ISLA MUJERES

which translates to: women island.

the significance of this i do not know.

but if i were to guess, i'd say it's probably because the island is drop. dead. gorgeous.

{shoot, i'm smooth. wink.}

five friends and i planned a mini-vacation to isla mujeres, four hours from merida and just off the coast of cancun, for our last weekend together abroad. it was the loveliest island - tourist-friendly but still inhabited by locals, decorated simply with little ma & pop shops, bright colors, lots of palm trees, with the slightest cool breeze coming off the water, and family-owned fish joints on every corner... simply perfect. each of us mentioned on multiple occasions it would make the perfect honeymoon/anniversary vacation spot and that we knew we'd be returning some day. the boys even discussed {each one at least once at separate times} how "romantic" the island was {while us girls on the other hand were more like, eh, yeah, i mean, it's pretty and all...}. ha! men.

 the island is only about five miles long and less than half a mile wide {at one point i was standing on one beach and could see through the little town, across the island to the other coast}, so we rented a golf cart for a couple hours friday morning and went for a drive.

zip-lining over the water with cancun off in the distance

 besides renting a golf cart, eating, and shopping, there really wasn't much else  anything else to do, so we spent a good chunk of our weekend lounging on the beach, napping, reading, and playing in the crystal clear water, which was perfectly fine by me.

the backyard of the hostel we stayed at

we stayed at a hostel, which initially made me nervous and unsure. it ended up exceeding my expectations and was very clean and safe, and although it was packed with extremely hairy world-traveling hippies (and we definitely looked and felt like the oddballs out) we saved money, were in a great location, and met some very unique people and heard some amazing stories. we had roommates from finland and israel, and met and talked to people from denmark, australia, england, spain... you name it. we were in accent heaven. it was drool-worthy.

i could not get enough of the fresh fish -- for lunch on friday we ate at a restaurant on the water, in the sand, with plastic seating, mis-matched dining ware and two men so old they couldn't hold their eyes open playing the bell set as complimentary entertainment. the food was outstanding and we ended up back there again for lunch on saturday. 

i could not have imagined a better "final fling" for my time in mexico. i already anticipate returning to isla mujeres someday.