Catz N Clawz

The Players:

HusBob and Catz
On planet Reality it's Bob and Cathey

Freddie
Unfriendly - not hostile but inhospitable Caretaker(not owner)

Freddies Wife
She loves Freddie and her mid-day Soap Operas

Roberto
The Happy Groundskeeper

Roberto's Wife
The Housekeeper with Checkered Shorts

Freddie's Horny Teenage Daughter
She has a deep sultry voice that didn't match her thin frame

Horny Teenage Daughter's Boyfriend
Always had neat hair and loved to swat his "woman" with his t-shirts

Tiarra - the Resident Dog
Stuck Up Little Spastic!

Apache - my Ace in the Hole with the golf carts
I love you man!!

Mafia
To the left and the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

Raquel - Shell House Owner
I love you too!!

Little Mike, his Mom Evita and Dad Big Mike from Casa Evita

(formerly Casa Virginia)

Laurie of Mango Cafe
Your Blue Corn Pancakes ROCK!!!!!!

The Boat People

Phish Food the Starfish
A gift from a stranger

Crabs
Not the edible kind either!

I have the summers off. Bob has twelve days.

My wonderful hubby of 23 years surprised me with an impromptu trip to Isla Mujeres June 6-14. What the? We were to go to Alaska this summer!! (I'm still going to Alaska.) Isla Mujeres and Bob have a different kind of love. Call it passion. He becomes a different animal on that island and I, humble as I am, lol, will never turn down a chance to go to my beloved latitude/longitude. I just spent nine days on Isla in March. Can't get enough of her. Bob's last trip was last summer. So you understand his desire for her ample shores, her swaying palm trees, the gleam in her eyes at sunset, her succulent entrees and lust producing libations, her hot, misty breath on his naked chest. Yeah, that's how he feels about Isla Mujeres. I ain't jealous, I just try to be first on his hot naked chest.

With Bob planning this trip, I gave way to his choice of lodgings -

The New Mar y Sol. (NMyS)

Bob has been wanting to stay at this location for YEARS, ya hear me? Years! But he has always let me choose where we were to stay - that tazer gun in my left hand brings his way of thinking towards mine. I'm addicted to the Caribbean breeze, the traffic, living in the colonias, the people, the rhythm of the island. This place, NMyS which touted being private, was something contrasting from my personality but closer to his, so with the tazer now being being held in my general direction, the NMyS was booked, sight unseen. What could it hurt for us to share some up/down time, some reading time, some feet in the sand and sand up your swimsuit time?

The place sounds perfect.

Perfect- a : being entirely without fault or defect

What I'm gonna do here is give you my honest, clawz out review/comments in RED to what the advertisment/website states. What is left BLACK is from their website.

THE YELLOW AND WHITE BUILDING: Four studio apartments are open now at Mar y Sol. Mar y Sol is mid-island on a large, private, ..it was NEVER PRIVATE! - large beach(because the units were on it), yes which was raked every morning by the delighful groundskeeper and handyman Roberto. We LIKED him. Always a smile, an acknowledgement that you were a guest and he was always trying to hurry with his duties so we could enjoy the place. Yeah, we liked him) white sand swimming beach tiny - full of sea grass and someone else's crusty boat with a spectacular view of Cancun across the bay.I wouldn't say spectacular but the sunsets were quiet lovely from the rooftop and standing in the shallow waters or on the "black whales" next door. The calm water makes it ideal for swimming and snorkeling. No need to snorkel, the crabs and minnows would come up and bite or nibble on you with all the sea grass in the way. No way was I wading out hundreds of feet just to dunk my entire body in the ocean. It is about 2.5 miles from the downtown area on the west side of the island, just south of Lancheros Beach. Lancheros was to the right so wouldn't that make it west? Guess it's where you're standing.

The two upstairs studio apartments have one king bed;very uncomfortable king size bed that the fitted sheets would not stay attached to, a headboard that was just leaning against the wall, the two downstairs have two double beds. Each has a private patio or balcony with ocean view. If you were lucky enough to be in the old Mar y Sol or in the unit below us, you would have had an ocean view. What we had was a lovely coconut tree blocking our view. Our first full day there, Freddie had Roberto cutting down palm fronds and coconuts from the surrounding trees on the sides of property. Guess so we wouldn't be bonked on head by coco....so why did they park the ladder for the remainder of the day at the view blocking coconut tree in front of our unit? We ASSUMED they would take at least the five or six lower palms off the tree to enhance the view. There is a kitchenette with sink,(with NO HOT WATER), refrigerator, microwave oven(,both great) hot plate, (rusted and should have been destroyed eons ago but functioned if you propped it up on the left and put nothing heaver than a paper towel on it), toaster (I had to laugh, thank God there was an ocean view from the kitchen window...you had to HOLD THE SPRING SWITCH DOWN for the duration of the toasting process) and coffeemaker,(finally something I loved about the place!) in the apartments for light meal preparation. All utensils,(3 forks, 2 dull carving knives, four spoons, 3 butter knives, 2 plastic spatulas, 1 wooden spatula, 4 bowls and plates, 2 coffee cups, 2 highball glasses, 3 assorted glasses, 1 used sponge, 1/2 bottle dish soap, 4 coffee filters, 1 electric skillet, 2 small sauce pots, 1 Teflon skillet) dishes, etc. are provided as are all linens and towels and bottled water. There is twice weekly maid service. The apartments are air conditioned (Praise the Lord cuz it got Jungle Hot with no Caribbean breeze) and have ceiling fans and free wifi internet service.

Mar y Sol is just south of colonia La Gloria where there are many small grocery stores, bakeries, local restaurants and even a real Mexican Mercado in the mornings. From there it is a short, 90 cent taxi ride to the downtown area for shopping,(more like $5 US plus tip) more restaurants and island night life. Lancheros Beach has a great seafood restaurant and is a short five minute walk north along the beach from Mar y Sol. Now how can Lancheros be North one minute, south or west the next?
This is a great place for the budget traveler who wants privacy on a beautiful beach.
Yes, it was a great place for the budget traveler. Yes the beach was pretty at sunset. Yes, its great if all you want is a place to stow your gear, have a little quiet at night, enjoy the great sunsets on the roof, don't mind getting hit by an irritating palm frond trying to get to your room. If you don't mind listening to the mindless music of the twelve plus day-trippin' catamarans running from 10PM to 6PM and the four party boats debarking every night between 8-11PM three doors down from you - with their version of mindless nighttime music, sure this is a great spot.

Amenities

White sand swimming beach check - to my Trolls, it was the size of North Beach
Snorkeling at your front door Bob tried - denied.
Patio or balcony check - the downstairs patios had gorgeous wooden sling back type chairs. We had white plastic Adirondacks chairs - Bob's was broken and still cracking in the seat, my chair was 2 of the same strung together. Would they notice if we switched chairs with the downstairs units or would the "nightlly locals" complain? Round white plastic end table served its purpose
Air conditioning - Amen
Ceiling fans - worked
Refrigerator and hot plate see above
Microwave oven see above
Toaster and coffeemaker - haha and I love you
Tiled shower bath - true dat - very hot water!
Linens and towels provided - 2 bath towels, four hand towels, 2 wash clothes
Bottled water provided - but we need AGUA. The water was supposed to be put on the spiggot thing for us, instead it was left by the back door. No knock to let us know they brought it. Just had to stumble upon it.
Twice weekly maid service - after they saw us cleaning on Thursday(we arrived Monday afternoon) cuz I asked Bob to find me a broom, they came up after we left for our daily adventure. The only way we knew they cleaned behind us was the Fabuloso aroma and clean sheets. Other than that it was the way we left it - already clean, except the patio which they never touched. On Saturday, a lady, assuming it was Roberto's wife asked if we wanted the room cleaned again - by that point, don't even bother, so I smiled and said, LATER.
Free Wi Fi Internet Service - had to ask for the code - which was written on an outside wall on the right of the outdoor fish tank. Really? Yeah really.

Policies
Personal checks are accepted for the required two nights per week deposit. You'll send it to a US bank - odd amount so they know it's from you. The rest due upon arrival
All deposits are fully refundable with 30 days notice of cancellation.
The balance is due on arrival with cash or traveler's checks. Give it to Freddie, the on site "man in charge". I tried to pay Freddie the moment we arrived. He said to pay him in the morning. Those were the only words he ever spoke to me. We gave the money to Roberto the following morning.

Rates in US dollars, tax included
Rates
December 15 - April 30
$70 US per night
$450 US per week - worth it because Bob wanted to be there...and I didn't know he packed the tazer.

What we ALWAYS heard were the sounds of:

**Freddie the "I'm all that,I run this place and do what I want", I have the nervous habit of picking my left nostril, barking orders at the groundskeeper Roberto - chatting with his friends, his TV on nonstop outside on the bottom patio to our right(there wasn't a tv in our unit - wasn't supposed to be TV's anywhere but we heard two tv's in the white units of Mar y Sol)

**Freddie's teenage daughter and her horny boyfriend, who were always kissing/fondling, pulling up this or that piece of clothing somewhere - mainly on our beach chairs under our umbrella or where ever Bob and I wanted to chillax

** the cute dog Tiarra, who would show you she was boss - she was delightful to watch. She was the same color as the beach, except for her two bright orange and yellow flowers attached to her ears!

**the endless parade of locals on their motos, golfcarts coming to visit, 2 small fiestas complete with grilling,Freddie LOVED and babied his grill, beer (2 cases of empty bottles were tossed into a pile outside their living quarters next to us one evening (we weren't invited, no problem there or told that the night would be, uh, filled with their party time (big problem)Oh and dare I mention - I DARE -that there was ALWAYS some locals spending the night in the six empty units.

There was one other paying party - 3 adults, one child that stayed one night. Other than that - those units were occupied by locals.. I wonder how much Freddie charges the locals per night. Private beach my ass.

My HusBob is not one to complain so for him to begin making comments about the same thing I was witnessing is saying something.

Hey Bob, pass me that tazer, I wanna go ask Freddie something....