Isla Mujeres 2014~~Day 1-2

Isla Mujeres 2014

Day 1~~Friday Feb.7

“Let’s Get This Party Started!”

After a topsy-turvy few days with little to no sleep, we are off to the airport at 2:30pm.  Our United flight takes off from Kelowna, BC en route to Cancun via LAX and IAH.  There’s a sports team on board….photo bomb time!

She’ll probably never see it, but I told her I’d put it on Facebook!  Adios winter….it’s been 2 very long, very difficult years and we can’t wait to escape it all!

We land at LAX, bus to the terminal and head through immigration and customs, dropping our luggage on a transfer belt.  And then we walk to our next gate…and we walk…and we walk.  There seemed to be construction everywhere so we were walking outside, dodging passengers and smokers.  We finally find our security gate and get in line.  Ended up having to have the carryon physically inspected and then also x-rayed.  We always get the special treatment in LAX!  In all the kafuffle, I dropped the clear bag with my nail polish.  Of course one of them broke!  Very stinky and messy to clean up.  Off to Ruby’s for some dinner!  Not as good as the IAH Ruby’s but it helped.   Wander to our gate and see that our flight has been delayed.  Phooey!  Hopefully, we can still arrive in time for our connection and planned side trip….fingers crossed!

Day 2~~Saturday Feb.8

1:30am and we are in the air…pilot puts the pedal to the metal/turbo autopilot and we land only about 30 minutes late in Houston.  Luckily our gate to Cancun was right next door, so a very short walk and a very short transfer for our luggage.  7:37am and our last flight takes off.  Now we’re getting excited! 

We land right on time at 9:50am.  I really want to drop to the ground and kiss it!  We pinch each other…..we’re here!  Walking as fast as we can, we choose what we hope is the right line at immigration.  There were several long ones.  It’s not too bad though…about 30 minutes.  Grab the luggage, through customs….green light, yeah!...out the doors with a quick stop at the ATM for some pesos.

There’s nothing better than to step outside those doors and see an awesome transfer company driver holding a sign with your name on it.  Thank you CARM!…www.cancunandrivieramaya.com.  The brand new van was right there and in less than 5 minutes we are driving.  And as much as I wish we were headed straight to the ferry, we are actually headed to the ADO bus station.  I wonder why?  

We were hoping for a GL bus but there’s a regular bus leaving about 30 minutes earlier.  That will be good enough….better to arrive earlier. 

Feeling a little tired by now….

And thank goodness we did take that earlier one as we receive a text while we’re on the bus that we need to be at a certain location by 7pm.  That will be a tight fit but we can do it!

We arrive in………okay, I’ll tell you, but still won't tell you why!…Mérida, at about 5pm.  We drag the suitcases to a taxi and head off to our awesome hotel for 1 short night, Luz en Yucatan.  What a great place….a true oasis just a few blocks from centro.  A quick check in and we even get help hauling our 4 suitcases up to the very top floor.  Perfect little room and for Vince…the best surprise so far, 2 icy cold cervezas in the fridge.  He’s smiling now! 

We’ve now been travelling for about 26 hours, with only a few catnaps in the past 3 days.  But all that is forgotten now!  Adrenaline rush is in full force!  Suitcases thrown open, super fast showers and new clothes.  Dash downstairs to catch a taxi that was arranged by the hotel to take us to……..ohhhh, not yet….keep some of you guessing!   It’s a madhouse when we arrive and we try to enter in one spot and are told that we need to get our proper tickets at a different spot.  No problema….it’s quickly done and we are allowed in…whew!  Now we just need to find where we’re supposed to be met by ‘Fanny’, our contact.  After talking to no less than 5 security officers and walking around in circles for about half an hour, I finally call our contact and she explains to the guard where to take us.  He takes us to a spot and says that someone will come for us in 10 minutes.  Yeah right.  I wonder if this is the dump and dash!  But sure enough, Fanny arrives and happily escorts us to the ‘secret room’, away from the crowds.  There are about 10 chairs inside and a photographer….hmmm.  So are you ready for the surprise?.....

We’re in Mérida to see MANÁ!!!!  The numero uno rock band in Latin America!!!

We’ve been so lucky to see them in LA twice in 2007, but this is so exciting to see them in their homeland of Mexico.  It all started back in November when Vince happened to see something about Maná doing a concert for the grand opening of the newly built Coliseo Yucatán.  But it was hard to get information…was it just an appearance or was it really a concert.  Vince sent an email to the official website and Claudia responded that it was a full concert.  And then…even though it had initially been scheduled for the day before we were supposed to arrive, the date changed and it was now for the evening of our arrival day.  We quickly got to work to see if it was possible to get to Mérida in time and then began the tricky task of buying tickets on Boletea, a Spanish only site.  I had the ticket site up in one screen and Google translate in another screen.  It was stressful!  I had no idea what I might be getting for $260CAN…fingers crossed!  Claudia from Maná PR had told us to contact her if we did indeed get tickets.  We did that and she responded that she had a surprise for us….a ‘meet and greet photo’ with Maná!!  Are you kidding??!!  Freaking awesome!!!!  So, even though it was a long wild ride to get there, as we’re sitting alone in this room at the Coliseo, we really can’t believe that we’re here and are about to meet the band that we have been listening to since 1999.  What an incredible set of circumstances that brought us to this moment.  After the past 2 years of stress and heartache, we finally feel like someone/something gave us a true gift.  Anyway, I digress greatly….

As we sit in the room, we wonder if perhaps we’ll soon hear the band begin to play and we’ll have to dash to our seats!  People come and go and every time the door towards the back of the room opens, our heads twirl around, excited about whom we might see.  We sit and sit….3 others arrive…friends of Fehr’s as he uses their dive company when he visits Tulum.  Four local fellows arrive who won an Internet contest, and 4 others that we didn’t have a chance to speak with.  That’s it.  Fanny arrives to take our purses and cameras.   We’ve been in the room for over 1.5 hours now…the concert is supposed to start in about 15 minutes, but we know that Maná is usually a bit late…enjoying some chivas regal in their limo perhaps! 

And then….the back door opens and there is Alex, the best Latin drummer in the world!  He’s quickly followed by Fehr (drool), Sergio and Juan.  WOW!  I’m sure my mouth was hanging open!  The 3 dive friends go first and after a photo, they are out the door.  We are next!  We greet each of them and I get a kiss on the cheek from Fehr.  Well, it’s all a blur after that!  We told them we were from Canada and they said they wanted to come to Canada….Yes please!!!  Can you tell by my very huge silly grin that I am just beside myself!?! 

Another kiss from Fehr, sigh, a hug from Alex and we are out the door.  OMG….did that just happen?!!   We don’t even have time to think about it….a mad dash to get Vince a cerveza, a quick baño visit and then we run to our seats.  And they’re perfect!!  Oh so happy!

And less than 15 minutes later at 10pm…… the lights go down and the screams and cheers begin……

I hope this works, I had to lower the quality or it was going to take days to upload!….
Click the link to see Maná opening the concert!…..

For exactly 2 amazing hours the entire stadium is singing, dancing, cheering…it’s incredible.  Maná fans are die hard….they know every single word of every song.  As probably the only gringos in the sold out 10,000 crowd, we sing the words we know and savour the whole experience. 

And then ‘Gracias Mérida’ flashes on the huge screen and the best concert ever comes to an end.  It truly was an amazing time, and even the mad chaos trying to leave the coliseo can’t dim our smiles!  

 We buy some t-shirts and then join the thousands of other concertgoers standing by the road trying to find a taxi to get back to centro.  There are no shuttle buses.  We realize that we’re standing in a spot that will be quite impossible to get a taxi.  We head out to the highway where cars are speeding past at full speed.  Hmmm…what to do?  It’s a 25-minute drive so we sure can’t walk.  A policia sees us, and probably has the thought, “Who are these people and why are they here?!”  He takes pity on us and asks us where we need to go.  We tell him our hotel in centro and he walks us back to the taxi road and as luck would have it, one had just stopped to drop off some people who needed to find their friends.  Well, lucky day!  We certainly weren’t really next in line but with this awesome policia helping us, we quickly jump in like he tells us.  He speaks to the taxi driver and makes sure he knows where to go.  Just another piece to the perfect puzzle!

The taxi is a bucket of bolts that shakes and rattles the whole drive but we make it!  And as we climb the stairs to our Cielito room at Luz en Yucatan, I see the moon rise behind the Santa Lucia Church, which is right next door.  Could this day be any more perfect?  

Thank you, if you’re still reading….I know this was off topic for Isla Mujeres, but Maná is such a huge part of our personal Mexico experience.  For us, this was a dream come true.  If you love Mexico, take a listen to their music….there is no way that you will not fall in love.

Thank you Claudia Valencia and Fanny….you will never know just how much this meant to us….what a wonderful gift!

And Gracias to Maná for creating music that stirs the soul and heart, and crosses all language barriers.  Our lives are richer in so many ways and our hearts are fuller. 

I promise that the Isla Mujeres will be full of photos and much less chatter!

Stay tuned for Day 2…..taxi, bus, taxi, ferry, taxi…..Isla Mujeres, here we come!!!