It's 9:15 PM. I'm blogging (duh!) under the small palapa that serves as the dining room for the restaurant/bar of our hotel, La Palapa, in Isla Holbox. I'm also being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Blogging here is probably not a good idea, but I don't have internet connection from our (rather nearby) room. I think I will go to my room anyway, blog offline and then have Mike copy & paste all my postings. See you!
Next day, third day of vacation. Last night, between getting the kids ready for bed, doing a bit of laundry and taking showers, I did not go back to blogging. Mike did do some internet work and got eaten alive by mosquitoes as well. As I write, there is a swarm of mosquitoes outside the wood-and-glass door to our veranda, waiting for us, I presume. I put some DEET repellent, rather than the Family friendly but useless OFF that I put on yesterday, but it doesn't seem to be much better. I woke up with itching bites on both my calves and feet. They are still itching, despite some anti-itch medicine. Lord, does anything work?
Mike and Mika are both going to swim with whale sharks today. They are the largest fish in the ocean – filter feeders, so not dangerous – and the one attraction Isla Holbox has in addition to its beaches. I don't know how far into the sea they have to go, but we've gotten some dramamine just in case. Apparently they may seem manta rays and other cool things in the way – we had dolphins ride with our ferry in the way over here, so I wouldn't be surprised if they encountered that as well. In any case, we will know later. As for Camila and I, we'll stay here, at the hotel, enjoying the beach and trying to keep away from the mosquitoes (yes, they are still there).
Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day. We woke up (in Cancun) , had “breakfast”, the kids played in the pool for a while, and then we headed off to exchange money and make a phone call. It was a long walk to the bank, and the mid-morning sun was relentless. The kids were hot, exhausted and whiny within 5 minutes, but the hope of ice cream kept them alive on the way back. After packing up we headed out.
Getting to Isla Holbox did not take only 1 ½ hours as promised, but it was generally straightforward. You head out of Cancun in the direction of Merida (there are signs indicating which way from time to time, don't turn unless you see one), made sure to take the free road when the option came out, and then drove until km 262 (marked), where we turned right, towards Isla Holbox. We did so once again at the end of that road, heading towards Chiquila. There we found Don Patricio's parking. It's less than a block away from the dock, covered and semi-secured – MN$40 a day. We were lucky that we arrived at the dock at about 2 PM, and the ferry was almost ready to leave. The ferry was MN$60 for adults and MN$35 for kids - free for 4-yo Camila. The ride is about 20 minutes, and, as I mentioned, part of it included dolphins.
Once here (in Isla Holbox) the kids and Mike played in the water, collected shells (some from rather big critters), watch Goosebumps in the small computer, went out for snacks and later dinner, and played in the sun. All in all it was a most relaxing afternoon and evening. We all fell in love with the place and decided to stay one more night, but the hotel is full so it's not an option.
We'll probably head to Cancun after Mike and Mika return from their shark-swimming trip.