Photo Essay: Isla Mujeres - So Close, Yet So Far from Cancun

I breathe a big sigh of relief when we get on the ferry at Puerto Juarez just north of Cancun, because I know the 15 minute ferry will take me back in time at least several decades and my life will enter a slow time. Isla Mujeres has resisted the high-rise mega-resort culture of Cancun and still retains its slower, more traditional pace. It is a beach place with plenty of activities, but it stands in stark contrast to neighboring Cancun for the quietness and stillness you can still find here.

The beaches and the small village at the center of the island are quiet and serene before ten in the morning and after three in the afternoon. Partiers sail from Cancun on big catamarans in late morning to enjoy the superb beaches and the huge expanse of shallow waters along the coast of the island and leave mid afternoon to return to the mega resorts at Cancun.

Isla Mujeres translates as the "Island of Women" and was named for the thousands of small statues of the female form found on the island by its first Spanish visitor, the explorer Francisco Hernandez Cordova. The statues represented the Maya goddess Ixtel, who was the goddess of fertility and childbirth, the ruins of whose temple still stand on the island at the easternmost point of all Mexico.

For centuries after Cordova's visit, the only visitors were fisherman and pirates who used Isla Mujeres as a refuge and left their women on the island "for safekeeping" while they sailed the high seas. Famous pirates like Henry Morgan and Jean Lafitte used the island as a refuge and way station.

Today the easy-going culture of the island still retains its Maya and Mexican heritage, although the influence of modern Cancun provides a nagging pressure to change from slow time to bustling resort.

I hope the photos convey some of the casual serenity that can be found by visitors to the island.