and turn away (ouch! that hurt)
We run into the girls again just before the ferry arrives.
While waiting for the boat to depart, we are overcome by the
music from the party boat next to us. There are some real yokels
on our boat that start to limbo under a towel to the music! The
difficult part to behold is that they are 40 some odd year old men
in but thong bikinis! We all figure "What the hell",
and join in. It turned out to be a blast. We then chain danced
throughout the boat chanting "¡Nos quieramos musica!" (we want music!) so that they would turn on the
stereo on our ferry.
The ride ends too soon and we are back at Fat Tuesday's.
All four of us start in on the daiquiri’s shortly after
walking in the door. The girls disappear into the bathroom after
the first round. Undoubtedly to talk about us. The moment of
reckoning has arrived. Either they will take us up on the offer
of a fine evening ... or not.
The gods are smiling!. The girls want us to go back to
their place to clean up before we head out for the evening.
We arrive at their hotel, and I walk in arm in arm with Angela.
As we approach the elevator, Angela whispers in my ear something
about a "group shower", and we hear Santanu arguing
with the security guard. They tell him that he can't come in the
hotel because he's not staying there.
I approach the guard, and tell him that I'm not staying there
either, but he let me in.
The guard replies "That's different". They would not
let Santanu in because he is not white!
I'm incensed! I tell the girls that we will be going back to our
hotel to shower and change, and that we would be meeting them
back here in ½ hour.
We get back to our hotel, clean up and head back to get the
girls. They still won't let Santanu in, but it doesn't matter;
the girls are waiting for us in the lobby.
Denise takes Santanu's hand, Angela takes mine and we head off to
dinner.
We board the bus for La Farandula, and sitting next to me is a
little girl with lots of red roses. I ask her "¿Quantos
cuesto para las flores?" (How much for the
flowers?)
She replies "Cinquenta" ($15MN)
So, I buy two and give one each to the girls. They love it!
We head into the restaurant, and it's Mariachi night. They have a
superb band, and the food, as it was the last time, is excellent.
There is a mannequin in the corner that the busboy brings over
and places in Santanu's chair. We have a blast playing with it
all through dinner. We put beer in her hand, Santanu gets down on
one knee and proposes to it, and we even give it a cigarette!
A good time is had by all. The girls are enjoying themselves, the
Band is enjoying themselves, Santanu and I are in heaven, and
even the busboy is grinning and dancing.
It's back to Fat Tuesday's after dinner, for an evening of
dancing, drinking and joy. At about 03:00, Santanu and Denise
disappear. I don't know when, but I wasn't paying attention.
Angela and I stroll down the beach, and who do we see in the
water amongst what appears to be clothing floating on the
surface? Santanu and Denise!
La Ruta
Maya (Part I) |